Extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus attenuate bupivacaine-induced spinal neurotoxicity in pregnant rats

Extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus can relieve pain and promote repair of nerve injury. The present study intraperitoneally injected extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus for 3 and 4 days prior to and following intrathecal injection of bupivacaine into pregnant rats. The pain threshold test after bupivacaine injection showed that the maximum possible effect of tail-flick latency peaked 1 day after intrathecal injection of bupivacaine in the extract-pretreatment group, and gradually decreased, while the maximum possible effect in the bupivacaine group continued to increase after intrathecal injection of bupivacaine. Histological observation showed that after 4 days of intrathecal injection of bupivacaine, the number of shrunken, vacuolated, apoptotic and caspase-9-positive cells in the dorsal root ganglion in the extract-pretreatment group was significantly reduced compared with the bupivacaine group. These findings indicate that extracts from rabbit skin inflamed by the vaccinia virus can attenuate neurotoxicity induced by intrathecal injection of bupivacaine in pregnant rats, possibly by inhibiting caspase-9 protein expression and suppressing nerve cell apoptosis.

Analgesic effect of intrathecal bumetanide is accompanied by changes in spinal sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 and potassium-chloride co-transporter 2 expression in a rat model of incisional pain

Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that the sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 and potassium-chloride co-transporter 2 have a role in the modulation of pain transmission at the spinal level through chloride regulation in the pain pathway and by effecting neuronal excitability and pain sensitization. The present study aimed to investigate the analgesic effect of the speciifc sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 inhibitor bumetanide, and the change in spinal sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 and potassium-chloride co-transporter 2 expression in a rat model of incisional pain. Results showed that intrathecal bumetanide could decrease cumulative pain scores, and could increase thermal and mechanical pain thresholds in a rat model of incisional pain. Sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 expression in-creased in neurons from dorsal root ganglion and the deep laminae of the ipsilateral dorsal horn following incision. By contrast, potassium-chloride co-transporter 2 expression decreased in neurons of the deep laminae from the ipsilateral dorsal horn. These ifndings suggest that spinal sodium-potassium-chloride co-transporter 1 expression was up-regulated and spinal potassi-um-chloride co-transporter 2 expression was down-regulated following incision. Intrathecal bumetanide has analgesic effects on incisional pain through inhibition of sodium-potassi-um-chloride co-transporter 1.

T-type calcium channel expression in cultured human neuroblastoma cells

Human neuroblastoma cells （SH-SY5Y） have similar structures and functions as neural cells and have been frequently used for cell culture studies of neural cell functions.Previous studies have revealed L-and N-type calcium channels in SH-SY5Y cells.However,the distribution of the low-voltage activated calcium channel （namely called T-type calcium channel,including Cav3.1,Cav3.2,and Cav3.3） in SH-SY5Y cells remains poorly understood.The present study detected mRNA and protein expres-sion of the T-type calcium channel （Cav3.1,Cav3.2,and Cav3.3） in cultured SH-SY5Y cells using real-time polymerase chain reaction （PCR） and western blot analysis.Results revealed mRNA and protein expression from all three T-type calcium channel subtypes in SH-SY5Y cells.Moreover,Cav3.1 was the predominant T-type calcium channel subtype in SH-SY5Y cells.

A Searchable Encryption Scheme Based on Lattice for Log Systems in Blockchain

With the increasing popularity of cloud storage,data security on the cloud has become increasingly visible.Searchable encryption has the ability to realize the privacy protection and security of data in the cloud.However,with the continuous development of quantum computing,the standard Public-key Encryption with Keyword Search(PEKS)scheme cannot resist quantumbased keyword guessing attacks.Further,the credibility of the server also poses a significant threat to the security of the retrieval process.This paper proposes a searchable encryption scheme based on lattice cryptography using blockchain to address the above problems.Firstly,we design a lattice-based encryption primitive to resist quantum keyword guessing attacks.Moreover,blockchain is to decentralize the cloud storage platform’s jurisdiction of data.It also ensures that the traceability of keyword retrieval process and maintains the credibility of search result,which malicious platforms are prevented as much as possible from deliberately sending wrong search results.Last but not least,through security analysis,our proposed scheme satisfies the credibility and unforgeability of the keyword ciphertext.The comprehensive performance evaluates that our scheme has certain advantages in terms of efficiency compared with others.

A Novel Post-Quantum Blind Signature for Log System in Blockchain

In recent decades, log system management has been widely studied fordata security management. System abnormalities or illegal operations can befound in time by analyzing the log and provide evidence for intrusions. In orderto ensure the integrity of the log in the current system, many researchers havedesigned it based on blockchain. However, the emerging blockchain is facing significant security challenges with the increment of quantum computers. An attackerequipped with a quantum computer can extract the user's private key from thepublic key to generate a forged signature, destroy the structure of the blockchain,and threaten the security of the log system. Thus, blind signature on the lattice inpost-quantum blockchain brings new security features for log systems. In ourpaper, to address these, firstly, we propose a novel log system based on post-quantum blockchain that can resist quantum computing attacks. Secondly, we utilize apost-quantum blind signature on the lattice to ensure both security and blindnessof log system, which makes the privacy of log information to a large extent.Lastly, we enhance the security level of lattice-based blind signature under therandom oracle model, and the signature size grows slowly compared with others.We also implement our protocol and conduct an extensive analysis to prove theideas. The results show that our scheme signature size edges up subtly comparedwith others with the improvement of security level.

A Spatial Supply-Demand Imbalance Between Rural Primary and Secondary Schools in Shaanxi Province Based on Road Network Analysis

It is of great significance to optimize the spatial matching of basic education facilities in rural areas and promote the equalization of urban and rural basic public services and the overall revitalization of rural areas.Based on the theory of spatial accessibility and spatial balance of supply and demand,this paper constructs the evaluation system of rural basic education facilities and layout rationality.In this study,we took 42 primary and secondary schools and 2089 rural areas with concentrated population in six township areas of Hancheng City as the research subjects.We used ArcGIS network analysis,population coupling model,and other methods,from the administrative scale and rural population concentration area scale for evaluation.The accessibility of basic education facilities and its coupling relationship with the spatial distribution of student population describe the spatial and geographical pattern of basic education facilities in rural areas.The results show that the accessibility of rural administrative scale and the spatial balance of supply and demand of population concentration area scale are associated with great problems,the differences between towns are obvious,and the overall level of the best performing towns is still low.On the scale of population concentration area,the overall coupling degree is too low,the"dislocation"distribution of educational facilities and student population is obvious,and the matching degree of the student population and school in different towns is significantly different,showing a more obvious"core-periphery"spatial structure characteristics centered on the eastern and southeast regions.The terrain characteristics of rural areas in Shaanxi province are prominent,and the accessibility of the road network is particularly significant.Therefore,optimizing the construction of rural roads and optimizing school layout according to local conditions will become an important solution to promote the balanced allocation of basic education resources in Shaanxi province.

ABM-based emergency evacuation modelling during urban pluvial floods:A“7.20”pluvial flood event study in Zhengzhou,Henan Province

Increasing urban pluvial flood disasters due to climate change and rapid urbanisation have been a great challenge worldwide.Timely and effective emergency evacuation is important for reducing casualties and losses.This has become a bottleneck for emergency management.This study aimed to develop a commonly used Agent-Based Mode(ABM)for pluvial flood emergency evacuation at the city scale,exploring the cascading impacts of pluvial flooding on human behaviour and emergency evacuation.The July 2021 pluvial flood event in Zhengzhou,Henan Province,claiming 380 lives and 40.9 billion yuan in direct losses,was selected as this case study.A raster-based hydraulic model(ECNU Flood-Urban)was used to predict flood inundation(extent and depth)during an event in Zhengzhou’s centre.Moreover,a comparative analysis of emergency evacuations was conducted before and after the pluvial flood event.The results showed that crowd behaviour plays an important role in an emergency evacuation,and extensive flooding leads to an 11-83%reduction in the number of evacuees.This study highlights the importance of risk education and contingency plans in emergency response.The ABM model developed in this study is proven to be effective and practical and will provide support for decision-making in urban flood emergency management.

EVchain: An Anonymous Blockchain-Based System for Charging–Connected Electric Vehicles

Purchases of electric vehicles have been increasing in recent years. These vehicles differ from traditional fossil-fuel-based vehicles especially in the time consumed to keep them running. Electric-Vehicle-charging Service Providers(EVSPs) must arrange reasonable charging times for users in advance. Most EVSP services are based on third-party platforms, but reliance on third-party platforms creates a lack of security, leaving users vulnerable to attacks and user-privacy leakages. In this paper, we propose an anonymous blockchain-based system for charging-connected electric vehicles that eliminates third-party platforms through blockchain technology and the establishment of a multi-party security system between electric vehicles and EVSPs. In our proposed system, digital certificates are obtained by completing distributed Public Key Infrastructure(distributed-PKI) identity registration,with the user registration kept separate from the verification process, which eliminates dependence on the EVSP for information security. In the verification process, we adopt smart contracts to solve problems associated with centralized verification and opaque services. Furthermore, we utilize zero-knowledge proof and ring-signature superposition to realize completely anonymous verification, which ensures undeniability and unforgeability with no detriment to anonymity. The evaluation results show that the user anonymity, information authenticity, and system security of our system fulfill the necessary requirements.

The MIKE Model Application to Overtopping Risk Assessment of Seawalls and Levees in Shanghai

This article used MIKE 21 models to evaluate the overtopping risk of seawalls and levees from the combined effect of land subsidence, storm tide, and sea level rise in Shanghai. Typhoon storm tides are the primary natural hazard affecting the Shanghai area. The worst storm tide in recent history was No. 9711, which produced a high tide of 5.99 m. Projections indicate that sea level will rise by 86.6 mm, 185.6 mm, and 433.1 mm by 2030, 2050, and 2100, respectively. The combined impact of these hazards threatens to flood large parts of the Shanghai area in the future. By 2030, 4.31 percent of the total length of the seawalls and levees in Shanghai will be at risk to being overtopped. By 2050, 27.55 percent of all seawalls and levees are likely to be overtopped. By 2100, overtopping will increase to 45.98 percent. The high risk of seawall and levee exposure to overtopping is closely related to the functional impact of land subsidence on the height of existing seawalls and levees. We propose specific engineering measures for Shanghai based on the results of our overtopping simulations.