From mice to humans:a need for comparable results in mammalian neuroplasticity

Brain plasticity-A universal tool with many variations:The study of brain plasticity has been gaining interest since almost a century and has now reached a huge amount of information(>80,000 results in PubMed).Overall,different types of plasticity,including stem cell-driven genesis of new neurons(adult neurogenesis),cells in arrested maturation(dormant neurons),neuro-glial and synaptic plasticity,can coexist and contribute to grant plastic changes in the brain,from a cellular to system level(Benedetti and Couillard-Despres,2022;Bonfanti et al.,2023).

Contribution of mechanical forces to structural synaptic plasticity:insights from 3D cellular motility mechanisms

Cells,tissues,and organs are constantly subjected to the action of mechanical forces from the extracellular environment-and the nervous system is no exception.Cell-intrinsic properties such as membrane lipid composition,abundance of mechanosensors,and cytoskeletal dynamics make cells more or less likely to sense these forces.Intrinsic and extrinsic cues are integrated by cells and this combined information determines the rate and dynamics of membrane protrusion growth or retraction(Yamada and Sixt,2019).Cell protrusions are extensions of the plasma membrane that play crucial roles in diverse contexts such as cell migration and neuronal synapse formation.In the nervous system,neurons are highly dynamic cells that can change the size and number of their pre-and postsynaptic elements(called synaptic boutons and dendritic spines,respectively),in response to changes in the levels of synaptic activity through a process called plasticity.Synaptic plasticity is a hallmark of the nervous system and is present throughout our lives,being required for functions like memory formation or the learning of new motor skills(Minegishi et al.,2023;Pillai and Franze,2024).

Neurogenesis dynamics in the olfactory bulb:deciphering circuitry organization, function, and adaptive plasticity

Adult neurogenesis persists after birth in the subventricular zone, with new neurons migrating to the granule cell layer and glomerular layers of the olfactory bulb, where they integrate into existing circuitry as inhibitory interneurons. The generation of these new neurons in the olfactory bulb supports both structural and functional plasticity, aiding in circuit remodeling triggered by memory and learning processes. However, the presence of these neurons, coupled with the cellular diversity within the olfactory bulb, presents an ongoing challenge in understanding its network organization and function. Moreover,the continuous integration of new neurons in the olfactory bulb plays a pivotal role in regulating olfactory information processing. This adaptive process responds to changes in epithelial composition and contributes to the formation of olfactory memories by modulating cellular connectivity within the olfactory bulb and interacting intricately with higher-order brain regions. The role of adult neurogenesis in olfactory bulb functions remains a topic of debate. Nevertheless, the functionality of the olfactory bulb is intricately linked to the organization of granule cells around mitral and tufted cells. This organizational pattern significantly impacts output, network behavior, and synaptic plasticity, which are crucial for olfactory perception and memory. Additionally, this organization is further shaped by axon terminals originating from cortical and subcortical regions. Despite the crucial role of olfactory bulb in brain functions and behaviors related to olfaction, these complex and highly interconnected processes have not been comprehensively studied as a whole. Therefore, this manuscript aims to discuss our current understanding and explore how neural plasticity and olfactory neurogenesis contribute to enhancing the adaptability of the olfactory system. These mechanisms are thought to support olfactory learning and memory, potentially through increased complexity and restructuring of neural network structures, as well as the addition of new granule granule cells that aid in olfactory adaptation. Additionally, the manuscript underscores the importance of employing precise methodologies to elucidate the specific roles of adult neurogenesis amidst conflicting data and varying experimental paradigms. Understanding these processes is essential for gaining insights into the complexities of olfactory function and behavior.

The interaction between KIF21A and KANK1 regulates dendritic morphology and synapse plasticity in neurons

Morphological alterations in dendritic spines have been linked to changes in functional communication between neurons that affect learning and memory.Kinesin-4 KIF21A helps organize the microtubule-actin network at the cell cortex by interacting with KANK1;however,whether KIF21A modulates dendritic structure and function in neurons remains unknown.In this study,we found that KIF21A was distributed in a subset of dendritic spines,and that these KIF21A-positive spines were larger and more structurally plastic than KIF21A-negative spines.Furthermore,the interaction between KIF21A and KANK1 was found to be critical for dendritic spine morphogenesis and synaptic plasticity.Knockdown of either KIF21A or KANK1 inhibited dendritic spine morphogenesis and dendritic branching,and these deficits were fully rescued by coexpressing full-length KIF21A or KANK1,but not by proteins with mutations disrupting direct binding between KIF21A and KANK1 or binding between KANK1 and talin1.Knocking down KIF21A in the hippocampus of rats inhibited the amplitudes of long-term potentiation induced by high-frequency stimulation and negatively impacted the animals’cognitive abilities.Taken together,our findings demonstrate the function of KIF21A in modulating spine morphology and provide insight into its role in synaptic function.

Practice patterns among ophthalmic surgeons in treating concomitant oculoplastic conditions in preoperative period:A questionnaire-based study

BACKGROUND Addressing oculoplastic conditions in the preoperative period ensures both the safety and functional success of any ophthalmic procedure.Some oculoplastic conditions,like nasolacrimal duct obstruction,have been extensively studied,whereas others,like eyelid malposition and thyroid eye disease,have received minimal or no research.AIM To investigate the current practice patterns among ophthalmologists while treating concomitant oculoplastic conditions before any subspecialty ophthalmic intervention.METHODS A cross-sectional survey was disseminated among ophthalmologists all over India.The survey included questions related to pre-operative evaluation,anaesthetic and surgical techniques preferred,post-operative care,the use of adjunctive therapies,and patient follow-up patterns.RESULTS A total of 180 ophthalmologists responded to the survey.Most practitioners(89%)felt that the ROPLAS test was sufficient during pre-operative evaluation before any subspecialty surgery was advised.The most common surgical techniques employed were lacrimal drainage procedures(Dacryocystorhinostomy)(63.3%),eyelid malposition repair(36.9%),and ptosis repair(58.7%).Post-operatively,47.7%of respondents emphasized that at least a 4-week gap should be maintained after lacrimal drainage procedures and eyelid surgeries.Sixty-seven percent of ophthalmologists felt that topical anaesthetic procedures should be preferred while performing ocular surgeries in thyroid eye disease patients.CONCLUSION Approximately 50%of ophthalmologists handle prevalent oculoplastic issues themselves,seeking the expertise of an oculoplastic surgeon under particular conditions.Many ophthalmologists still favor using ROPLAS as a preliminary screening method before proceeding with cataract surgery.Eyelid conditions and thyroid eye disease are not as commonly addressed before subspecialty procedures compared to issues like nasolacrimal duct obstruction and periocular infections.

Microplastic and nanoplastic exposure and risk of diabetes mellitus

The issue of plastic pollutants has become a growing concern.Both microplastics(MPs)(particle size<5 mm)and nanoplastics(NPs)(particle size<1μm)can cause DNA damage,cytotoxicity,and oxidative stress in various organisms.The primary known impacts of microplastic/nanoplastic are observed in the liver and respiratory system,leading to hepatotoxicity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Although research on the effects of MPs and NPs on diabetes is still in its early stages,there are potential concerns.This editorial highlights the risk to diabetics from co-exposure to contaminants and MPs/NPs,supported by evidence from animal studies and the various chemical compositions of MPs/NPs.

Elastic-plastic analysis of antiplane crack near crack surface region

The elastic-plastic stress distribution and the elastic-plastic boundary con- figuration near a crack surface region are significant but hard to obtain by means of the conventional analysis. A crack line analysis method is developed in this paper by consid- ering the crack surface as an extension of the crack line. The stresses in the plastic zone, the length, and the unit normal vector of the elastic-plastic boundary near a crack surface region are obtained for an antiplane crack in an elastic-perfectly plastic solid. The usual small scale yielding assumptions are not needed in the analysis.

A viscoelastic-plastic constitutive model with Mohr-Coulomb yielding criterion for sea ice dynamics

A new viscoelastic-plastic （VEP） constitutive model for sea ice dynamics was developed based on continuum mechanics. This model consists of four components： Kelvin-Vogit viscoelastic model, Mohr-Coulomb yielding criterion, associated normality flow rule for plastic rehololgy, and hydrostatic pressure. The numerical simulations for ice motion in an idealized rectangular basin were made using smoothed particle hydrodynamics （SPH） method, and compared with the analytical solution as well as those based on the modified viscous plastic（VP） model and static ice jam theory. These simulations show that the new VEP model can simulate ice dynamics accurately. The new constitutive model was further applied to simulate ice dynamics of the Bohai Sea and compared with the traditional VP, and modified VP models. The results of the VEP model are compared better with the satellite remote images, and the simulated ice conditions in the JZ20-2 oil platform area were more reasonable.

Characterization of the Elastic-plastic Region Based on Magnetic Memory Effect

Detecting stress concentration, especially critical stress state leading to structure damage or failure, is one of the most important tasks of equipment diagnosis. Metal magnetic memory technique needs further research to evaluate stress concentration quantitatively due to ambiguous physical mechanism, though it has potential to detect early defects in ferromagnetic materials. Mild Q235 steel defective specimens in demagnetization state were loaded in tension up to visible necking, with magnetic memory signals measurement made at increasing stress levels. Magnetic signals varied greatly under first several loadings and subsequently tended to stability in the elastic region, which showed that the magnetization always approaches the anhysteretic magnetization curve and was explained by the theory of magnetomechanical effect. In the plastic stage, an abnormal wave occurred in the stress concentration zone and its height value was sensitive to plastic deformation levels and dependent on the distance between the probe and defect, in accordance with the simulation results based on the magnetic dipole model. Different magnetic signal characteristics in the elastic-plastic region indicate that the magnetic memory technique can identify macroyielding and early damage, which is of profound significance for ensuring safe operation of equipment in service.

Study on magneto-elastic-plastic deformation characteristics of ferromagnetic rectangular plate with simple supports

In this paper, the magnetic-elastic-plastic deformation behavior is studied for a ferromagnetic plate with simple supports. The perturbation formula of magnetic force is first derived based on the perturbation technique, and is then applied to the analysis of deformation characteristics with emphasis laid on the analyses of modes, symmetry of deformation and influences of incident angle of applied magnetic field on the plate deformation. The theoretical analyses offer explanations why the configuration offer- romagnetic rectangular plate with simple supports under an oblique magnetic field is in-wavy type along the x-direction, and why the largest deformation of the ferromagnetic plate occurs at the incident angle of 45°for the magnetic field. A numerical code based on the finite element method is developed to simulate quantitatively behaviors of the nonlinearly coupled multi-field problem. Some characteristic curves are plotted to illustrate the magneto--elastic-plastic deflections, and to reveal how the deflections can be influenced by the incident angle of applied magnetic field. The deformation characteristics obtained from the numerical simulations are found in good agreement with the theoretical analyses.

ANALYSIS ON THE MAGNETO-ELASTIC-PLASTIC BUCKLING/SNAPPING OF CANTILEVER RECTANGULAR FERROMAGNETIC PLATES

An analysis of buckling/snapping and bending behaviors of magneto-elastic-plastic interaction and coupling for cantilever rectangular soft ferromagnetic plates is presented. Based on the expression of magnetic force from the variational principle of ferromagnetic plates, the buckling and bending theory of thin plates, the Mises yield criterion and the increment theory for plastic deformation, we establish a numerical code to quantitatively simulate the behaviors of the nonlinearly multi-fields coupling problems by the finite element method. Along with the phenomena of buckling/snapping and bending, or the characteristic curve of deflection versus magnitude of applied magnetic fields being numerically displayed, the critical loads of buckling/snapping, and the influences of plastic deformation and the width of plate on these critical loads, the plastic regions expanding with the magnitude of applied magnetic field, as well as the evolvement of deflection configuration of the plate are numerically obtained in a case study.

General forms of elastic-plastic matching equations for mode-Ⅲ cracks near crack line

Crack line analysis is an effective way to solve elastic-plastic crack problems. Application of the method does not need the traditional small-scale yielding conditions and can obtain sufficiently accurate solutions near the crack line. To address mode- Ⅲ crack problems under the perfect elastic-plastic condition, matching procedures of the crack line analysis method axe summarized and refined to give general forms and formulation steps of plastic field, elastic-plastic boundary, and elastic-plastic matching equations near the crack line. The research unifies mode-III crack problems under different conditions into a problem of determining four integral constants with four matching equations. An example is given to verify correctness, conciseness, and generality of the procedure.

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Studies on Elastic-Plastic Fatigue Crack Growth

A elastic-plastic fatigue crack growth(FCG)finite element model was developed for predicting crack growth rate under cyclic load.The propagation criterion for this model was established based on plastically dissipated energy.The crack growth simulation under cyclic computation was implemented through the ABAQUS scripting interface.The predictions of this model are in good agreement with the results of crack propagation experiment of compact tension specimen made of 304 stainless steel.Based on the proposed model,the single peak overload retardation effect of elastic-plastic fatigue crack was analyzed.The results shows that the single peak overload will reduce the accumulation rate of plastic energy dissipation of elements at crack tip plastic zone,so that crack growth will be arrested.The crack growth rate will not recover until the crack tip exceed the affected region.Meanwhile,the crack growth rate is mainly determined by the amplitude rather than the mean load under the condition of small scale yielding.The proposed model would be helpful for predicting the growth rate of mode I elastic-plastic fatigue crack.

New finite strain elastoplastic equations for accurately and explicitly simulating pseudoelastic-to-plastic transition effects of shape memory alloys

A new finite strain elatoplastic J2-flow model with coupling effects of both isotropic and anisotropic hardening is proposed with the co-rotational logarithmic rate.In terms of certain single-variable shape functions representing uniaxial loading and unloading curves,explicit multi-axial expressions for the three hardening quantities incorporated in the new model proposed are derived in unified forms for the purpose of automatically and accurately simulating complex pseudoelastic-to-plastic transition effects of shape memory alloys(SMAs)under multiple loading-unloading cycles.Numerical examples show that with only a single parameter of direct physical meaning for each cycle,accurate and explicit simulations may be achieved for extensive data from multiple cycle tests.

Static and dynamical cavitation for incompressible hyperelastic-plastic material

Bifurcation problems both for static and dynamical cavitation in a solid sphere composed of the incompressible hyperelasticplastic material, under uniformly distributed tensile boundary dead load were studied. For each problem, cavity forms at the center of the sphere when the tensile load is larger than its critical value. Bifurcation curves and the growth curves for the plastic deformation region were given. For static cavitation, the deformation displays three stages, namely, fully elastic, elasto-plastic and fully plastic stages. For dynamical cavitation, the cavity grows without bound and the sphere displays plastic flow.

STEADY GROWTH OF CRACKS IN COMPRESSIBLE ELASTIC-PLASTIC MEDIA

Based on the theoretical framework for crack growth analysis provided by Gao and Hwang, the 5-sector soiution of near-tip fields of mode-I cracks growing quasi-statically and steadily in compressible elastic perfectly plastic materials is obtained.As Poisson's ratio v tends to 1/2,the 5-sector solution degener- ates to the 4-sector solution of near-tip fields of crack growth in incompressible elastic perfectly plastic materials.

ELASTIC-PLASTIC FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONTACT-IMPACT AT RAIL JOINT

Using the finite element code ANSYS/LS-DYNA, a dynamic finite element modelwith an elastic-linear-kinematic-hardening plastic material is established to analyzeelastic-plastic stresses in the railhead in the impact process of wheel and rail occurring at thegap of rail joint. The model is based on the discrete elastic support condition of the rails, whichis suitable for the actual situation of wheel/track rolling contact. In the analysis the influencesof axle load, yield stress and tangent modulus of rail material on the stresses and strains areinvestigated in detail. The distribution of stresses and strains in the jointed railhead are given.It is found that the axle load, yield stress and tangent modulus of rail material greatly affect thestresses and strains in the railhead during impacting. The study provides a reliable method anduseful datum for the further research on fatigue and wear of railhead and improving the rail jointmode.

Neural stem cells promote neuroplasticity: a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Recent studies have demonstrated that neuroplasticity,such as synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis,exists throughout the normal lifespan but declines with age and is significantly impaired in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.Hence,promoting neuroplasticity may represent an effective strategy with which Alzheimer’s disease can be alleviated.Due to their significant ability to self-renew,differentiate,and migrate,neural stem cells play an essential role in reversing synaptic and neuronal damage,reducing the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease,including amyloid-β,tau protein,and neuroinflammation,and secreting neurotrophic factors and growth factors that are related to plasticity.These events can promote synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis to repair the microenvironment of the mammalian brain.Consequently,neural stem cells are considered to represent a potential regenerative therapy with which to improve Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.In this review,we discuss how neural stem cells regulate neuroplasticity and optimize their effects to enhance their potential for treating Alzheimer’s disease in the clinic.

AN INVESTIGATION ON ASYMPTOTIC NEAR-TIP FIELDS OF DYNAMIC CRACK IN AN ELASTIC-PERFECTLY PLASTIC COMPRESSIBLE MATERIAL

The stress and deformation fields near the tip of a mode-I dynamic crack steadily propagating in an elastic-perfectly plastic compressible material are considered under plane strain conditions. Within the framework of infinitesimal displacement gradient theory, the material is characterized by the Von Mises yield criterion and the associated J(2) flow theory of plasticity. Through rigorous mathematical analysis, this paper eliminates the possibilities of elastic unloading and continuous asymptotic fields with singular deformation, and then constructs a fully continuous and bounded asymptotic stress and strain field. It is found that in this solution there exists a parameter phi(0) which cannot be determined by asymptotic analysis but may characterize the effect of the far field. Lastly the variations of continuous stresses, velocities and strains around the crack tip are given numerically for different values of phi(0).

Upcycling plastic wastes into value-added products via electrocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis

Plastic,renowned for its versatility,durability,and cost-effectiveness,is indispensable in modern society.Nevertheless,the annual production of nearly 400 million tons of plastic,coupled with a recycling rate of only 9%,has led to a monumental environmental crisis.Plastic recycling has emerged as a vital response to this crisis,offering sustainable solutions to mitigate its environmental impact.Among these recycling efforts,plastic upcycling has garnered attention,which elevates discarded plastics into higher-value products.Here,electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic treatments stand at the forefront of advanced plastic upcycling.Electrocatalytic or photoelectrocatalytic treatments involve chemical reactions that facilitate electron transfer through the electrode/electrolyte interface,driven by electrical or solar energy,respectively.These methods enable precise control of chemical reactions,harnessing potential,current density,or light to yield valuable chemical products.This review explores recent progress in plastic upcycling through electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic pathways,offering promising solutions to the plastic waste crisis and advancing sustainability in the plastics industry.