Longer Time Window Research Articles

Enzyme-Controlled Intracellular Self-Assembly of (18)F Nanoparticles for Enhanced MicroPET Imaging of Tumor.

Herein, we report the development of a new “smart” radioactive probe (i.e., 1) which can undergo furin-controlled condensation and self-assembly of radioactive nanoparticles (i.e., 1-NPs) in tumor cells and its application for enhanced microPET imaging of tumors in nude mice co-injected with its cold analog (i.e., 1-Cold). Furin-controlled condensation of 1-Cold and self-assembly of its nanoparticles (i.e., 1-Cold-NPs) in vitro were validated and characterized with HPLC, mass spectra, SEM, and TEM analyses. Cell uptake studies showed that both 1 and 1-Cold have good cell permeability. TEM images of 1-Cold-treated MDA-MB-468 cells directly uncovered that the intracellular 1-Cold-NPs were at/near the location of furin (i.e., Golgi bodies). MTT results indicated that 50 µM 1-Cold did not impose cytotoxicity to MDA-MB-468 cells up to 12 hours. MicroPET imaging of MDA-MB-468 tumor-bearing mice indicated that mice co-injected with 1 and 1-Cold showed higher uptake and longer attenuation of the radioactivity in tumors than those mice only injected with same dosage of 1. Tumor uptake ratios of 1 between these two groups of mice reached the maximum of 8.2 folds at 240 min post injection. Biodistribution study indicated that the uptake ratios of 1 in kidneys between these two groups continuously increased and reached 81.9 folds at 240 min post injection, suggesting the formation of radioactive NPs (i.e., 1-NPs) in MDA-MB-468 tumors of mice co-injected with 1 and 1-Cold. And the nanoparticles were slowly digested and secreted from the tumors, accumulating in the kidneys. Our ''smart'' probe (i.e., 1), together with the strategy of co-injection, might help researchers trace the biomarkers of interest within a longer time window.

Vessel occlusion, penumbra, and reperfusion - translating theory to practice.

The management of ischemic stroke is at a critical juncture. Administration of intravenous tPA is currently restricted to within 4.5 h from stroke onset with several trials in longer time windows proving neutral (1, 2). Revascularization success with tPA in major vessel occlusion is widely recognized as suboptimal (3). Alternative thrombolytic agents with theoretical efficacy advantages such as tenecteplase and desmoteplase are yet to show benefit in phase 3 trials. The promise of endovascular therapy has also yet to translate into positive randomized trials (4–6), although a new generation of devices is currently being studied. While it is possible that these therapeutic approaches are simply ineffective, the heterogeneity of stroke pathophysiology is likely to be contributing to the neutral results we often observe. Imaging selection has been proposed as a means of reducing heterogeneity by identifying patients with the potential to benefit from revascularization and therefore enhancing the probability of success in trials of new therapies. However, whether it is sufficient to demonstrate an occluded artery as the target or to also require evidence of salvageable downstream tissue has been debated. The recent announcement of neutral results in DIAS 3 (7), a trial that compared desmoteplase versus placebo 3–9 h after stroke onset in patients with vessel occlusion, without reference to downstream tissue status other than what was visible on non-contrast CT, will no doubt further stimulate this discussion. It is, therefore, salient to consider the current methods to identify salvageable ischemic penumbra and the potential value of commonly used surrogates for clinical outcome, chiefly reperfusion, recanalization, and infarct growth.

Reading spike timing without a clock: intrinsic decoding of spike trains

The precise timing of action potentials of sensory neurons relative to the time of stimulus presentation carries substantial sensory information that is lost or degraded when these responses are summed over longer time windows. However, it is unclear whether and how downstream networks can access information in precise time-varying neural responses. Here, we review approaches to test the hypothesis that the activity of neural populations provides the temporal reference frames needed to decode temporal spike patterns. These approaches are based on comparing the single-trial stimulus discriminability obtained from neural codes defined with respect to network-intrinsic reference frames to the discriminability obtained from codes defined relative to the experimenter's computer clock. Application of this formalism to auditory, visual and somatosensory data shows that information carried by millisecond-scale spike times can be decoded robustly even with little or no independent external knowledge of stimulus time. In cortex, key components of such intrinsic temporal reference frames include dedicated neural populations that signal stimulus onset with reliable and precise latencies, and low-frequency oscillations that can serve as reference for partitioning extended neuronal responses into informative spike patterns.

Integrated approach to the in vivo genotoxic effects of a titanium dioxide nanomaterial using LacZ plasmid‐based transgenic mice

Titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) nanomaterials (NMs) are widely used in a diversity of products including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food, and inks, despite uncertainties surrounding the potential health risks that they pose to humans and the environment. Previous studies on the genotoxicity of TiO2 have reported discrepant or inconclusive findings in both in vitro and in vivo systems. This study explores the in vivo genotoxic potential of a well-characterized uncoated TiO2 NM with an average diameter of 22 nm (NM-102, from JRC repository) using several genotoxicity endpoints in the LacZ plasmid-based transgenic mouse model. Mice were exposed by intravenous injection to two daily doses of NM-102: 10 and 15 mg/kg of body weight/day. Micronuclei were analyzed in peripheral blood reticulocytes 42 hr after the last treatment. DNA strand breaks (comet assay) and gene mutations were determined in the spleens and livers of the same animals 28 days after the last treatment. Histopathological and cytological analyses were also performed in liver samples. Genotoxic effects were not detected in mice exposed to the nanosized TiO2 under the experimental conditions used, despite a moderate inflammatory response that was observed in the liver. Considering the biopersistence of TiO2 in mouse liver and the moderate inflammatory response, the possibility of a secondary genotoxic effect at higher doses and in conditions that result in a stronger inflammatory response, for example, within a longer time window, should be investigated further.

PicrosideⅡ Could Reduce the Concentration of NO and Enhance the Activity of GSHPx in Cerebral Ischemic Injury in Rats

Picroside II could reduce the oxidative damage induced by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion and improve nerve behavior function of rats. The aim of this study was to optimize the therapeutic dose and time window of picrosede II by orthogonal test in cerebral ischemic injury in rats. The forebrain ischemia models were established by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) methods. The successful models were randomly grouped according to orthogonal experimental design and treated by injecting picroside II intraperitonenally at different ischemic time with different dose. The concentration nitric oxide (NO) in serum and brain tissue were determined by nitratase reductase assay. The activity of glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) in serum and tissue were determined by chemical colormetry. The optimized composition of the therapeutic dose and time window of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury was (1) ischemia 1.5h with 20mg/kg body weight according to the concentrations of NO in serum and brain tissue; (2) ischemia 1.5h with 10mg/kg and ischemia 2.0h with 20mg/kg body weight according to the activities of GSHPx in serum and brain tissue. From the principle of lowest therapeutic dose with longest time window, the optimized composition of the therapeutic dose and time window of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury is ischemia 1.5- 2.0h with 10-20mg/kg body weight.

Communicating likelihoods and probabilities in forecasts of volcanic eruptions

The issuing of forecasts and warnings of natural hazard events, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquake aftershock sequences and extreme weather often involves the use of probabilistic terms, particularly when communicated by scientific advisory groups to key decision-makers, who can differ greatly in relative expertise and function in the decision making process. Recipients may also differ in their perception of relative importance of political and economic influences on interpretation. Consequently, the interpretation of these probabilistic terms can vary greatly due to the framing of the statements, and whether verbal or numerical terms are used. We present a review from the psychology literature on how the framing of information influences communication of these probability terms. It is also unclear as to how people rate their perception of an event's likelihood throughout a time frame when a forecast time window is stated. Previous research has identified that, when presented with a 10-year time window forecast, participants viewed the likelihood of an event occurring ‘today’ as being of less than that in year 10. Here we show that this skew in perception also occurs for short-term time windows (under one week) that are of most relevance for emergency warnings. In addition, unlike the long-time window statements, the use of the phrasing “within the next…” instead of “in the next…” does not mitigate this skew, nor do we observe significant differences between the perceived likelihoods of scientists and non-scientists. This finding suggests that effects occurring due to the shorter time window may be ‘masking’ any differences in perception due to wording or career background observed for long-time window forecasts. These results have implications for scientific advice, warning forecasts, emergency management decision-making, and public information as any skew in perceived event likelihood towards the end of a forecast time window may result in an underestimate of the likelihood of an event occurring ‘today’ leading to potentially inappropriate action choices. We thus present some initial guidelines for communicating such eruption forecasts.

Customer profile classification: To adapt classifiers or to relabel customer profiles?

Customer profiles are, by definition, made up of factual and transactional data. It is often the case that due to reasons such as high cost of data acquisition and/or protection, only the transactional data are available for data mining operations. Transactional data, however, tend to be highly sparse and skewed due to a large proportion of customers engaging in very few transactions. This can result in a bias in the prediction accuracy of classifiers built using them. The problem is even more so when identifying and classifying changing customer profiles whose classification may change either due to a concept drift or due to a change in buying behaviour. This paper presents a comparative investigation of 4 approaches for classifying dynamic customer profiles built using evolving transactional data over time. The changing class values of the customer profiles were analysed together with the challenging problem of deciding whether to change the class label or adapt the classifier. The results from the experiments we conducted on a highly sparse and skewed real-world transactional data show that adapting the classifiers leads to more stable classification of customer profiles in the shorter time windows; while relabelling the changed customer profile classes leads to more accurate and stable classification in the longer time windows.

Eligibility for randomized trials of treatments specifically for intracerebral hemorrhage: community-based study.

Acute treatments specifically for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are being sought in randomized controlled trials. The treatment effect sizes in ongoing and future trials are likely to be small, necessitating large sample sizes. We searched online trial registries for randomized controlled trials investigating an acute treatment for ICH. For the trials whose eligibility criteria could be assessed in a prospective, community-based ICH cohort study (2010-2011), we quantified the proportions of patients who were eligible and investigated influences on these proportions. We applied the eligibility criteria of 17 trials to 166 adults with ICH, of whom between 0.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.1-3.3) to 40% (95% confidence interval, 33-48) were eligible for each trial. Fewer patients were eligible for trials restricted to patients randomized within 12 hours of ICH onset (versus trials with a longer time window; P=0.03) and trials restricting eligibility according to premorbid disability (versus trials without this restriction; P=0.046). Each additional eligibility criterion reduced the portion of eligible patients by 1.3% (95% confidence interval, 0.4-2.2; adjusted R(2)=0.47; P=0.004). Less than half of patients with ICH were eligible for current randomized controlled trials. Future trials could maximize enrollment by minimizing the number of eligibility criteria, maximizing the time window for recruiting patients after ICH onset, permitting premorbid disability, and using a simulator to assess the impact of other eligibility critiera (www.dcn.ed.ac.uk/ICHsimulator/).

Spike timing in rat somatosensory cortex contributes to behavior

The precise spike timing of sensory neurons carries more information about stimuli than the number of spikes counted over longer time windows [1-3]. However, the behavioral relevance of this extra information remains to be assessed. To investigate whether precise timing contributes to behavior, we considered spike trains recorded extracellularly in the rat somatosensory cortex during a texture discrimination task [4,5]. We analyzed the spike trains following the contact of the whiskers with the texture and we measured the information carried about texture by post-touch spike times and spike counts. This analysis is technical challenging because it is difficult to quantify the information content of precise patterns of spike that extend over relatively long time windows with the relatively little number of trials available in behavioral experiments. To address this challenge, we reduced the dimensionality of the response space by decomposing single trial spike train densities into Principal Components (PCs), selecting the most informative PC as the temporal template to interpret neural responses, and finally measuring the information about the presented texture carried by the projection of each trial relative to this template. We compared the so -measured spike timing information with the information carried by spike counts and we found that spike times carried more than 60% more texture information than spike counts. Next, we reasoned that if a neuronal coding mechanism contributes to behavior, then the code would be found to transmit less stimulus information in error trials, i.e. trials in which the rat made the wrong choice. We found that the texture information carried both by spike counts and spike patterns decreased significantly when we included error trials in the analysis, but the effect was much more pronounced for patterns (30% information decrease) than for counts (~15% information decrease). These differences between spike pattern and spike count codes hold for both primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, suggesting that spike timing could contribute to behavior at different stages of the sensory processing. Taken together, these results indicate that in the somatosensory cortex the time at which spikes occur, not just the number of spikes, makes a crucial contribution to tactile perception.

Robust weak-form efficiency tests in volatile European equity indices

Robust weak-form efficiency tests are conducted to examine market efficiency in two pan-European indices: the large capitalization EuroStoxx 50 and the small capitalization EuroStoxx Small from January 2000 to March 2012. Application of the nonparametric Belaire-Franch and Opong (2005) multiple Variance Ratio (VR) test and Kim's (2006) wild bootstrap technique shows that large capitalization stocks display evidence of negative serial correlation in the recent time period, and these indices do generally have greater weak-form efficiency over longer time windows. This finding contrasts with Hung et al. (2009), particularly in large capitalization equities, and suggests that weak-form efficiency can be influenced by high market volatility.

Nanomaterials in Stroke Treatment

Stroke is the world’s second leading cause of mortality, with a high incidence of severe morbidity in surviving victims. About 87% of strokes are caused by ischemia, and the remainder is caused by hemorrhage. Ischemic stroke causes most deaths.1 Acute ischemic stroke results from a sudden decrease or loss of blood flow in cerebral arteries. Brain tissue has a relatively high consumption of oxygen and glucose, and depends almost exclusively on oxidative phosphorylation for energy production. Cerebral ischemia leads to the development of a cascade of pathological biochemical reactions, including the rapid depletion of the intracellular ATP pool, anaerobic glycolysis, lactate acidosis and membrane depolarization, glutamate excitotoxicity, the entry of Ca2+, Na+, and H2O into cells, activation of Ca-dependent proteins, mitochondrial dysfunction, overproduction of free radicals, activation of the immune system, gene overexpression, and, finally, cell death.1–3 Oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms of stroke development. Free radical production and the activation of degradative enzymes lead to acute cell death through necrosis, but excitotoxic mechanisms can also initiate apoptosis.4 Besides causing cerebral cellular injury, oxidative stress also increases blood–brain barrier dysfunction.4,5 ### Stroke Treatment Major approaches developed to treat acute ischemic stroke fall into 2 categories, early recanalization (thrombolysis) and neuroprotection. There are ongoing trials aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of recombinant tissue–type plasminogen activator and acetylsalicylic acid in longer time windows with a finer selection of patients based on MRI and trials of novel recanalization methods.6 Neuroprotection is achieved by blocking of proinflammatory cytokines and cell adhesion agents, decrease of lipid peroxidation processes, and blocking of apoptosis.7 At least 25 clinical phase II and III trials are currently recruiting patients for the evaluation of new therapeutics for acute ischemic stroke.4 Despite these developments, the actual …

Lifetime Extension of a Realistic Model of an In-Service Bridge through a Response Modification Approach

Many highway bridges in the United States are reaching their intended design lives and are in need of attention. To avoid replacing these bridges simultaneously, methodologies to safely extend their lives are important to help avoid high replacement costs and to allow for bridge replacement to occur over a longer time window. This paper expands an approach to extend the fatigue life of vulnerable steel bridges through a response modification (RM) apparatus, consisting of a mechanical amplifier and a RM device, which provide efficient supplemental stiffness and damping to the bridge. Because of the relatively small deflections encountered under typical service loads, the use of a mechanical amplifier allows for a more efficient and less intrusive apparatus to provide the required RM forces imparted to the bridge for increased bridge life. This paper presents a parameter study exploring the flexibility of the elements in the RM apparatus, the length of the apparatus, and the characteristics of the RM device. The analyses also add superstructure damping and other model improvements to a comprehensive numerical model of a realistic in-service bridge. The paper carries out dynamic analyses in the frequency domain to ensure the robustness of the RM apparatuses for various loading frequencies. The most important characteristic of the RM apparatus is found to be the cross-sectional area of the members. Additionally, the parameter study showed that a smaller apparatus is most cost effective. Finally, the dynamic analyses showed that the use of a semiactive device may be beneficial to the effectiveness of the RM approach.

To Optimize the Therapeutic Dose and Time Window of Picroside II in Cerebral Ischemic Injury in Rats by Orthogonal Test

The paper aims to optimize the therapeutic dose and time window of picroside II by orthogonal test in cerebral ischemic injury in rats. The forebrain ischemia models were established by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) methods. The successful models were randomly divided into sixteen groups according to orthogonal experimental design and treated by injecting picroside II intraperitonenally at different ischemic time with different dose. The concentrations of neuron-specific enolase (NSE), neuroglial marker protein S100B and myelin basic protein (MBP) in serum were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the therapeutic effect of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury. The results indicated that best therapeutic time window and dose of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury were ischemia 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg body weight according to the concentrations of NSE, S100B and MBP in serum. It is concluded that according to the principle of lowest therapeutic dose with longest time window, the optimized therapeutic dose and time window are injecting picroside II intraperitonenally with 20 mg/kg body weight at ischemia 1.5 h in cerebral ischemic injury in rats.

The effect of picroside II on the expressions of AQP4, MMP9 and COX2 in cerebral ischemic injury in rats

The aim is to study the neuroprotective effect and optimize the therapeutic dose and time window of picrosede II by orthogonal test in cerebral ischemic injury in rats. The forebrain ischemia models of rats were established by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) methods. The successful models were randomly grouped according to orthogonal experimental design and treated by injecting picroside II intraperitonenally with different therapeutic dose at different ischemic time. The contents of aquaporins 4 (AQP4), matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP 9) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) in brain tissue were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the therapeutic effect of picroside II on cerebral ischemic injury. The results indicated that the best therapeutic time window and dose of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury should be 1) ischemia 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg body weight according to the content of AQP4; 2) ischemia 2.0 h with 20 mg/kg according to the content of MMP9; and 3) ischemia 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg according to the content of COX2 inbrain tissue. It is concluded that the optimized therapeutic dose and time window is injecting picroside II peritonenally with 10 - 20 mg/kg body weight at ischemia 1.5 - 2.0 h in cerebral ischemic injury according to the principle of lowest therapeutic dose with longest time window.

The anti-inflammatory effect of picroside II and the optimizing of therapeutic dose and time window in cerebral ischemic injury in rats

The aim is to optimize the anti-inflammatory effect and the therapeutic dose and time window of picrosede II by orthogonal test in cerebral ischemic injury in rats. The forebrain ischemia models were established by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) methods in 30 Wistar rats. The successful models were randomly divided into sixteen groups according to orthogonal experimental design and treated by injecting picroside II intraperitoneally at different ischemic time with different dose. The concentrations of aquaporins 4 (AQP4), matrix metalloproteinases9 (MMP9) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) in serum and brain tissue were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to evaluate the therapeutic effect of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury. The best therapeutic time window and dose of picroside II in cerebral ischemic injury were 1) ischemia 2.0 h with 20 mg/kg and 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg body weight according to the concentration of AQP4 in serum and brain tissue; 2) ischemia 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg and ischemia 2.0 h with 20 mg/kg according to the concentrations of MMP9 in serum and brain tissue; and 3) ischemia 1.5 h with 10 mg/kg and ischemia 1.5 h with 20 mg/kg according to the concentrations of COX2 in serum and brain tissue respectively. According to the principle of the lowest therapeutic dose with the longest time window, the optimized therapeutic dose and time window were injecting picroside II intraperitoneally with 10 - 20 mg/kg body weight at ischemia 1.5 - 2.0 h in cerebral ischemic injury.

Guardian and Selective Killer: The Versatile Functions of TLR3 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Guardian and Selective Killer: The Versatile Functions of TLR3 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hyperintensity of Distal Vessels on FLAIR Is Associated with Slow Progression of the Infarction in Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background: Hyperintensity of distal vessels on FLAIR-MRI has been associated with a higher grade of arterial collaterals and a smaller infarct volume in acute stroke patients. No studies analyze the influence of the hyperintense vessel (HV) sign on the speed of the ischemia progression during the first hours. Our aim was to study the association of the HV sign with progression of infarction in acute stroke patients. Methods: From a prospectively derived stroke database, we retrospectively selected acute stroke patients with a large artery occlusion of the anterior circulation admitted to our comprehensive stroke center with available baseline CT scan and a multimodal MRI carried out thereafter to make a decision about endovascular treatment. Progression of the ischemic area was calculated as the difference in the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Scan (ASPECTS) score between CT scan and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Slow progression was considered as no change or 1 point decrease on the ASPECTS score between both exams. The presence of HV on FLAIR sequence was graded as absent, subtle or prominent by two readers. Results: A total of 70 patients were included in the study. Mean time between baseline CT and MRI was 124 ± 82 min. ASPECTS score on baseline CT was 10 in 34% of patients, 9 in 49% and 8 or less in 17%. ASPECTS score was 2 (1–3) points lower in the DWI and this decrease did not correlate with the time elapsed between the two exams. Distal HV sign was observed in 57/70 (81%) patients (subtle in 33 and prominent in 24). HV was more frequently observed in patients with proximal artery occlusion. There were no differences regarding stroke severity, stroke subtype and ASPECTS score on baseline CT between groups. Patients with prominent HV showed a lower progression of the ischemic area [median ASPECTS score decrease, 1 (1–0)] compared with patients with subtle HV [median ASPECTS score decrease, 2 (2–1)] and patients with absence of HV [median ASPECTS score decrease, 3 (4–3)] (p < 0.001). Prominent HV was independently associated with slow progression of ischemia in a multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted by systolic blood pressure on admission, site of occlusion and time elapsed between both neuroimaging exams compared to the absence of HV (OR, 16.2; 95% CI, 2.1–123.1) and to subtle HV sign (OR, 6.1; 95% CI, 1.5–23.9). Conclusion: HV sign on FLAIR, especially if prominent, is associated with a slow progression of the ischemic area in acute stroke patients with cerebral artery occlusion of the anterior circulation. This radiological sign may predict the speed of the ischemia progression, opening an opportunity for reperfusion therapies in longer time windows.

Robust Weak-Form Efficiency Tests in Volatile European Equity Indices

Robust weak form efficiency tests are conducted to examine market efficiency in two pan-European indices; the large capitalisation EuroStoxx 50 and the small capitalisation EuroStoxx Small from January 2000 to March 2012. Applying the non-parametric Belaire-Franch and Opong (2005) multiple variance ratio test and Kim’s (2006) wild bootstrap technique shows that large capitalisation stocks display evidence of negative serial correlation in the recent time period, and these indices to generally have greater weak-form efficiency over longer time windows. This finding contrasts with Hung et al (2009), particularly in large capitalisation equities, and suggests that weak-form efficiency can be influenced by high market volatility.

Both NMDA and non-NMDA receptors mediate glutamate stimulation induced cofilin rod formation in cultured hippocampal neurons

Cofilin is the major actin-depolymerizing factor in the CNS for the regulation of actin dynamics. Neurodegenerative stimuli can induce the formation of cofilin rod, a pathological structure composed of cofilin and actin. The formation of cofilin rod was found to disrupt synapse function and cause neurite loss. The aim of the present study is to study the whole process of cofilin rod formation pattern in cultured hippocampal neurons under excitotoxic stimulation and to explore its underlying pharmacological mechanism. By using live cell imaging of neurons overexpressing EGFP-tagged wild type cofilin, we found a two-phase pattern of rod formation induced by glutamate stimulation. The early phase of rod formation occurred shortly after stimulation (∼0.5h) but quickly dissolved within 2h. The second phase happened within a much longer time window, 8h after stimulation. Immunostaining of endogenous cofilin in neurons also confirmed this glutamate stimulation induced two-phase rod formation pattern. The first phase was co-related with intracellular calcium concentration and pH increase while the second phase was not. These two phases of cofilin rod formation induced by glutamate stimulation was antagonized by both non-NMDA and NMDA receptor antagonist DNQX and AP5, respectively. Our results for the first time demonstrate the dynamic cofilin rod formation pattern under stress stimulation in detail by time lapse imaging. These findings reveal a novel time course of excitotoxicity induced neuronal damage and indicate a potential target of neuropathy treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Patent quality and ownership: An analysis of UK faculty patenting

The relationship between ownership structure and the quality of academic inventions has not been deeply analysed, despite its relevance for the literature on IPR and university–industry knowledge transfer. This paper fills the gap by using a novel dataset of academic patents in the UK, both university-owned and corporate-owned for the period 1990–2001.The main results may be summarized as follows. (1) Controlling for observable inventor and patent characteristics, academic patents owned by business companies receive more citations in the first years after the filing date than those owned by universities or other public research organizations, but this difference diminishes when considering a longer time window, and it disappears when considering only later citations. Interestingly, (2) change of ownership is an indicator of patent quality: academic patents owned by companies but originally assigned to universities or other public research organizations show a noticebly higher quality premium. Finally, (3) professor's scientific quality appears slightly correlated with patent quality.