PAID study design on the role of PKC activation in immune/inflammation-related depression:a randomised placebo-controlled trial protocol

Background Inflammation that is mediated by microglia activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of depression.Microglia activation can lead to an increase in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines,including TNF-α,which leads to neuronal apoptosis in the specific neural circuits of some brain regions,abnormal cognition and treatment-resistant depression(TRD).Protein kinase C(PKC)is a key regulator of the microglia activation process.We assume that the abnormality in PKC might result in abnormal microglia activation,neuronal apoptosis,significant changes in emotional and cognitive neural circuits,and TRD.In the current study,we plan to target at the PKC signal pathway to improve the TRD treatment outcome.Methods and analysis This is a 12-week,ongoing,randomised,placebo-controlled trial.Patients with TRD(N=180)were recruited from Shanghai Mental Health Center,Shanghai Jiao Tong University.Healthy control volunteers(N=60)were recruited by advertisement.Patients with TRD were randomly assigned to‘escitalopram+golimumab(TNF-αinhibitor)’,‘escitalopram+calcium tablet+vitamin D(PKC activator)’or‘escitalopram+placebo’groups.We define the primary outcome as changes in the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD-17).The secondary outcome is defined as changes in anti-inflammatory effects,cognitive function and quality of life.Discussion This study might be the first randomised,placebo-controlled trial to target at the PKC signal pathway in patients with TRD.Our study might help to propose individualised treatment strategies for depression.Trial registration number The trial protocol is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov under protocol ID 81930033 and ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04156425.

Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations on Alzheimer’s disease with depression: evidence from resting-state fMRI

Background The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease(AD)comorbid with depression is common.However,the mechanisms of AD with depression remain unclear.Aims To investigate the regional alterations of brain activity of AD with depression in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rs-fMRI).Methods 154 patients with AD who met the inclusion criteria were recruited from the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital from October 2014 to October 2016.According to whether the core symptoms of depression were present,patients were divided into two groups,22 patients with AD with depression(AD-D)and 52 patients with AD without depression(AD-nD).The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations(ALFF)was compared between two groups by performing independent-samples f-test.Results Compared with the AD-D group,increased ALFF values in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus,left middle frontal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus were observed in the AD-nD group.The brain activity in the AD-nD group in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus,left middle frontal gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus was higher than the AD-D group.Conclusions Resting-state brain functional alterations may be closely bound up with the pathophysiologic features of patients with AD with depressive symptoms.

Embedding and Extracting Digital Watermark Based on DCT Algorithm

The principle of digital watermark is the method of adding digital watermark in the frequency domain. The digital watermark hides the watermark in digital media, such as image, voice, video, etc., so as to realize the functions of copyright protection, and identity recognition. DCT for Discrete Cosine Transform is used to transform the image pixel value and the frequency domain coefficient matrix to realize the embedding and extracting of the blind watermark in the paper. After success, the image is attacked by white noise and Gaussian low-pass filtering. The result shows that the watermark signal embedded based on the DCT algorithm is relatively robust, and can effectively resist some attack methods that use signal distortion to destroy the watermark, and has good robustness and imperceptibility.

固溶处理对半固态7075铝合金浆料组织的影响

本文采用锥形管浇注流变成形技术制备了半固态7075铝合金浆料,并研究了不同的固溶处理工艺对浆料组织的影响规律。结果表明,当固溶温度在460~475℃之间,固溶时间在1~6 h时,随着固溶温度的提高和固溶时间的延长,浆料组织中的第二相粒子逐渐的溶入基体中,初生晶粒的合并和长大现象并不明显。当固溶温度超过490℃时,组织中出现了较多的晶粒重熔及过烧现象,并出现了较多的晶粒异常长大和合并。晶粒的异常长大主要是由于组织中的晶界析出相在较高固溶温度下的快速溶解。当固溶温度为475℃时,随着固溶时间的延长,组织中的第二相粒子的溶解现象更加明显。

Aetiology of bipolar disorder: contribution of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channels

LTCCS ARE IMPLICATED IN THE PATHOLOGY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a common mental illness with significant morbidity and mortality.1 Although evidence have suggested changes in oxidative stress, dopamine and inflammation in BPD, it is hard to define the aetiological mechanism of BPD clearly. Recently, some but not all candidate gene association studies, family-based association studies, linkage studies, genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and meta-analyses showed that mutation of L-type voltage-gated calcium chan? nels (LTCCs) gene CACNAlCis implicated in the mechanism of BPD.'-8 These findings support the possibility that BPD might have calcium channelopathy.

A Preliminary Study on the Infrared Spectra Characteristics of Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei

[Objectives] To carry out infrared spectroscopic study of different growth years and different parts of the traditional Chinese medicine Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei. [Methods]Using potassium bromide squash method and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy on the different growth years and different parts of Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei for infrared spectrum and second derivative spectrum. [Results]With the increasing growth time,Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei accumulated in the secondary metabolism substances gradually increased,the characteristic absorption peak appeared in the position such as 3 366,2 927,1 634,1 416,1 516,1 080,1 020,and 928 cm^(-1),the main chemicals as polysaccharide,coumarin,saponins and steroids. The difference of chemical position between root tuber and cauline leaf is obvious. [Conclusions]Infrared spectroscopy was applied in studying different growing periods and different parts of Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei,of obvious characteristics,identification and quality evaluation method,is simple and suitable for Radix Chuanmingshinis Violacei.

Effects of a two-meal daily feeding pattern with varied crude protein levels on growth performance and antioxidant indexes in pigs

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of daily feeding pattern on growth performance, blood biochemistry, and antioxidant indexes in pigs. One hundred and eighty female Duroc x Landrace x Yorkshire(DLY) pigs with similar body weight(11.00 ± 0.12 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 groups: the control group(fed 17.01% CP diet, twice daily); high-low group(H-L group, fed18.33% CP diet in the morning, followed by 15.70% CP diet in the afternoon); and low-high group(L-H group, fed 15.70% CP diet in the morning, followed by 18.33% CP diet in the afternoon)(n = 6). Comparable amounts of their respective diets were given at 05:30 and 15:00 throughout the experimental periods to make all the treatments consumed the same type of food and the same amount of calories on a daily basis. On day 30, one pig was randomly selected per litter for blood samples. Compared with the control group, ADG in the H-L and L-H groups increased by 8.11% and 16.23%, but not significant(P > 0.05); and blood urea nitrogen(BUN) in the H-L and L-H groups decreased by 26.76% and 41.04%(P < 0.05), respectively. The H-L group feeding pattern could significantly improve levels of serum superoxide dismutase(SOD), when compared with the control group. These findings suggest that the twomeal daily feeding pattern with varied levels of CP affects serum levels of BUN and SOD. These changes could effectively silightly improve growth performance and antioxidant capacity in pigs without incurring increased feeding costs.

Fine-tuning of Pd-Rh core-shell catalysts by interstitial hydrogen doping for enhanced methanol oxidation

Metal catalysts play an important role in the catalytic electrochemical processes and optimization of their performance is usually achieved through alloying with other metal atoms.Doping with interstitial hydrogen atoms is a special but effective way to regulate the electronic structure of host catalysts.Herein we demonstrate the intermixing of Pd and Rh atoms during the hydrogen-doping process of Pd@Rh core-shell nanocubes,forming an alloyed surface in Pd@Rh-H.The catalysts show enhanced performance in electrocatalytic methanol oxidation,as compared to commercial Pt/C and are even better than PdH@Rh core-shell nanocubes.The small structural differences between the two hydride catalysts are revealed by X-ray electron spectroscopy and pair distribution function analysis of electron diffraction.The theoretical calculation results show that Rh in Pd@Rh-H contains more negative charges than Rh in PdH@Rh,indicating more effective charge transfer in Pd@Rh-H.The d-band center(£d)of the Rh site in Pd@Rh-H shifts up,and the synergy between Rh and Pd optimizes the binding energy of CO and OH,inducing preferential catalytic activity.Our work provides guidance for the synthesis of high-performance catalysts by doping with interstitial atoms,which may provide a new strategy to fine-tune the electronic structure of other bimetallic nanoparticles.