Geislerrobb8443

Lignin is a good candidate for the polymerization and chemical modification to prepare sustainable chemicals and materials, but a relatively low hydroxyl content becomes an obstacle for the preparation of lignin-based polyurethane (PU) adhesives. In order to improve its reactivity, the acetic acid lignin (AAL) was hydroxymethylated before copolymerized with isocyanate during the preparation of PU adhesives. The hydroxymethylation was carried out in an alkaline formaldehyde solution and it was found that 85 °C is the optimal temperature. On that condition, the free formaldehyde content of the corresponding product HL-6 was as low as 0.32%, while the hydroxymethyl was increased by 189.11% compared with original AAL and reached 2.92 mmol/g. In the polymerization of PU adhesives, the hydroxymethylated lignin with a higher aliphatic hydroxyl content formed a more compact three-dimensional urethane cross-linking network with isocyanate. The mechanical properties and thermal stability of the lignin-based PU adhesive were improved by 15-30 wt% in HL-6, and particularly the tensile strength was increased by 21-41 MPa, which indicated that the hydroxymethylation is an efficient way to enrich the hydroxyl in lignin, and the modified lignin is adequate to partially replace petroleum-based polyols for the preparation of PU adhesives with excellent properties. The beta-adrenergic receptors of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) are involved in modulating emotional memory formation in the hippocampus. The molecular mechanisms of this involvement are still unclear. In this study, we investigate the effects of the beta-adrenergic receptors of the BLA involvements during the major cellular mechanisms that underlie memory formation in hippocampal sub-regions. Wistar rats were injected with the selective beta receptor agonist, clenbuterol (15 ng/0.5 μl) bilaterally into the BLA. Then, the long-term potentiation (LTP) and the paired-pulse responses were recorded. Control rats were injected by saline at the same volume. Our data indicated that the injection of clenbuterol into the BLA area enhanced the amplitude of the population spike (PS) but not the slope of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP). In addition, short-term plasticity in the dentate gyrus (DG) region was significantly changed at 500 ms inter-pulse interval. These results suggest that the activation of the beta-adrenergic receptors of the BLA can improve LTP induction, which depends on the short-term plasticity with a mechanism related to the GABAergic transmission. Thus, it can be concluded that the adrenergic system of the BLA engages with long-term and short-term plasticity. This study was performed to investigate the genetic association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the interleukin-16 (IL-16) gene with the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD) in a Chinese Han population. Genotyping for the rs11556218 T/G, rs1131445 T/C and rs4072111 C/T polymorphisms of IL-16 was performed using the PCR-RFLP method in 405 patients with PD and 405 healthy matched individuals. Statistically significant difference for rs4072111 could be observed in both additive model (TC vs. CC OR=0.622, 95 % CI 0.443-0.873, P = 0.006) and dominant model (TC+TT vs. CC OR =0.644, 95 % CI 0.464-0.893, P = 0.008). The frequency of the rs4072111 T allele was significantly lower in the PD patients (OR= 0.692, 95 % CI 0.515-0.929, P = 0.014) than in the controls. In subgroup analysis, a significant difference in genotype frequency distribution (P =0.004) and allele frequency (P =0.001) was found for rs4072111 between the male PD group and the control group, similar to the findings for the late-onset Parkinson's disease (LOPD) group and the control group (P = 0.044, 0.038, respectively). Conversely, there was no significant difference in the frequencies of rs11556218 and rs1131445 between the PD patients and controls. Moreover, seven common haplotypes were detected, and the CGT and CTC haplotypes were associated with PD susceptibility in our study. Our results indicate that the IL-16 gene rs4072111 polymorphism is significantly associated with PD susceptibility in the Chinese Han population but that the polymorphisms rs11556218 and rs4778889 are not. Fibrillins constitute a family of large extracellular glycoproteins which multimerize to form microfibrils, an important structure in the extracellular matrix. It has long been assumed that fibrillin-2 was barely present during postnatal life, but it is now clear that fibrillin-2 molecules form the structural core of microfibrils, and are masked by an outer layer of fibrillin-1. Mutations in fibrillins give rise to heritable connective tissue disorders, including Marfan syndrome and congenital contractural arachnodactyly. Fibrillins also play an important role in matrix sequestering of members of the transforming growth factor-β family, and in context of Marfan syndrome excessive TGF-β activation has been observed. TGF-β activation is highly dependent on integrin binding, including integrin αvβ8 and αvβ6, which are upregulated upon TGF-β exposure. TGF-β is also involved in tumor progression, metastasis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and tumor angiogenesis. In several highly vascularized types of cancer such as hepatocellular carcinoma, a positive correlation was found between increased TGF-β plasma concentrations and tumor vascularity. Interestingly, fibrillin-1 has a higher affinity to TGF-β and, therefore, has a higher capacity to sequester TGF-β compared to fibrillin-2. The previously reported downregulation of fibrillin-1 in tumor endothelium affects the fibrillin-1/fibrillin-2 ratio in the microfibrils, exposing the normally hidden fibrillin-2. We postulate that fibrillin-2 exposure in the tumor endothelium directly stimulates tumor angiogenesis by influencing TGF-β sequestering by microfibrils, leading to a locally higher active TGF-β concentration in the tumor microenvironment. From a therapeutic perspective, fibrillin-2 might serve as a potential target for future anti-cancer therapies. BACKGROUND AND AIMS Variceal hemorrhage can be a life-threatening adverse event of chronic liver disease. In contrast to the well described guidelines for the management of portal hypertension (PH) in adults, there is limited evidence about the optimal prophylactic management of variceal bleeding in children. The study was carried out to assess the efficacy of endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) as primary prophylaxis to prevent upper GI bleeding in children with PH. METHODS From January 2014 to April 2018, all pediatric patients with PH disease and medium to large esophageal varices or reddish spots, regardless of the grade of the varix, were prospectively included in the protocol of primary prophylaxis with EVL. find more A second retrospective group of patients was made after reviewing medical records of 32 pediatric patients with PH that presented esophageal varices in the upper endoscopy and had received propranolol as primary prophylaxis. RESULTS Twenty-four patients (75%) reach varices eradication in the EVL group with a median number of procedures before eradication of 2 (1-4) and a median time to eradication of 3.