Mutual regulation of microglia and astrocytes after Gas6 inhibits spinal cord injury

Invasive inflammation and excessive scar formation are the main reasons for the difficulty in repairing nervous tissue after spinal cord injury.Microglia and astrocytes play key roles in the spinal cord injury micro-environment and share a close interaction.However,the mechanisms involved remain unclear.In this study,we found that after spinal cord injury,resting microglia(M0)were polarized into pro-inflammatory phenotypes(MG1 and MG3),while resting astrocytes were polarized into reactive and scar-forming phenotypes.The expression of growth arrest-specific 6(Gas6)and its receptor Axl were significantly down-regulated in microglia and astrocytes after spinal cord injury.In vitro experiments showed that Gas6 had negative effects on the polarization of reactive astrocytes and pro-inflammatory microglia,and even inhibited the cross-regulation between them.We further demonstrated that Gas6 can inhibit the polarization of reactive astrocytes by suppressing the activation of the Yes-associated protein signaling pathway.This,in turn,inhibited the polarization of pro-inflammatory microglia by suppressing the activation of the nuclear factor-κB/p65 and Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription signaling pathways.In vivo experiments showed that Gas6 inhibited the polarization of pro-inflammatory microglia and reactive astrocytes in the injured spinal cord,thereby promoting tissue repair and motor function recovery.Overall,Gas6 may play a role in the treatment of spinal cord injury.It can inhibit the inflammatory pathway of microglia and polarization of astrocytes,attenuate the interaction between microglia and astrocytes in the inflammatory microenvironment,and thereby alleviate local inflammation and reduce scar formation in the spinal cord.

Effect of gas bubble on cell voltage oscillations based on equivalent circuit simulation in aluminum electrolysis cell

A method to investigate the effect of gas bubble on cell voltage oscillations was established. The whole aluminum electrolysis cell was treated as a resistance circuit, and the dynamic simulation of the cell equivalent circuit was modeled with Matlab/Simulink simulation software. The time-series signals of cell voltage and anode current were obtained under different bubble conditions, and analyzed by spectral and statistical analysis methods. The simulation results show that higher bubble release frequency has a significant effect on the cell voltage oscillations. When the bubble coverage of one anode block exceeds 80%, the cell voltage may exceed its normal fluctuation amplitude. The simulation also proves that the anode effect detected by computer in actual production is mainly the whole cell anode effect.

Effects of Freeze/Thaw Cycles and Gas Purging Method on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

At subzero temperature, the startup capability and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) deteriorates markedly. The object of this work is to study the degradation mechanism of key components of PEMFC-membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) and seek feasible measures to avoid degradation. The effect of freeze/thaw cycles on the structure of MEA is investigated based on porosity and SEM measurement. The performance of a single cell was also tested before and after repetitious freeze/thaw cycles. The experimental results indicated that the performance of a PEMFC decreased along with the total operating time as well as the pore size distribution shifting and micro configuration changing. However, when the redundant water had been removed by gas purging, the performance of the PEMFC stack was almost resumed when it experienced again the same subzero temperature test. These results show that it is necessary to remove the water in PEMFCs to maintain stable performance under subzero temperature and gas purging is proved to be the effective operation.

Key CO_(2)capture technology of pure oxygen exhaust gas combustion for syngas-fueled high-temperature fuel cells

Integrated gasification fuel cells(IGFCs)integrating high-temperature solid oxide fuel cell technology with CO_(2)capture processes represents highly-efficient power systems with negligible CO_(2)emissions.Flame burning with pure oxygen is an ideal method for fuel cell exhaust gas treatment,and this report describes experimental and numerical studies regarding an oxy-combustor for treating the exhaust gas of a 10 kW IGFC system anode.The applied simulation method was verified based on experiments,and the key performance indices of the combustor were studied under various conditions.It was determined that 315 K was the ideal condensation temperature to obtain flame stability.Under these pure oxygen flame burning conditions,CO was almost completely converted,and the dry mole fraction of CO_(2)after burning was C 0.958 when there was up to 5%excess O_(2).Overall,5%excess O_(2)was recommended to maximize CO_(2)capture and promote other environmental considerations.Additionally,the optimal tangential fuel jet angle to control the liner temperature was approximately 25°.The total fuel utilization had to be high enough to maintain the oxygen flame temperature of the anode exhaust gas below 1800 K to ensure that the system was environmentally friendly.The results presented herein have great value for designing IGFCs coupled with CO_(2)capture systems.

Effect of electromagnetic force and anode gas on electrolyte flow in aluminum electrolysis cell

Based on the commercial computational fluid dynamics software CFX-4.3, electrolyte flow fields in a 156 kA pre-baked anode aluminum electrolysis cell were investigated in three different cases where the electrolyte melt was driven by different kinds of force, i.e. electromagnetic force only, the anode gas drag force only and both of the former two forces. The results show that when electromagnetic force was introduced only, most of the electrolyte moves horizontally; when anode gas drag force was introduced only, the electrolyte flows mainly around each anode with small circulation; when electromagnetic force and anode gas drag force were both introduced together, the structure of the electrolyte flow fields and the velocity of electrolyte are similar to that of the case where only anode gas drag force is used. The electrolyte flow fields are mainly determined by the anode gas drag force.

Electromotive Force for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Using Biomass Produced Gas as Fuel

The electromotive force （e.m.f.） of solid oxide fuel cells using biomass produced gas （BPG） as the fuels is calculated at 700-1,200 K using an in-house computer program, based on thermodynamic equilibrium analysis. Tour program also predicts the concentration of oxygen in the fuel chamber as well as the concentration of equilibrium species such as H2, CO, CO2 and CH4. Compared with using hydrogen as a fuel, the e.m.f. for cells using BPG as the fuels is relative low and strongly influenced by carbon deposition. To remove carbon deposition, the optimum amount of H2O to add is determined at various operating temperatures. Further the e.m.f, for cells based on yttria stabilized zirconia and doped ceria as electrolytes are compared. The study reveals that when using BPG as fuel, the depression of e.m.f, for a SOFC using doped ceria as electrolyte is relatively small when compared with that using Yttria stabilized zirconia.

Optimum Optical Length of the Gas Cell Used for Monitoring Gas-In-Oil with FTIR

Dedicated experiments are designed to collect the infrared spectra of dissolved gas-in-oil of power transformers. Spectra of diagnostic gases are collected by 3 different laboratorial FTIR spectrometers using 3 different gas cells with various sets of equipment parameters. A formula is deduced to calculate the shortest optical length to detect a specific concentration according to measurements on gases with known concentrations near to the minimum detection limit. Collected spectra and calculated results suggested that the optimum optical length of the gas cell should be 150 mm to realize on-line monitoring of diagnostic gases within the required concentration range. At the end, an economic novel design of the gas cell is proposed based on the optimum length.

Enhancement of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Performance Using a Novel Tapered Gas Channel

Based on use of multi-dimensional models,this investigation simulates the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell by varying the channel pattern.In the one-dimensional model,the porosity of the gas diffusion layer is 0.3.The model reveals the water vapor distribution of the fuel cell and demonstrates that the amount of water vapor increases linearly with the reduction reaction adjacent to the gas channel and the gas diffusion layer.Secondly,four novel tapered gas channels are simulated by a two-dimensional model.The model considers the distributions of oxygen,the pressure drop,the amount of water vapor distribution and the polarization curves.The results indicate that as the channel depth decreases,the oxygen in the tapered gas channel can be accel-erated and forced into the gas diffusion layer to improve the cell performance.The three-dimensional model is employed to simulate the phenomenon associated with four novel tapered gas channels.The results also show that the best performance is realized in the least tapered gas channel.Finally,an experimentally determined mechanism is found to be consistent with the results of the simulation.

Gas6-Tyro3 signaling is required for Schwann cell myelination and possible remyelination

Myelin plays important roles in vertebrates,ensuring the rapid propagation of action potentials and the long-term integrity of axons,but the molecular mechanisms of myelin formation remain poorly understood.Recent studies have demonstrated that myelination is regulated by the TYRO3,AXL（also known as UFO）and MERTK.

A 10kW-scale Distributed Power Plant of Natural Gas-Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

A 10 kW-scale natural gas fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) distributed power plant is presented in this paper,which is designed for cogeneration of power and heat. With homemade catalysts for CO removal in a two-stage methanation process and integrated reactor in the fuel processing system,the reformed fuel with CO molar fraction less than 10-5 is obtained for the fuel cell stack. Based on Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow and xPC Target platform,a rapid control prototype(RCP) is developed for real-time condition management,signal tracking and parameter tuning,data storing,and man-machine interaction. In a typical running with 4.3 kW stack power,the hydrogen production efficiency,gross power generation efficiency and heat recovery efficiency approach to 76%,41% and 50%,respectively. The peak stack power reaches 7.3 kW. Though there is still considerable dis-tance to long-term operation at 10 kW-scale net power generation,it is a milestone for the PEMFC-based stationary application in China.

Characterizing passive coherent population trapping resonance in a cesium vapor cell filled with neon buffer gas

We present a pair of phase-locked lasers with a 9.2-GHz frequency difference through the injection locking of a master laser to the RF-modulation sideband of a slave diode laser. Using this laser system, a coherent population trapping （CPT） signal with a typical linewidth of ～ 182 Hz is obtained in a cesium vapor cell filled with 30 Torr （4kPa） of neon as the buffer gas. We investigate the influence of the partial pressure of the neon buffer gas on the CPT linewidth, amplitude, and frequency shift. The results may offer some references for CPT atomic clocks and CPT atomic magnetometers.

CFD simulation of effect of anode configuration on gas–liquid flow and alumina transport process in an aluminum reduction cell

Numerical simulations of gas–liquid two-phase flow and alumina transport process in an aluminum reduction cell were conducted to investigate the effects of anode configurations on the bath flow, gas volume fraction and alumina content distributions. An Euler–Euler two-fluid model was employed coupled with a species transport equation for alumina content. Three different anode configurations such as anode without a slot, anode with a longitudinal slot and anode with a transversal slot were studied in the simulation. The simulation results clearly show that the slots can reduce the bath velocity and promote the releasing of the anode gas, but can not contribute to the uniformity of the alumina content. Comparisons of the effects between the longitudinal and transversal slots indicate that the longitudinal slot is better in terms of gas–liquid flow but is disadvantageous for alumina mixing and transport process due to a decrease of anode gas under the anode bottom surface. It is demonstrated from the simulations that the mixing and transfer characteristics of alumina are controlled to great extent by the anode gas forces while the electromagnetic forces(EMFs) play the second role.

A highly sensitive LITES sensor based on a multi-pass cell with dense spot pattern and a novel quartz tuning fork with low frequency

A highly sensitive light-induced thermoelectric spectroscopy(LITES)sensor based on a multi-pass cell(MPC)with dense spot pattern and a novel quartz tuning fork(QTF)with low resonance frequency is reported in this manuscript.An erbi-um-doped fiber amplifier(EDFA)was employed to amplify the output optical power so that the signal level was further enhanced.The optical path length(OPL)and the ratio of optical path length to volume(RLV)of the MPC is 37.7 m and 13.8 cm^(-2),respectively.A commercial QTF and a self-designed trapezoidal-tip QTF with low frequency of 9461.83 Hz were used as the detectors of the sensor,respectively.The target gas selected to test the performance of the system was acetylene(C2H2).When the optical power was constant at 1000 mW,the minimum detection limit(MDL)of the C2H2-LITES sensor can be achieved 48.3 ppb when using the commercial QTF and 24.6 ppb when using the trapezoid-al-tip QTF.An improvement of the detection performance by a factor of 1.96 was achieved after replacing the commer-cial QTF with the trapezoidal-tip QTF.

Influence of the total gas flow rate on high rate growth microcrystalline silicon films and solar cells

This paper reports that high-rate-deposition of microcrystalline silicon solar cells was performed by very-highfrequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. These solar cells, whose intrinsic μc-Si：H layers were prepared by using a different total gas flow rate （Ftotal）, behave much differently in performance, although their intrinsic layers have similar crystalline volume fraction, opto-electronic properties and a deposition rate of - 1.0 nm/s. The influence of Ftotal on the micro-structural properties was analyzed by Raman and Fourier transformed infrared measurements. The results showed that the vertical uniformity and the compact degree of μc-Si：H thin films were improved with increasing Ftotal. The variation of the microstructure was regarded as the main reason for the difference of the J V parameters. Combined with optical emission spectroscopy, we found that the gas temperature plays an important role in determining the microstructure of thin films. With Ftotal of 300 sccm, a conversion efficiency of 8.11% has been obtained for the intrinsic layer deposited at 8.5 A/s （1 A=0.1 nm）.

Differentiations of 5-HT and GAS cells in the digestive canals of Rana chensinensis tadpoles

In the current study, 5-nydroxytryptamine （5-HT） and gastrin （GAS） cells in the digestive canals of Rana chensinensis tadpoles at different developmental stages were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Results showed that the 5-HT cells were only detected in the duodenum before metamorphosis began, and were extensively distributed in the stomach, duodenum, small intestine, and rectum thereafter, with the highest counts found in the duodenum and rectum when metamorphosis was completed. The GAS cells were only distributed in the stomach and duodenum, and only rarely detected in the duodenum before metamorphosis began, but increased in the stomach during metamorphosis and showed zonal distribution in the gastric mucosa when metamorphosis was completed. Metamorphosis is a critical period for amphibians, during which structural and functional physiological adaptations are required to transition from aquatic to terrestrial environments. During metamorphosis, the differentiations of 5-HT cells in the gastrointestinal canals of tadpoles could facilitate mucus secretion regulation, improve digestive canal lubrication, and help water- shortage food digestion in terrestrial environments. Conversely, GAS cell differentiations during metamorphosis might contribute to the digestive and absorptive function transition from herbivore to omnivore.

Design and optimization of electrochemical cell potential for hydrogen gas production

This study deals with the optimization of best working conditions in molten melt for the production of hydrogen(H2) gas.Limited research has been carried out on how electrochemical process occurs through steam splitting via molten hydroxide.54 combinations of cathode,anode,temperature and voltage have been investigated for the optimization of best working conditions with molten hydroxide for hydrogen gas production.All these electrochemical investigations were carried out at 225 to 300℃ temperature and 1.5 to 2.5 V applied voltage values.The current efficiency of 90.5,80.0 and 68.6% has been achieved using stainless steel anodic cell with nickel,stainless steel and platinum working cathode respectively.For nickel cathode,an increase in the current directly affected the hydrogen gas flow rate at cathode.It can be hypothesized from the noted results that increase in current is directly proportional to operating temperature and applied voltage.Higher values were noted when the applied voltages increased from 1.5 to 2.5 V at 300℃,the flow rate of hydrogen gas increased from 1.5 to 11.3 cm^(3) min^(-1),1.0 to 13 cm^(3) min^(-1) in case of electrolysis@stainless steel and@graphite anode respectively.It is observed that the current efficiency of stainless steel anodic cell was higher than the graphite anodic cell.Therefore,steam splitting with the help of molten salts has shown an encouraging alternate to current methodology for H2 fuel production.

Effects of Freeze/Thaw Cycles and Gas Purging Method on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

At subzero temperature, the startup capability and performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell PEMFC deteriorates markedly. The object of this work is to study the degradation mechanism of key compo- nents of PEMFC—membrane-electrode assembly MEA and seek feasible measures to avoid degradation. The ef- fect of freezethaw cycles on the structure of MEA is investigated based on porosity and SEM measurement. The performance of a single cell was also tested before and after repetitious freezethaw cycles. The experimental results indicated that the performance of a PEMFC decreased along with the total operating time as well as the pore size distribution shifting and micro configuration changing. However, when the redundant water had been removed by gas purging, the performance of the PEMFC stack was almost resumed when it experienced again the same subzero temperature test. These results show that it is necessary to remove the water in PEMFCs to maintain stable per- formance under subzero temperature and gas purging is proved to be the effective operation.

Effects of long non-coding RNA GAS5 on proliferation and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through miR-26a-5p action

Objective Long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs)regulate tumor development and progression by promoting tumor proliferation,invasion,and metastasis.The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of lncRNA growth arrest-special 5(GAS5)on proliferation and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)cells through miR-26a-5p action.Methods Expression levels of GAS5 were detected in cancerous and paracancerous tissue of 80 HCC patients by RT-qPCR.The starBase tool predicted that GAS5 had binding sites for the miRNA miR-26a-5p,which was also highly expressed in HCC tissue.The relationship between GAS5 and miR-26a-5p was confirmed using a luciferase reporter assay.The role of these lncRNAs was further explored by transfecting plasmids into SMMC-7721 cells and classifying the cells as follows:NC group,GAS5 group,anti-miR-26a-5p group,and GAS5+miR-26a-5p group.Cell proliferation,cell cycle,and apoptosis were detected in each group.The relationship between miR-26a-5p and phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10(PTEN)was analyzed by TargetScan database prediction and luciferase reporter assay.Western blotting was used to quantify PTEN,phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K),phosphorylated protein kinase B(p-Akt),cyclin D1,and human P27 protein(P27).Results GAS5 was downregulated,while miR-26a-5p was upregulated in HCC tissue compared to in paracancerous tissue.High GAS5 levels and low miR-26a-5p levels inhibited cell proliferation,increased the number of G0/G1 phase cells,promoted cell apoptosis,promoted PTEN and P27 expression,and inhibited PI3K,P-Akt,and cyclin D1 expression at the protein level.Upregulation of miR-26a-5p attenuated the effects of GAS5 upregulation on the proliferation,cell cycle,and apoptosis of HCC cells and on the expression of PTNE/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway-related proteins.Conclusion Low GAS5 levels regulate the proliferation and apoptosis of HCC cells via the PTNE/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and are linked to upregulation of miR-26a-5p.

Cell Gas Free Energy as an Approximation of the Continuous Model

A continuous infinite system of point particles interacting via two-body strong superstable potential is considered in the framework of cell gas (CG) model of classical statistical mechanics. We consider free energy of this model as an approximation of the correspondent value of the continuous system. It converges to the free energy of the conventional continuous gas if the parameter of approximation α→0 for any values of an inverse temperature β>0 and volume per particle ν>0.

Ionic Conduction and Fuel Cell Performance of Ba0.98Ce0.8Tm0.2O3-α Ceramic

The perovskite-type oxide solid solution Ba0.98Ce0.8Tm0.2O3-α was prepared by high temperature solid-state reaction and its single phase character was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The conduction property of the sample was investigated by alternating current impedance spectroscopy and gas concentration cell methods under different gases atmospheres in the temperature range of 500-900 ℃. The performance of the hydrogen-air fuel cell using the sample as solid electrolyte was measured. In wet hydrogen, the sample is a pure protonic conductor with the protonic transport number of 1 in the range of 500-600 ℃, a mixed conductor of proton and electron with the protonic transport number of 0.945-0.933 above 600 ℃. In wet air, the sample is a mixed conductor of proton, oxide ion, and electronic hole. The protonic transport numbers are 0.010-0.021, and the oxide ionic transport numbers are 0.471-0.382. In hydrogen-air fuel cell, the sample is a mixed conductor of proton, oxide ion and electron, the ionic transport numbers are 0.942 0.885. The fuel cell using Ba0.98Ce0.8Tm0.2O3-α as solid electrolyte can work stably. At 900 ℃, the maximum power output density is 110,2 mW/cm2, which is higher than that of our previous cell using Ba0.98Ce0.8Tm0.2O3-α （x〈≤1, RE=Y, Eu, Ho） as solid electrolyte.