Imprinting modulates processing of visual information in the visual wulst of chicks

Background

Results of the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) raised concerns regarding the timing and formulation of hormone interventions. Conjugated equine estrogens (CEE), used as the estrogen therapy in the WHIMS trial, is a complex formulation containing multiple estrogens, including several not secreted by human ovaries, as well as other biologically active steroids. Although the full spectrum of estrogenic components present in CEE has not yet been resolved, 10 estrogens have been identified. In the present study, we sought to determine which estrogenic components, at concentrations commensurate with their plasma levels achieved following a single oral dose of 0.625 mg CEE (the dose used in the WHIMS trial) in women, are neuroprotective and whether combinations of those neuroprotective estrogens provide added benefit. Further, we sought, through computer-aided modeling analyses, to investigate the potential correlation of the molecular mechanisms that conferred estrogen neuroprotection with estrogen interactions with the estrogen receptor (ER).

Results

Cultured basal forebrain neurons were exposed to either β-amyloid_25–35 or excitotoxic glutamate with or without pretreatment with estrogens followed by neuroprotection analyses. Three indicators of neuroprotection that rely on different aspects of neuronal damage and viability, LDH release, intracellular ATP level and MTT formazan formation, were used to assess neuroprotective efficacy. Results of these analyses indicate that the estrogens, 17α-estradiol, 17β-estradiol, equilin, 17α-dihydroequilin, equilinen, 17α-dihydroequilenin, 17β-dihydroequilenin, and Δ^8,9-dehydroestrone were each significantly neuroprotective in reducing neuronal plasma membrane damage induced by glutamate excitotoxicity. Of these estrogens, 17β-estradiol and Δ^8,9-dehydroestrone were effective in protecting neurons against β-amyloid_25–35-induced intracellular ATP decline. Coadministration of two out of three neuroprotective estrogens, 17β-estradiol, equilin and Δ^8,9-dehydroestrone, exerted greater neuroprotective efficacy than individual estrogens. Computer-aided analyses to determine structure/function relationships between the estrogenic structures and their neuroprotective activity revealed that the predicted intermolecular interactions of estrogen analogues with ER correlate to their overall neuroprotective efficacy.

Conclusion

The present study provides the first documentation of the neuroprotective profile of individual estrogens contained within the complex formulation of CEE at concentrations commensurate with their plasma levels achieved after an oral administration of 0.625 mg CEE in women. Our analyses demonstrate that select estrogens within the complex formulation of CEE contribute to its neuroprotective efficacy. Moreover, our data predict that the magnitude of neuroprotection induced by individual estrogens at relatively low concentrations may be clinically undetectable and ineffective, whereas, a combination of select neuroprotective estrogens could provide an increased and clinically meaningful efficacy. More importantly, these data suggest a strategy for determining neurological efficacy and rational design and development of a composition of estrogen therapy to alleviate climacteric symptoms, promote neurological health, and prevent age-related neurodegeneration, such as AD, in postmenopausal women.     

Imprinting modulates processing of visual information in the visual wulst of chicks

Background  

Imprinting behavior is one form of learning and memory in precocial birds. With the aim of elucidating of the neural basis for visual imprinting, we focused on visual information processing.     

Epoc group: transformable protecting group with gold(iii)-catalyzed fluorene formation

This study presents the novel concept of a transformable protecting group, which changes its properties through structural transformation. Based on this concept, we developed a 2-(2-ethynylphenyl)-2-(5-methylfuran-2-yl)-ethoxycarbonyl (Epoc) group. The Epoc group was transformed into an Fmoc-like structure with gold(iii)-catalyzed fluorene formation and was removable under Fmoc-like mild basic conditions post-transformation even though it was originally stable under strongly basic conditions. As an application for organic synthesis, the Epoc group provides the novel orthogonality of gold(iii)-labile protecting groups in solid-phase peptide synthesis. In addition, the high turnover number of fluorene formation in aqueous media is suggestive of the applicability of the Epoc group to biological systems.

A protecting group removable with gold(iii)-catalyzed fluorene formation and the subsequent addition of piperidine was developed.     

Eventually positive solutions of first order nonlinear differential equations with a deviating argument

The following first order nonlinear differential equation with a deviating argument $ x'(t) + p(t)[x(\tau (t))]^\alpha = 0 $ is considered, where α > 0, α ≠ 1, p ∈ C[t ₀; ∞), p(t) > 0 for t ≧ t ₀, τ ∈ C[t ₀; ∞), lim _t→∞ τ(t) = ∞, τ(t) < t for t ≧ t ₀. Every eventually positive solution x(t) satisfying lim _t→∞ x(t) ≧ 0. The structure of solutions x(t) satisfying lim _t→∞ x(t) > 0 is well known. In this paper we study the existence, nonexistence and asymptotic behavior of eventually positive solutions x(t) satisfying lim _t→∞ x(t) = 0.     

Shape-memorizable styrene-butadiene block copolymer. I. Thermal and mechanical behaviors and structural change with deformation

Thermal properties in the range from room temperature to 150°C, mechanical properties from room temperature to 80°C, and structural changes by drawing and contraction at 80°C followed by crystallization have been studied in a crystalline styrene-butadiene block copolymer, which has the property of shape memory, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), mechanical analysis, wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), and smallangle x-ray scattering (SAXS). This copolymer has the crystal transformation temperature, the melting temperature of the trans- 1,4-polybutadiene domains, and the higher glass transition temperature of the polystyrene domains. When a high strain is adopted for the deformation at 80°C (i.e., between the melting temperature of the polybutadiene [PB] domains and the glass transition temperature of the polystyrene regions) and crystallization conditions with fixed ends are employed, a fibrillar structure with a better regularity of long spacings and a high orientation of crystals forms. When the drawn sample is allowed to contract at 80°C, the high contraction or the shape recovery appears. Nevertheless, crystallization after contraction presents essentially the same supermolecular structure as that before contraction. It is suggested that the molecular chains of polybutadiene were inhibited from flowing freely by the glassy polystyrene molecules and that there must be some structural units separated by amorphous domains that contribute to the elongation and contraction at the high temperature.     

Ellagitannin Digestion in Moth Larvae and a New Dimeric Ellagitannin from the Leaves of Platycarya strobilacea

Ellagitannins (ETs) are plant polyphenols with various health benefits. Recent studies have indicated that the biological activities of ETs are attributable to their degradation products, including ellagic acid and its gut microflora metabolites, such as urolithins. Insect tea produced in the Guangxi region, China, is made from the frass of moth larvae that feed on the ET-rich leaves of Platycarya strobilacea. Chromatographic separation of the Guangxi insect tea showed that the major phenolic constituents are ellagic acid, brevifolin carboxylic acid, gallic acid, brevifolin, and polymeric polyphenols. Chemical investigation of the feed of the larvae, the fresh leaves of P. strobilacea, showed that the major polyphenols are ETs including pedunculagin, casuarictin, strictinin, and a new ET named platycaryanin E. The new ET was confirmed as a dimer of strictinin having a tergalloyl group. The insect tea and the leaves of P. strobilacea contained polymeric polyphenols, both of which were shown to be composed of ETs and proanthocyanidins by acid hydrolysis and thiol degradation. This study clarified that Guangxi insect tea contains ET metabolites produced in the digestive tract of moth larvae, and the metabolites probably have higher bioavailabilities than the original large-molecular ETs of the leaves of P. strobilacea.     

DE-Sinc methods have almost the same convergence property as SE-Sinc methods even for a family of functions fitting the SE-Sinc methods

In this paper, the theoretical convergence rate of the trapezoidal rule combined with the double-exponential (DE) transformation is given for a class of functions for which the single-exponential (SE) transformation is suitable. It is well known that the DE transformation enables the rule to achieve a much higher rate of convergence than the SE transformation, and the convergence rate has been analyzed and justified theoretically under a proper assumption. Here, it should be emphasized that the assumption is more severe than the one for the SE transformation, and there actually exist some examples such that the trapezoidal rule with the SE transformation achieves its usual rate, whereas the rule with DE does not. Such cases have been observed numerically, but no theoretical analysis has been given thus far. This paper reveals the theoretical rate of convergence in such cases, and it turns out that the DE’s rate is almost the same as, but slightly lower than that of the SE. By using the analysis technique developed here, the theoretical convergence rate of the Sinc approximation with the DE transformation is also given for a class of functions for which the SE transformation is suitable. The result is quite similar to above; the convergence rate in the DE case is slightly lower than in the SE case. Numerical examples which support those two theoretical results are also given.     

The Local Trace Inequality for Potential Type Integral Operators

The local trace inequality for potential type integral operator is shown and the trace inequality in the framework of Morrey spaces is obtained. A sufficient condition for the equivalence between the Kerman–Sawyer condition and the Adams condition is also presented.     

Construction of isostructural hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks: limitations and possibilities of pore expansion

The library of isostructural porous frameworks enables a systematic survey to optimize the structure and functionality of porous materials. In contrary to metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a handful of isostructural frameworks have been reported for hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) due to the weakness of the bonds. Herein, we provide a rule-of-thumb to develop isostructural HOFs, where we demonstrate the construction of the third and fourth generation of isostructural HAT-based HOFs (TolHAT-1 and ThiaHAT-1) by considering three important structural factors, that are (1) directional H-bonding, (2) shape-fitted docking of the HAT core, and (3) modulation of peripheral moieties. Their structural and photo-physical properties including HCl vapor detection are presented. Moreover, TolHAT-1, ThiaHAT-1, and other isostructural HOFs (CPHAT-1 and CBPHAT-1) were thoroughly compared from the viewpoints of structures and properties. Importantly, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation proves to be rationally capable of evaluating the stability of isostructural HOFs. These results can accelerate the development of various isostructural molecular porous materials.

The library of isostructural porous frameworks enables a systematic survey to optimize the structure and functionality of porous materials.     

Effect of Sn and Nb on generalized stacking fault energy surfaces in zirconium and gamma hydride habit planes

We have investigated the effects of Sn and Nb on dislocation properties in a Zr lattice to elucidate the role of these alloying elements in hydride nucleation processes. According to experimental observations, γ-hydride habit planes are close to the prismatic plane in pure Zr and close to the basal plane in Zircaloy. Dislocation loops are observed around hydride precipitates, implying they play a part in hydride formation. Our ab initio generalized stacking-fault energy calculations showed remarkable effects of Sn on unstable-stacking energy and stacking-fault energy: these parameters for basal slip were considerably reduced while those for prismatic slip were increased in the presence of Sn. These results suggest selective stabilization and enhancement of dislocation spreading in the basal plane, promoting possible elementary processes of hydride precipitation with basal habit plane, i.e. screw-dislocation spreading and edge-dislocation emission in the basal plane.