Emodin promoted pancreatic claudin-5 and occludin expression in experimental acute pancreatitis rats

AIM:To investigate the effect of emodin on pancreatic claudin-5 and occludin expression,and pancreatic paracellular permeability in acute pancreatitis(AP).METHODS:Experimental pancreatitis was induced by retrograde injection of 5% sodium taurocholate into the biliopancreatic duct.Emodin was injected via the external jugular vein 0 or 6 h after induction of AP.Rats from sham operation and AP groups were injected with normal saline at the same time.Samples of pancreas were obtained 6 or 12 h after drug administration.Pancreatic morphology was examined with hematoxylin and eosin staining.Pancreatic edema was estimated by measuring tissue water content.Tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-α and interleukin(IL)-6 level were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Pancreatic paracellular permeability was assessed by tissue dye extravasation.Expression of pancreatic claudin-5 and occludin was examined by immunohistology,quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blotting.RESULTS:Pancreatic TNF-α and IL-6 levels,wet/dry ratio,dye extravasation,and histological score were significantly elevated at 3,6 and 12 h following sodium taurocholate infusion;treatment with emodin prevented these changes at all time points.Immunostaining of claudin-5 and occludin was detected in rat pancreas,which was distributed in pancreatic acinar cells,ductal cells and vascular endothelial cells,respectively.Sodium taurocholate infusion significantly decreased pancreatic claudin-5 and occludin mRNA and protein levels at 3,6 and 12 h,and that could be promoted by intravenous administration of emodin at all time points.CONCLUSION:These results demonstrate that emodin could promote pancreatic claudin-5 and occludin expression,and reduce pancreatic paracellular permeability.

Modelling sediment delivery using connectivity components at the experimental SPA2 basin, Sicily(Italy)

Sediment delivery ratio can be used as a measure of sediment connectivity and it can be linked to the structural connectivity(morphological unit, slope length, slope steepness, travel time) of a basin and to the functional connectivity(rainfall-runoff processes at morphological unit scale). In this paper the sediment connectivity approach was applied at basin scale both using Sediment Delivery Distributed(SEDD) model, which takes into account the hillslope sediment transport, and sediment yield measurements carried out at SPA2 experimental basin(Sicily, Italy). The expression of the sediment delivery ratio SDRi of a morphological unit was modified for highlighting two components corresponding to the structural(SDR_(L,i)) and functional(SDR_(F,i)) sediment connectivity, respectively. For SPA2 basin the frequency distribution of the travel time of each morphological unit was used to estimate the coefficient βL of the structural component of the sediment delivery ratio of each morphological unit. Then, using the sediment yield measurements carried out at the outlet of the experimental SPA2 basin in the period April 2000-March 2015, the SEDD model was calibrated at event scale for estimating the coefficient βF of the functional component of the sediment delivery ratio. At event scale the developed analysis stated that the functional connectivity is dependent on the magnitude of erosion events. Intermediate and high events, which were characterized by the lowest values of the functional coefficient, determine a more high functional connectivity and are characterized by a more efficient sediment transport along the hillslopes. Finally, at annual scale, the model was calibrated for the period 2000-2015 and relationships for estimating the coefficient βF,a of the functional component of the sediment delivery ratio taking into account the intensity of erosion events occurring in each year were determined. At annual scale, the analysis demonstrated that the functional coefficient was always greater than the landscape coefficient and the sediment connectivity was always controlled by the low values of the functional component.

Chinese College Students Seeking Psychological Help From Professionals^Rationally Should but Emotionally not？

The purpose of the present research was to investigate the predictors to Chinese college students seeking psychological help from professionals. By surveying 1,408 Chinese college students at five universities in China's Mainland, the results showed that among the factors examined, problem severity and help-seeking attitudes directly predicted help-seeking intention, while gender and subjective norms had a significant effect on college students＇ professional psychological help-seeking intention through help-seeking attitudes. Overall, the model explained 25% and 38.0% （for half-1 and half-2 data sets, respectively） of the variances of help-seeking intention. The results indicated that mainland Chinese college students rationally knew that they should choose to seek such professional help when the problem got severer enough, although they were emotionally reluctant to seek professional psychological help due to negative subjective norms around them. The implications and limitations were discussed.

Study of risk acceptance criteria for dams

This paper discusses the methods of establishing risk criteria for dams and reviews the application of dam risk criteria for individuals and societies in different countries or districts. Given the conditions in China and considering the public safety and acceptance of dam risk, historical dam break data and current design standards, individual and societal risk criteria for dams are proposed. The tolerable dam risk criteria for individuals should be set to 10-5-10-7 per annum based on project scale, for ex- ample, approximately 1.0xl0 7 per annum, which corresponds to a reliability index of 4.2 based on a 100-year lifespan for a first-class or large project. The societal limit for risk tolerance for dams should be set to approximately 10-3-10-5 per annum, corresponding to the fatality range from 1 to 100 and be horizontally extended to 1000, and F-N curves are proposed. It was also found that the reliability indices of Chinese Standard （GB 50199-2013） and Eurocodel （2002） are different, but they have the same level of safety measured by the annual probability of failure. The research results have significance for establishing dam risk criteria.

FCSR PERIODIC MULTISEQUENCES WITH MAXIMAL JOINT N-ADIC COMPLEXITY AND LARGE k-ERROR JOINT N-ADIC COMPLEXITY OVER Z/(N)

Complexity measures for keystream multisequences over Z/(N) play a crucial role in designing good stream cipher systems. This correspondence shows a general upper bound on k-error joint N-adic complexity of periodic multisequences over Z/(N), and establishes the existence of periodic N-adic multisequences over Z/(N) which simultaneously possess maximal joint N-adic complexity and large k-error joint N-adic complexity. Under some conditions the overwhelming majority of all T-periodic N-adic multisequences over Z/(N) with maximal joint N-adic complexity logN(NT- 1)have a k-error joint N-adic complexity close to logN(NT- 1).

Scanning gate imaging of quantum point contacts and the origin of the 0.7 anomaly

The origin of the anomalous transport feature appearing at a conductance G 0.7× （2e2/h） in quasi-lD ballistic devices-the so-called 0.7 anomaly-represents a long standing puzzle. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain it, but a general consensus has not been achieved. Proposed explanations have been based on quantum interference, the Kondo effect, Wigner crystallization, and other phenomena. A key open issue is whether the point defects that can occur in these low-dimensional devices are the physical cause behind this conductance anomaly. Here we adopt a scanning gate microscopy technique to map individual impurity positions in several quasi-lD constrictions and correlate these with conductance characteristics. Our data demonstrate that the 0.7 anomaly can be observed irrespective of the presence of localized defects, and we conclude that the 0.7 anomaly is a fundamental property of low-dimensional systems.