Number Of Crossings Research Articles

Effect and Potential Mechanism of Immunotherapy on Cognitive Deficits in Animal Models of Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Immunotherapy has been reported to ameliorate Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the animal model; however, the immunologic approaches and mechanisms have not been specifically described. Thus, the systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to explore the effect and potential mechanism of immunotherapy on AD animal experiments based on behavioral indicators. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses and the Cochrane Collaboration guidelines and the inclusion/exclusion criteria of immunotherapy in animal studies, 15 studies were systematically reviewed after extraction from a collected database of 3,742 publications. Finally, the effect and mechanism of immunotherapy on AD models were described by performing multiple subgroup analyses. After immunotherapy, the escape latency was reduced by 18.15 seconds and the number of crossings over the platform location was increased by 1.60 times in the Morris Water Maze. Furthermore, compared to the control group, active and passive immunization could markedly ameliorate learning and memory impairment in 3 × Tg AD animal models, and active immunization could ameliorate the learning and memory ability of the APPswe/PS1ΔE9 AD animal model. Meanwhile, it could be speculated that cognitive dysfunction was improved by immunotherapy, perhaps mainly via reducing Aβ40, Aβ42, and Tau levels, as well as increasing IL-4 levels. Immunotherapy significantly ameliorated the cognitive dysfunction of AD animal models by assessing behavioral indicators.

Method of comparative assessment of urban agglomeration transportation connectivity and ways to improve it in the context of sustainable development goals

Aim. To conduct a comparative assessment of the capacity of bridge and tunnel crossings across the Neva River in St. Petersburg and across the Thames in London, and to present proposals for improving transport connectivity in large cities on the basis of its results.Objectives. To determine the parameters of bridge and tunnel crossings (number, length, number of traffic lanes, traffic light regulation, speed limits, etc.); to calculate the capacity of bridge and tunnel crossings for public and private transport; to compare the results obtained; to present specific proposals and conclusions.Methods. The method of modeling channels and interaction constraints between blocks (subgraphs, clusters, regions, etc.) separated by some obstacle, in this case — a river, is used. The characteristics of such channels are compared, in this case — the capacity of bridges and tunnels. Throughput capacity for motor transport is calculated according to SP 396.1325800.2018 “Streets and roads of settlements. Rules of urban planning design”, for public transport — by multiplying the number of trips by the passenger capacity of vehicles. The cost of construction of pedestrian bridges is calculated according to the standards specified in the order of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation № 113, with the application of an increasing coefficient.Results. Calculations have shown that the total capacity of bridges over the Neva River in St. Petersburg exceeds the same indicator for London. At the same time, the difference in population and status of the city suggests that the load on London’s transportation infrastructure should be higher. Three possible explanations for this finding are given, one of which is the availability of alternative infrastructure in London to provide transportation connectivity between the banks of the Thames, in particular pedestrian bridges. Four sites for the construction of such bridges in St. Petersburg are suggested. The calculations indicate that the socio-economic effect will allow to recoup the cost of creating the bridges within 50 years, if each bridge will have 17.5 thousand crossings per day. In addition, a new formulation of the definition of transportation connectivity is proposed.Conclusions. The existing bridge infrastructure of St. Petersburg exceeds the London bridge infrastructure in terms of capacity for passenger cars. At the same time, the London transport system serves a much larger agglomeration and therefore seems more efficient to the author of the article. The author sees the reasons for this as the spread of dedicated lanes for public transport in London, insufficient use of the potential of the streetcar in St. Petersburg and the spread of alternative ways of crossing the Thames in London. Of these alternatives, the construction of bicycle-pedestrian bridges seems to be the best for St. Petersburg. Eight additional conclusions, observations and recommendations regarding traffic management and public transport are presented.

The 3-symmetric pseudolinear crossing number of K36

Let n be a positive integer multiple of 3. A rectilinear drawing of the complete graph Kn in the plane is 3–symmetric if its underlying point set P is 3–symmetric, that is, if P is the disjoint union of three equal sized sets Q,ρ(Q) and ρ2(Q) such that ρ is a 2π/3 clockwise rotation around a suitable point in the plane. The 3–symmetric rectilinear crossing numbersym−cr3‾(Kn) of Kn is the minimum number of crossings in any 3–symmetric rectilinear drawing of Kn. In this paper, we extend these notions to the more general setting of pseudolinear drawings of Kn by defining the corresponding 3–symmetric pseudolinear crossing numbersym−cr3˜(Kn) of Kn, and show that sym−cr3˜(K36)=sym−cr3‾(K36)=21174.

Comfort Therapy with Companionship Improves Learning Memory and Reduces Hyperalgesia in Sickle Mice

Chronic and unpredictable acute pain coexist with cognitive dysfunction in sickle cell disease (SCD). Managing chronic pain is crucial, though efforts are complicated by both physiological and affective contributors to pain. The affective state, which is severely impacted by the environment including stigma and social isolation, plays a substantial role in pain perception and may further exacerbate psychological factors. Therefore, we examined if companionship and social isolation influence cognitive function and pain in SCD. In the present study, we examined the effects of social isolation on hyperalgesia, learning memory, and anxiety in humanized transgenic homozygous BERK mouse model of SCD. At ~3.5 months of age, BERK male mice were paired with age-matched female BERK companions (1 male + 1 female/cage; called companion group) and another group of BERK males were placed into isolation (one male/cage; called isolation group) for ~14 months. Isolation and companion groups were maintained in general housing conditions in the same room. Both groups were assessed for body weight, hyperalgesia and cognitive behaviors. Mechanical hyperalgesia was assessed by counting paw withdrawal frequency (PWF) following 10 applications of a 1.0 g von Frey monofilament (Semmes Weinstein, Stoelting, Wood Dale, IL, USA) to the plantar surface of the hind paw. Cold hyperalgesia was assessed following placement of mice onto a 4°C cold plate chamber (Stoelting) and by measuring PWF over a 2-minute period. Musculoskeletal hyperalgesia was measured by testing grip force of each mouse's peak forepaw grip to a computerized grip force meter (SA Maier, Milwaukee, WI, USA) and normalizing by body weight. The cognitive behavioral assessment consisted of an open field test to assess anxiety-related behaviors, which measured time spent and number of crosses through a central region. Working memory was assessed using novel object recognition and novel placement recognition tests to measure discrimination of novel objects and location. Data are shown as mean ± SEM and comparisons between companionship and isolation groups were performed using unpaired, two-tailed T-tests to determine statistical significance (P<0.05) We observed a significant increase in the body weights of males housed with females ( Companion group) compared to males in isolation (p<0.05). It is likely that males living with a companion were eating more compared to those under isolation. Isolated male sickle mice experience greater hyperalgesia than male mice housed with a female companion. Isolation induces greater PWF to mechanical (P<0.05) and cold (P<0.005) stimuli, indicating exacerbated hypersensitivity to mechanical and cold stimuli. Spontaneous, non-evoked musculoskeletal hyperalgesia was not significantly altered by isolation (P>0.05). Isolation also appeared to impact working and learning memory. Novel object recognition and novel object placement tests revealed reduced discrimination ratios in isolated mice (~25%, P<0.05 and ~25%, P<0.05), which are suggestive of impaired learning and memory function compared to mice with companionship. Open field test showed no significant difference (P>0.05) between isolation and companionship groups in time spent and number of crosses in the open field center area, indicating no detectable differences in anxiety-like behaviors. According to cognitive tests, mice in companionship showed greater novel object and place detection and greater cognitive ability compared to those in isolation. For the first time we show the causal role of social isolation on hyperalgesia and memory in a humanized mouse model of SCD. “ Comfort therapy” with companionship can ameliorate the perception of pain through the higher brain centres. It is also likely that mice in companionship eat more as evinced by a significant increase in their weight, which may provide additional comfort and meet the increased nutritional/calorie demands of SCD due to altered metabolism. Our observations suggest that “ comfort therapy” with improved living conditions and reducing isolation and loneliness may improve pain-related outcomes in SCD.

Climate change impacts assessment on railway infrastructure in urban environments

Climate change impacts can escalate the deteriorating rate of infrastructures and impact the infrastructure's functionality, safety, operation and maintenance (O&M). This research explores climate change's influence on urban railway infrastructure. Given the geographical diversity of Sweden, the railway network is divided into different climate zones utilizing the K-means algorithm. Reliability analysis using the Cox Proportional Hazard Model is proposed to integrate meteorological parameters and operational factors to predict the degree of impacts of different climatic parameters on railway infrastructure assets. The proposed methodology is validated by selecting a number of switches and crossings (S&Cs), which are critical components in railways for changing the route, located in different urban railway stations across various climate zones in Sweden. The study explores various databases and proposes a climatic feature to identify climate-related risks of S&C assets. Furthermore, different meteorological covariates are analyzed to understand better the dependency between asset health and meteorological parameters. Infrastructure asset managers can tailor suitable climate adaptation measures based on geographical location, asset age, and other life cycle parameters by identifying vulnerable assets and determining significant covariates. Sensitivity analysis of significant covariates at one of the urban railway stations shows precipitation increment reveal considerable variation in the asset reliability.

Green Vehicles’ Responses to an Expiring Congestion Toll Exemption: Findings from a Natural Experiment in Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm established time-varying congestion pricing in 2007, and adopted a toll exemption as a temporary incentive for green vehicles (GVs) that ended in 2012. We examine the behavioral effects of phasing out the exemption by studying the change in cordon crossing events for GV morning commuters between May 2012 and May 2013, with a random sample of conventional vehicles (CVs) as control. The results suggest i) a significant drop in the total number of crossings; ii) a slight shift towards later journeys in the morning; and iii) a reduction in the ratio of peak-toll period crossings to other ones.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of exercise on cognitive impairment and neuroprotective mechanisms in diabetes mellitus animal models.

This study aims to assess the effects of exercise on cognitive impairment behavioral performance and neuroprotective mechanisms in diabetes mellitus (DM) animal models. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, VIP Database (VIP), and China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM) were systematically searched for studies investigating the impact of exercise on cognitive impairment in animal models of diabetes mellitus (DM) from the inception of these databases through July 2023. Rigorous quality assessments were conducted on the included literature. Primary outcome measures comprised fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels and performance in the Morris water maze test, while secondary outcomes focused on mechanisms related to neuroprotection. Statistical analysis of outcome data was conducted using RevMan 5.3 and R software. A total of 17 studies were included, encompassing 399 animals. The results of the meta-analysis of primary outcome measures revealed that, compared to the control group, exercise effectively reduced fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels in diabetic animal models. In the Morris water maze experiment, exercise also significantly decreased the escape latency of diabetic animal models, increased the number of platform crossings, improved the percentage of time spent in the target quadrant, extended the time spent in the target quadrant, and enhanced swimming speed. Meta-analysis of secondary outcome measures indicated that exercise effectively reduced Aβ deposition, attenuated oxidative stress, enhanced synaptic function, suppressed cellular apoptosis and neuroinflammation, and promoted neurogenesis. Exercise represents a promising non-pharmacological therapy with a positive impact on diabetes-related cognitive function and neuroprotection. Moreover, this study provides a theoretical foundation for further preclinical and clinical trials.

Effect of sleep deprivation by MMP-WM on rat neurological function and Tau protein in hippocampus.

An in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis and mechanisms of sleep disorders is important for finding reliable treatments and interventions in the future. This study aims to explore the effect of sleep deprivation by modified multiple platform-water maze (MMP-WM) on rat neurological function and Tau protein in the hippocampus, as well as the intervention effect of remimazolam. First, 40 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into a control group (no treatment), a Rem group (remimazolam), an MMP-WM group (sleep deprivation model in rats established by MMP-WM), and a combined group (MMP-WM + remimazolam). Five rats were randomly selected from each group for behavior tests at 1 d and 7 d of drug administration or sleep deprivation for Morris water maze and open field test. After that, the rats were executed, the hippocampus was isolated for Nissl staining, and the protein expression of phosphorylated Tau (p-Tau) in the CA1 region of the hippocampus was measured by immunohistochemistry. At 1 d, the status in the MMP-WM group was more similar to that in the control group The MMP-WM group showed sparsely arranged hippocampal CA1 neurons, reduced number of Nissl bodies, prolonged escape latency, decreased number of platform crossings and percentage of activity time in the central region, substantially increased p-Tau expression. In contrast, the combined group showed significant improvement in nerve injury, behavior test results, p-Tau at 7 d compared with the MMP-WM group and the same group at 1 d. In addition, detection of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotransmitter levels in the cerebrospinal fluid also showed improved neurologic function in the combined group. These results confirm tha MMP-WM was effective in the establishment of sleep deprivation rat model that accurately reflects the pathological manifestations of sleep disorders in human, and the use of remimazolam effectively reversed the pathological damage in sleep-deprived rats.

PSX-17 Can Associations Between Qualitative Descriptors and Quantitative Behavioral Measures in Nursery Age Pigs Improve Interpretation of Behavioral studies?

Abstract Qualitative Behavior Assessments (QBA) are a useful way to assess animal welfare by capturing behavioral signals of emotionality not captured by quantitative measures. The objective of this study was to determine if QBA descriptors assigned to nursery age gilts during a social dyad test in a novel arena were associated with differences in quantitative behavioral measures recorded from the test such as latency to make social contact and amount of time spent in proximity. To investigate this, 30 weight-matched purebred Yorkshire gilt pairs underwent a social dyad test at 6 wk-of-age. Dyads were unfamiliar with each other, and one was assigned as the focal gilt. The test began as soon as both gilts were in the novel arena and lasted for 5 minutes. Four independent, untrained observers were asked to perform a QBA by circling all terms that they felt described the focal gilt throughout the test duration from a set list of 20 terms. Overhead video was recorded and used to collect quantitative measures including number of quadrant crosses, percentage of crosses entering an already occupied quadrant, percentage of crosses exiting an already occupied quadrant, latency of the focal pig to touch the other pig, and time spent in an occupied quadrant. For each focal gilt, only terms that were used by at least two observers were kept. To be included in the analysis a given term had to be assigned to at least 6 of the 30 focal gilts such that each group had sufficient sample size to make comparisons. This filtering resulted in 10 terms being kept for analysis including Active (22), Agitated (7), Aimless (10), Calm (15), Indifferent (8), Lively (13), Playful (9), Positively Occupied (16), Sociable (14), and Tense (8). Quantitative measures were analyzed using a t-test to determine if pigs described by each term differed from those that were not. Pigs described as Aimless, Calm, Positively Occupied, Sociable, or Tense did not significantly differ in any of the quantitative measures of behavior. Pigs described as Active, Indifferent, or Lively had significantly more quadrant crosses (P = 0.0003, 0.003, 0.022 respectively). Pigs described as Agitated had a greater proportion of crosses that were entering an occupied quadrant (P = 0.022), while those described as Playful had a significantly lower proportion of crosses that were exiting an occupied quadrant (P = 0.031). Understanding how qualitative descriptors associate with quantitative measures of behavior may assist in better interpretation of QBA results as well as confirming that a chosen metric is capturing the intended behavior.

Influences and mechanism of erythropoietin on the cognitive function of vascular dementia rats.

To investigate the influences and mechanism of erythropoietin (EPO) on the cognitive function of vascular dementia (VD) rats. 1) Spatial memory capacity was assessed by Morris water maze test; 2) Pathological conditions of brain tissues were detected by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining; 3) The effect of treatment on apoptosis was observed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining; 4) Western blotting was used to examine the protein expression in hippocampal neurons. The escape latency and swimming distance in the EPO group were much shorter than those in the Model group on the fifth day. In the spatial exploration test, the time spent in the target quadrant was longer, the number of platform crossings was larger and the swimming speed was higher in the Sham group and EPO group than those in the Model group. The results of HE staining showed that the cells in the hippocampal CA1 region were arranged closely in the Sham group, loosely and disorderly in the Model group but significantly better in the EPO group. Compared with that in the Model group, the number of apoptotic cells in the EPO group was obviously smaller. The results of Western blotting revealed that the expressions of EPO, p-EPOR, p-SHP2, p-TrKB, p-PI3K, p-ERK1/2 and Bcl-2 rose, while the expressions of P22, P47, Caspase-3, Caspase-9 and Bax significantly declined in the EPO group. EPO can effectively ameliorate the cognitive dysfunction induced by chronic hypoperfusion in VD rats by mediating oxidative stress-related pathways.

Symbols of Faith in the Mosaic Floors of the Newly Discovered Ecclesiastical Complex at Ashdod Maritima, Israel

An ecclesiastical complex has recently been discovered in Ashdod Maritima – ancient Azotus. The site was excavated in 2019 and 2021. The complex includes a basilica, several rooms, and a chapel on the north side, all decorated with mosaic pavements. A mixed trend comes to light in the mosaics: on the one hand, there is a continuation of the geometric and vegetal compositions and motifs that originated in the Roman world and continued into the Byzantine period. On the other hand, the complex is unique in the many symbols of faith that appear, scattered throughout its parts. All types of crosses are depicted; a medallion with a Greek cross accompanied by the Greek letters iota-chi, and alpha and omega; a medallion with a Latin cross standing on Golgotha Hill with the Greek letters iota-chi and alpha and omega; a large Latin cross standing on Golgotha Hill with two large Greek crosses between its arms; and a medallion with a quote from Psalms. The complex is exceptional in the large number of crosses, the names of the bishops, priest, deacon, and deaconesses who were involved in the construction and decoration or were buried in the complex, and the large number of dated inscriptions.

94 Digitized Archimedes Spiral Drawing in the NKI-Rockland Sample

Objective:Digital cognitive assessments (DCAs) provide insight into cognition and behavior that remains inaccessible through standard assessment approaches. However, the availability of DCAs and the requisite toolkits to extract and analyze meaningful features from these datasets are largely constrained to technical specialists or through fee-for-service commercial entities. The NKI- Rockland Sample provides a large- scale lifespan data sample featuring DCAs, and also openly shares its DCA tasks through the open-source MindLogger platform along with pipelines for feature extraction and analyses. Here we present normative performance from a digital version of Archimedes Spiral Drawing.Participants and Methods:NKI-RS2 participants were largely drawn from the existing NKI-RS participant pool (n= 1,500), aged 885. The NKI-RS2 is in year 1 of data collection; here, we report on a subset of participants (n= 9) who performed a digitized version of the Archimedes Spiral Drawing task. This graphomotor task with well-established research and clinical utility in movement disordered populations was adapted for use for off-the-shelf tablet devices. The NKI-RS2 implements these tasks on an Apple iPad Pro2, sampling participant drawing at 120Hz, and featuring pixel- and millisecond- level resolution for all tasks. On the Spiral Drawing and Recall Tests participants traced five Archimedes spirals from the center outward through four windings presented on the iPad. They were then asked to replicate the spiral freehand three times. From these spiral drawings, we extracted time to completion, distance covered, speed/ speed variability, rotational smoothness, number of crossings, mean absolute error, bias, and goodness of fit to the ideal Archimedes spiral.Results:Comparing the tracing and recall conditions, participants showed significantly faster drawing speed (t[8]=5.32, p< .001), more variable drawing speed (t[8]=5.93, p< .001), reduced goodness of fit to the template t[8]=4.99, p< .002, and reduced rotational smoothness (t[8]=7.43, p< .0003) in the recall conditions. Collapsing across conditions, age predicted more variable drawing speed: t[8]= 2.77 p< .019, greater tracing error (t[8] = 2.69, p< .0227), and reduced rotational smoothness (t[8] = 2.67, p< .024). Between conditions, age predicts a greater increase in drawing speed variability (t[8] = 9.76, p< .0006).Conclusions:Using the open source MindLogger platform and off-the-shelf digital tablets, we were able to replicate classic paper and pen neuropsychological tests. By adapting these tasks to DCA, we were able to extract meaningful features that are not otherwise accessible (drawing speed, variability, etc.), or that would require additional hardware solutions (e.g., dwell time). By making these tasks and their processing pipelines available, the NKI-RS2 can facilitate the democratization of DCA and DCA analysis to a broader range of researchers and clinicians.

The Computational Complexity of the ChordLink Model

In order to visualize well-clustered graphs with many intra-cluster but few inter-cluster edges, hybrid approaches have been proposed. For example, ChordLink draws the clusters as chord diagrams and embeds these into a node-link diagram that represents the overall structure of the clustered graph. The ChordLink approach consists of four steps; node replication, node permutation, node merging, and chord insertion. In this paper, we focus on the optimization problems defined by two of these steps. We show that the decision version of the problem defined by node permutation is NP-complete and present an efficient algorithm for a special case. For chord insertion, we show that it is NP-complete to decide whether a crossing-free placement of the chords exists. Moreover, it is APX-hard to minimize the number of crossings among the chords. Our results answer an open question posed by Angori, Didimo, Montecchiani, Pagliuca, and Tappini, who introduced ChordLink [TVCG 2021].

Sleepless on the road: Are mothers of infants with insomnia at risk for impaired driving?

Infant sleep problems have been associated with a myriad of adverse child and parent outcomes, yet whether these problems may pose a risk for parents on the road has received little research attention. This study sought to test whether mothers of infants with insomnia are at an elevated risk for vehicular crashes, by comparing their objectively measured driving performance with that of mothers of well-sleeping infants and with that of women without children. Fifty-four women from these three groups completed a simulated driving task. Outcome measures included standard deviation of lateral position, number of lane crossings, standard deviation of speed, average speed and maximum speed. Women additionally reported on their driving behaviour using the Driving Behaviour Questionnaire, and on sleep, sleepiness and insomnia symptoms using 7-day sleep diaries and questionnaires. Mothers of infants with insomnia demonstrated greater lane deviation (Wald = 9.53, p = 0.009), higher maximum speed (Wald = 6.10, p = 0.04) and poorer self-rated driving behaviour (Wald = 7.44, p = 0.02) compared with control groups. Analyses also indicated that driving performance in mothers of infants with insomnia tended to be poorer relative to control groups with the progression of time on task. While further research is needed to assess the scope of these effects, our findings suggest that parents, healthcare providers and policymakers should be aware of the potential consequences of infant sleep problems on road safety, and collaborate to establish strategies to mitigate these risks.

Acute toxicity study of the isomeric mixture of alpha and beta amyrin from Protium heptaphyllum (Aubl.) Marchand

The isomeric mixture of alpha and beta amyrin (AMY), present in the resin of Protium heptaphyllum, is popularly used as anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer. The literature has been demonstrating pharmacological activities of these triterpenes in the central and peripheral nervous systems, and in the gastrointestinal and immunological systems. This study traces a toxicological profile of amyrin, aiming to provide information that may clarify its safety. Nine female Wistar rats (170 to 200 g) were divided into three groups of three animals each (control, amyrin 300 and amyrin 2000 mg kg-1, p.o.), which were evaluated by protocols preconized by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Open field Test and Malone Hippocratic Screening Scale were performed. AMY, mostly at 2000 mg kg-1, reduced the number of crossings by 57% vs. saline (22.67 ± 2.40) and the number of rearing by 53% vs. saline (42.67 ± 2.96), but increased the number of grooming by 26% vs. saline (1.66 ± 0.33). AMY (2000 mg kg-1) increased the serum glucose by 77% vs. saline (126.70 ± 4.33 mg dL-1), triglycerides by 50% vs. saline (78.67 ± 2.18 mg dL-1) and uric acid by 65% vs. saline (0.73 ± 0.03 mg dL-1). AMY induced vascular congestion and hemorrhage in the liver, spleen and cerebral cortex. Renal changes (cellular damage, inflammatory infiltrate, tubular protein deposition and glomeruli atrophy) were also seen. In conclusion, AMY decreased rat locomotor activity, caused minor biochemical changes, and altered the morphology of the kidney. The present study may contribute to deepen the knowledge about the safety of AMY, aiming the development of a novel pharmacological product.

Predicting, Validation of Frequency of Transgressive Recombinant Inbred Lines and Minimum Population Size Required to Recover them in Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Background: Identification of transgressive recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that can be use as pure-line cultivars is the prime objective of a breeder in self-pollinated crops including groundnut.
 Aim: Thus, identification of such promising segregating generations assumes importance. This can be achieved by predicting the transgressive RILs that could be derived from advanced generations of segregating population.
 Materials and Methods: In our study we predicted and validated transgressive RILs derived from cross TMV 2 × GPBD 4 for five quantitative traits based on estimates of mid parental value [m], additive genetic effects [a] and additive genetic variance [σ2A].
 Results: the frequency of transgressive RILs was higher for all the five traits. Primary branches per plant had highest frequency of predicted transgressive RILs with minimum population size of 6.95. Narrow difference between the predicted and realised frequency of RILs was seen.
 Conclusion: Our results indicate that this approach could be the efficient in selecting the best breeding population out of many number of crosses made.

An origin-destination level analysis on the competitiveness of bike-sharing to underground using explainable machine learning

Bike-sharing offers a convenient transportation option, enhancing the potential for direct competition with underground transportation, especially for short-distance trips. However, research on bike-sharing trips primarily focuses on survey data or aggregated data at the station-level. Few attempts have been made to understand the competition between bike-sharing and underground at the origin-destination (OD) level. This study aims to explore the competitiveness of bike-sharing to the underground at short-distance level using actual OD-level bike-sharing and underground ridership data collected in London. Light Gradient Boosting Machine and SHapley additive explanations models are employed for the analysis.Our results found that bike-sharing can serve as a competitor to the underground, especially in denser urban areas and peak periods. The competitiveness of bike-sharing is associated with the attributes of trips' origins and destinations, route characteristics, and time. In particular, the route characteristics of travel duration/distance, road gradient, bike infrastructure availability and the number of crossings are correlated with the competitiveness of bike-sharing to the underground. Moreover, it is found that users pay more attention to the characteristics of origins rather than destinations. Our findings can provide valuable implications for promoting bike-sharing as a substitution to underground service.

Methyleugenol Has an Antidepressant Effect in a Neuroendocrine Model: In Silico and In Vivo Evidence.

Major depressive disorder is a severe mood disorder characterized by different emotions and feelings. This study investigated the antidepressant activity of the phenylpropanoid methyleugenol (ME) in adult female mice exposed to a stress model induced by dexamethasone. The animals were randomly divided into groups containing eight animals and were pre-administered with dexamethasone (64 μg/kg subcutaneously). After 165 and 180 min, they were treated with ME (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg intraperitoneally) or imipramine (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) after 45 min and 30 min, respectively; they were then submitted to tests which were filmed. The videos were analyzed blindly. In the tail suspension test, ME (50 mg/kg) increased latency and reduced immobility time. In the splash test, ME (50 mg/kg) decreased grooming latency and increased grooming time. In the open field, there was no statistical difference for the ME groups regarding the number of crosses, and ME (50 mg/kg) increased the number of rearing and time spent in the center. Regarding in silico studies, ME interacted with dopaminergic D1 and α1 adrenergic pathway receptors and with tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor. In the in vivo evaluation of the pathways of action, the antidepressant potential of ME (50 mg/kg) was reversed by SCH23390 (4 mg/kg intraperitoneally) dopaminergic D1 receptor, Prazosin (1 mg/kg intraperitoneally) α1 adrenergic receptor, and PCPA (4 mg/kg intraperitoneally) tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor. Our findings indicate that ME did not alter with the locomotor activity of the animals and shows antidepressant activity in female mice with the participation of the D1, α1 and serotonergic systems.

Effect of Suanzaoren Decoction on expression of ionotropic glutamate receptors and synaptic plasticity in hippocampus of anxiety rats

This study investigated the effect of Suanzaoren Decoction on the expression of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors(NMDAR) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid receptors(AMPAR) in the hippocampus and synaptic plasticity in rats with conditioned fear-induced anxiety. The effect of Suanzaoren Decoction on rat behaviors were evaluated through open field experiment, elevated plus maze experiment, and light/dark box experiment. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was used to measure the levels of glutamate(Glu) and γ-aminobutyric acid(GABA) in the rat hippocampus. Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR(qRT-PCR) and Western blot were employed to assess the gene and protein expression of ionotropic glutamate receptors in the hippocampal region. Transmission electron microscopy was utilized to observe the changes in the ultrastructure of synaptic neurons in the hippocampal region. Long-term potentiation(LTP) detection technique was employed to record the changes in population spike(PS) amplitude in the hippocampal region of mice in each group. The behavioral results showed that compared with the model group, the Suanzaoren Decoction group effectively increased the number of entries into open arms, time spent in open arms, percentage of time spent in open arms out of total movement time, number of entries into open arms out of total entries into both arms(P<0.01), and significantly increased the time spent in the light box and the number of shuttle crossings(P<0.01). There was an increasing trend in the number of grid crossings, entries into the center grid, and time spent in the center grid, indicating a significant anxiolytic effect. ELISA results showed that compared with the model group, the Suanzaoren Decoction group exhibited significantly reduced levels of Glu, Glu/GABA ratio(P<0.01), and significantly increased levels of GABA(P<0.01) in the rat hippocampus. Furthermore, Suanzaoren Decoction significantly decreased the gene and protein expression of NMDAR(GluN2B and GluN2A) and AMPAR(GluA1 and GluA2) compared with the model group. Transmission electron microscopy results demonstrated improvements in synapses, neuronal cells, and organelles in the hippocampal region of the Suanzaoren Decoction group compared with the model group. LTP detection results showed a significant increase in the PS amplitude changes in the hippocampal region of Suanzaoren Decoction group from 5 to 35 min compared with the model group(P<0.05, P<0.01). In conclusion, Suanzaoren Decoction exhibits significant anxiolytic effects, which may be attributed to the reduction in NMDAR and AMPAR expression levels and the improvement of synaptic plasticity.

Effect of lidocaine on cognitively impaired rats: Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanisms in combination with CRMP2 antiphosphorylation.

Studies have shown that lidocaine has antioxidative stress, anti-inflammatory, and nerve-protective effects. The current study investigated the effects of lidocaine on cognitive function in rats with cognitive dysfunction. A total of 48 rats were randomly assigned to fourgroups of 12 rats each: control group; L (lidocaine) + D (d-galactose) group, d-galactose group (D group); and D + L group. We assessed cognitive function using a Morris water maze (MWM) and pathologic changes of hippocampal sections. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) was used to detect serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels in rats, and protein immunoblotting (western blot) was used to detect brain tissue proteins (collapsing response mediator protein-2 [CRMP2], phosphorylated-collapsing response mediator protein-2 [P-CRMP2], and β-amyloid protein [Aβ]). The MWM showed that the d-gal group (284.09 ± 20.46, 5.20 ± 0.793) performed worse than the L + D (265.37 ± 22.34, 4.170 ± 0.577; p = .000) and D + L groups (254.72 ± 27.87, 3.750; p = .000) in escape latency and number of platform crossings, respectively. The L + D group (44.94 ± 2.92 pg/mL, 6.22 ± 0.50 pg/mL, and 460.02 ± 8.26 nmol/mL) and D + L group (46.88 ± 2.63 pg/mL, 5.90 ± 0.38 pg/mL, and 465.6 ± 16.07 nmol/mL) had significantly lower serum inflammatory levels of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and MDA than the d-gal group (57.79 ± 3.96 pg/mL, 11.25 ± 1.70 pg/mL, and 564.9 ± 15.90 nmol/mL), respectively. The L + D group (3.17 ± 0.41 μg/mL) and D + L group (3.08 ± 0.09 μg/mL) had significantly higher serum inflammatory levels of SOD than the d-gal group (2.20 ± 0.13 μg/mL) (all p = .000). The levels of CRMP2, P-CRMP2, and Aβ in the brain tissue homogenates of the L + D group (0.87 ± 0.04, 0.57 ± 0.0, and 0.16 ± 0.02) and the D + L group (0.82 ± 0.05, 0.58 ± 0.09, and 0.15 ± 0.02) were significantly different than the d-gal group (0.67 ± 0.03, 0.96 ± 0.040, and 0.29 ± 0.05). Lidocaine was shown to reduce cognitive impairment in rats with cognitive dysfunction through anti-inflammatory and antioxidative stress mechanisms in combination with CRMP2 antiphosphorylation.