Lundbergyang4972

Neurological disorders, including neurodegenerative diseases, are collectively a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Whilst the underlying disease mechanisms remain elusive, altered mitochondrial function has been clearly implicated and is a key area of study in these disorders. Studying mitochondrial function in these disorders is difficult due to the inaccessibility of brain tissue, which is the key tissue affected in these diseases. To overcome this issue, numerous cell models have been used, each providing unique benefits and limitations. Here, we focussed on the use of lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) to study mitochondrial function in neurological disorders. LCLs have long been used as tools for genomic analyses, but here we described their use in functional studies specifically in regard to mitochondrial function. These models have enabled characterisation of the underlying mitochondrial defect, identification of altered signalling pathways and proteins, differences in mitochondrial function between subsets of particular disorders and identification of biomarkers of the disease. The examples provided here suggest that these cells will be useful for development of diagnostic tests (which in most cases do not exist), identification of drug targets and testing of pharmacological agents, and are a worthwhile model for studying mitochondrial function in neurological disorders.Microcurrent electrical neuromuscular stimulation (MENS) is believed to alter blood flow, increasing cutaneous blood perfusion, with vasodilation and hyperemia. According to these physiological mechanisms, we investigated the short-term effects of MENS on constant-load exercise and the subsequent recovery process. Ten healthy subjects performed, on separate days, constant-load cycling, which was preceded and followed by active or inactive stimulation to the right quadricep. Blood lactate, pulmonary oxygen, and muscle deoxyhemoglobin on-transition kinetics were recorded. Hemodynamic parameters, heart rate variability, and baroreflex sensitivity were collected and used as a tool to investigate the recovery process. Microcurrent stimulation caused a faster deoxyhemoglobin (4.43 ± 0.5 vs. 5.80 ± 0.5 s) and a slower VO2 (25.19 ± 2.1 vs. 21.94 ± 1.3 s) on-kinetics during cycling, with higher lactate levels immediately after treatments executed before exercise (1.55 ± 0.1 vs. 1.40 ± 0.1 mmol/L) and after exercise (2.15 ± 0.1 vs. 1.79 ± 0.1 mmol/L). In conclusion, MENS applied before exercise produced an increase in oxygen extraction at muscle microvasculature. In contrast, MENS applied after exercise improved recovery, with the sympathovagal balance shifted toward a state of parasympathetic predominance. MENS also caused higher lactate values, which may be due to the magnitude of the muscular stress by both manual treatment and electrical stimulation than control condition in which the muscle received only a manual treatment.Economic globalization and the internet economy have resulted in a dramatic increase in freight transportation. Traffic crashes involving trucks usually result in severe losses and casualties. The fatality and injury rates for heavy truck accidents have been 10 times higher than for sedans in Taiwan in recent years. Thus, understanding driving behavior and risk are important for freight carriers. Since personality traits may result in different driving behaviors, the main objective of this study is to apply artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the frequency of aberrant driving behavior and the risk level of each driver according to drivers' personality traits. In this case study, relevant information on truck drivers' personality traits and their tendency to engage in aberrant driving behavior are collected by using respectively a questionnaire and a fleet surveillance system from a truck company. A relative risk level evaluation mechanism is developed considering the frequency and distribution of aberrant driving behavior. selleckchem The Jenks natural breaks optimization method and the elbow method are adopted to optimally classify 40 truck drivers into 4 aberrant driving behavior levels and 5 driving risk levels. It was found that 5% of drivers were at the highest aberrant driving behavior level, and 7.5% of drivers were at the highest driving risk level. Based on the results, the proposed models show good and stable predictive performance, especially for the class of drivers with excessive rotation speed, hard acceleration, excessive rotation speed, hard deceleration, and driving risk. With the proposed models, the predictive class for aberrant driving behavior and driving risk can be determined by plugging in a driver's personality traits before or after employment. Based on the prediction results, the manager of a transportation company could plan the training program for each driver to reduce the aberrant driving behavior occurrence.Endolichenic fungi (ELF) are emerging novel bioresources because their diverse secondary metabolites have a wide range of biological activities. Metagenomic analysis of lichen thalli demonstrated that the conventional isolation method of ELF covers a very limited range of ELF, and the development of an advanced isolation method is needed. The influence of four variables were investigated in this study to determine the suitable conditions for the isolation of more diverse ELF from a radially growing foliose lichen, Parmotrema tinctorum. Four variables were tested age of the thallus, severity of surface-sterilization of the thallus, size of a thallus fragment for the inoculation, and nutrient requirement. In total, 104 species (1885 strains) of ELF were isolated from the five individual thalli of P. tinctorum collected at five different places. Most of the ELF isolates belong to Sordariomycetes. Because each part of lichen thallus (of different age) has unique ELF species, the whole thallus of the foliose lichen is needed to isolate diverse ELF. Moderate sterilization is appropriate for the isolation of diverse ELF. Inoculation of small fragment (1 mm2) of lichen thallus resulted in the isolation of highest diversity of ELF species compared to larger fragments (100 and 25 mm2). Moreover, ELF species isolated from the small thallus fragments covered all ELF taxa detected from the medium and the large fragments in this study. The use of two media-Bold's basal medium (nutrient poor) and potato dextrose agar (nutrient rich)-supported the isolation of diverse ELF. Among the tested variables, size of thallus fragment more significantly influenced the isolation of diverse ELF than other three factors. Species composition and richness of ELF communities from different lichen thalli differed from each other in this study.