Anti-Inflammatory Activities of the Ethanol Extract of Prasiola japonica,an Edible Freshwater Green Algae,and Its Various Solvent Fractions in LPS-Induced Macrophages and Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema via the AP-1 Pathway

Prasiola japonica possesses several biological activities. However, reports on the anti-inflammatory activities and molecular mechanisms of its different solvent fractions remain limited. In this study, we investigated the potential anti-inflammatory activities of P. japonica ethanol extract (Pj-EE) and four solvent fractions of Pj-EE made with hexane (Pj-EE-HF), chloroform (Pj-EE-CF), butanol (Pj-EE-BF), or water (Pj-EE-WF) in both in vitro (LPS-induced macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells) and in vivo (carrageenan-induced acute paw edema mouse models) experiments. The most active solvent fraction was selected for further analysis. Various in vitro and in vivo assessments, including nitric oxide (NO), cytokines, luciferase assays, real-time polymerase chain reactions, and immunoblotting analyses were performed to evaluate the underlying mechanisms. In addition, the phytochemical constituents were characterized by Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. In in vitro studies, the highest inhibition of NO production was observed in Pj-EE-CF. Further examination revealed that Pj-EE-CF decreased the expression of inflammation-related cytokines in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells and suppressed subsequent AP-1-luciferase activity by inhibition of phosphorylation events in the AP-1 signaling pathway. Pj-EE-CF treatment also demonstrated the strongest reduction in thickness and volume of carrageenan-induced paw edema, while Pj-EE-BF showed the lowest activity. Furthermore, Pj-EE-CF also reduced gene expression and cytokines production in tissue lysates of carrageenan-induced paw edema. These findings support and validate the evidence that Pj-EE, and especially Pj-EE-CF, could be a good natural source for an anti-inflammatory agent that targets the AP1 pathway.     

Thermal Hysteresis Accompanying Incommensurate-Commensurate Phase Transition in Mixed Crystals (K1-xCsx)2ZnCl4

The mixed crystal (K_1-xCs_x)₂ZnCl₄ with x = 0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, and 0.2 with optical quality has been grown by the Czochralski method. Using the Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), we determined the amount of Cs ion included in the mixed crystal. By using of DTA and DSC, we observed the change of T_c and T_i. The thermal hysteresis in the dielectric constants show strong dependence on the thermal process and on the amount of impurity which are explained by the influence of the thermal process and impurity, respectively on the creation, annihilation, and growth of discommensuration (DC).     

Efficient deep blue organic light emitting diodes based on [2,7,7,13,13-pentamethyl-9-(10-phenylanthracen-9-yl)-7,13-dihydrobenzo[5,6]-s-indaceno[1,2-g]quinoline] derivatives

Abstract

In this study, as the ongoing effort to develop efficient blue OLEDs, two deep blue emitters based on indenoquinoline-substituted anthracene derivatives have been synthesized and characterized. Multilayer organic light emitting diodes were fabricated with the following sequence: indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/4,4’,4’’-tris[2-naphthyl(phenyl)amino (2-TNATA)/4,4’-bis(N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino) biphenyl (NPB)/Blue emitting materials/Bathophenanthroline (Bphen)/lithium quinolate (Liq)/Al. All the devices showed efficient blue emissions. Particularly, a device using ‘2,7,7,13,13-pentamethyl-9-(10-phenylanthracen-9-yl)?7,13-dihydrobenzo[5,6]-s-indaceno[1,2-g] quinoline’ as an emitter showed a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 4.92% with the Commission Internationale De L’Énclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.15, 0.10) at 8.0?V.     

Entropy Could Quantify Brain Activation Induced by Mechanical Impedance-Restrained Active Arm Motion: A Functional NIRS Study

Brain activation has been used to understand brain-level events associated with cognitive tasks or physical tasks. As a quantitative measure for brain activation, we propose entropy in place of signal amplitude and beta value, which are widely used, but sometimes criticized for their limitations and shortcomings as such measures. To investigate the relevance of our proposition, we provided 22 subjects with physical stimuli through elbow extension-flexion motions by using our exoskeleton robot, measured brain activation in terms of entropy, signal amplitude, and beta value; and compared entropy with the other two. The results show that entropy is superior, in that its change appeared in limited, well established, motor areas, while signal amplitude and beta value changes appeared in a widespread fashion, contradicting the modularity theory. Entropy can predict increase in brain activation with task duration, while the other two cannot. When stimuli shifted from the rest state to the task state, entropy exhibited a similar increase as the other two did. Although entropy showed only a part of the phenomenon induced by task strength, it showed superiority by showing a decrease in brain activation that the other two did not show. Moreover, entropy was capable of identifying the physiologically important location.     

Synthesis and size control of monodisperse copper nanoparticles by polyol method

We describe herein the synthesis of metallic copper nanoparticles in the presence of poly(vinylpyrrolidone), employed as a protecting agent, via a polyol method in ambient atmosphere. The obtained copper particles were confirmed by XRD to be crystalline copper with a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. We observed monodisperse spherical copper nanoparticles with a diameter range 45+/-8 nm. The particle size and its distribution are controlled by varying the synthesis parameters such as the reducing agent concentration, reaction temperature, and precursor injection rate. The precursor injection rate plays an important role in controlling the size of the copper nanoparticles. On the basis of XPS and HRTEM results, we demonstrate that the surface of the copper is surrounded by amorphous CuO and that poly(vinylpyrrolidone) is chemisorbed on the copper surface.     

Role of the interface in multicomponent materials

Studies of the relationship between interfacial structure and mechanical properties in multicomponent materials are reviewed in this article. The following categories are considered for role of the interface in multicomponent systems: Interpenetrating polymer network(IPN), catalytic effect of silane coupling agent, morphological differences of filler surface, particle-particle interaction and particle size of the filler. The interfacial role in terms of the reinforcement mechanism of the composite and the behavior in the melt state is also discussed in the multicomponent system.     

Influence of ligands on the photoluminescent properties of Eu in europium β-diketonate/PMMA-doped systems

Three kinds of europium β-diketonates Eu(DBM)₃, Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ (DBM: Dibenzoylmethane; BA: 1-Benzoylacetone; TTA: Thenoyltrifluoroacetone) were doped in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix. The doped systems were studied by using photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy, emission decay experiments and X-ray diffractometry. Eu(III) ions in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems have two distinct symmetric sites and the emission band changes greatly with the compositions. Eu(III) in the Eu(BA)₃/PMMA systems gives only one symmetric site in the doped systems and the emission band changes slightly with the compositions. Although two distinct symmetric sites of Eu(III) can be distinguished in the doped systems of Eu(TTA)₃/PMMA, the two sites have similar ⁵D₀ lifetimes and the luminescent spectra almost do not change with the compositions. XRD reveals that crystallites were formed in the doped Eu(DBM)₃/PMMA systems that have different crystalline structure from that of the chelate, and Eu(BA)₃ and Eu(TTA)₃ exist in amorphous state in the doped systems. The difference between the PL properties and structures of the doped systems for the three kinds of chelates should be attributed to different interactions between the chelate molecules and between the chelate and PMMA.     

Holography of massive M2-brane theory: non-linear extension

We investigate the gauge/gravity duality between the \(\mathcal{N} = 6\) mass-deformed ABJM theory with \(\hbox {U}_k(N)\times \hbox {U}_{-k}(N)\) gauge symmetry and the 11-dimensional supergravity on LLM geometries with SO(2,1)\(\times \)SO(4)/\({\mathbb {Z}}_k\) \(\times \)SO(4)/\({\mathbb {Z}}_k\) isometry, in terms of a KK holography, which involves quadratic order field redefinitions. We establish the quadratic order KK mappings for various gauge invariant fields in order to obtain the canonical 4-dimensional gravity equations of motion and to reduce the LLM solutions to an asymptotically AdS\(_4\) gravity solutions. The non-linearity of the KK maps indicates that we can observe the true purpose of the non-linear KK holography of the LLM solutions. We read the vacuum expectation value of conformal dimension two operator from the asymptotically AdS\(_4\) gravity solutions. For the LLM solutions which are represented by square-shaped Young diagrams, we compare the vacuum expectation value obtained from the holographic procedure with the result obtained from the field theory, which is given by \(\langle \mathcal{O}^{(\Delta =2)}\rangle =\sqrt{k}N^{\frac{3}{2}}f_{(\Delta =2)}+\mathcal{O}(N)\), where \(f_{\Delta }\) is independent of N. Based on this result, we examine the gauge/gravity duality in the large N limit and finite k. We also show that the vacuum expectation values of the massive KK graviton modes are vanishing as expected by the supersymmetry.     

Investigation of the transverse beam dynamics in the thermal wave model with a functional method

We investigated the transverse beam dynamics in a thermal wave model by using a functional method. It can describe the beam optical elements separately with a kernel for a component. The method can be applied to general quadrupole magnets beyond a thin lens approximation as well as drift spaces. We found that the model can successfully describe the PARMILA simulation result through an FODO lattice structure for the Gaussian input beam without space charge effects.     

广义Birkhoff系统动力学的一类逆问题

针对广义Birkhoff系统动力学,提出广义Birkhoff系统动力学的一类逆问题,研究由已知积分流形来建立广义Birkhoff方程. 这类逆问题的解通常不是唯一的,需给出必要的补充要求. 最后举例说明结果的应用. 关键词： 广义Birkhoff系统 动力学逆问题 积分流形