Previous studies of young people have revealed that the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays an important role in inductive reasoning. An fMRI experiment was performed in this study to examine whether the left DLPFC was involved in inductive reasoning of MCI patients and normal aging, and whether the activation pattern of this region was different between MCI patients and normal aging. The fMRI results indicated that MCI patients had no difference from normal aging in behavior performance (reaction time and accuracy) and the activation pattern of DLPFC. However, the BOLD response of the DLPFC region for MCI patients was weaker than that for normal aging, and the functional connectivity between the bilateral DLPFC regions for MCI patients was significantly higher than for normal aging. Taken together, these results indicated that DLPFC plays an important role in inductive reasoning of aging, and the functional abnormity of DLPFC may be an earlier marker of MCI before structural alterations.
Postpartum family planning (PPFP) is important in reducing the risk of complications associated with closely spaced pregnancies. Family planning (FP) programmes usually promote the use of modern methods rather than traditional methods as the latter have a higher failure rate. However, only 28% of postpartum women in Uganda use modern FP. We identified determinants and barriers of modern FP uptake among postpartum mothers at selected regional referral hospitals (RRH) in Uganda in October 2023. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 499 postpartum mothers aged 18-49 years, and attending immunization clinics in seven selected RRH in October 2023. We defined modern FP uptake as use of a contemporary contraception method: condoms, intrauterine devices (IUD), male or female sterilization, injectables, oral contraceptives and implants. We conducted interviews to collect data on sociodemographic characteristics, reproductive health and obstetric history and modern FP uptake. We summarized participant characteristics using frequency distributions, and identified determinants of uptake using modified Poisson regression. Among 499 postpartum mothers, most were aged 25-34 years (45%), unemployed (33%), and had attained secondary education (45%). The majority had heard about modern FP (85%), received counselling regarding PPFP (64%), and were using modern FP methods (46%). Mother being formally employed (aPR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2.1), having an employed partner (aPR = 4.14, 95% CI: 1.31-13.05), exclusive breastfeeding (aPR = 0.8, 95% CI: 0.65-0.99), receiving counselling on FP (aPR = 2.9, 95% CI: 2.1-4.02) were associated with modern FP uptake. Among 270 mothers who did not take up modern FP, spouse not being around (17%), fear of side effects (13%), and not being decided on method (10%) were the commonest reasons for non-uptake of modern FP. Uptake of modern FP among postpartum mothers was suboptimal given that all postpartum mothers should be using FP. Mother being employed, partner employment, exclusive breastfeeding and receiving counselling on FP were associated with uptake of modern FP. Spouse not being around, fear of side effects and not being decided on FP method, were the commonest reasons for non-uptake of modern FP. We recommended intensifying FP counseling services in addition to health education for mothers and their partners on the benefits of using modern FP to improve modern FP uptake among postpartum mothers.
We hypothesized that brain normal aging maintains a balanced whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) in lifetime: some connections decline while other connections increase or retain, in a summation balance as a result of the cancellation of positive and negative connections. We validated this hypothesis through the use of the brain intrinsic magnetic susceptibility source (denoted by χ) as reconstructed from fMRI phase data. In implementation, we first acquired brain fMRI magnitude (m) and phase (p) data from a cohort of 245 healthy subjects in an age span of 20-60 years, then sought MRI-free brain χ source data by computationally solving an inverse mapping problem, thereby obtained triple datasets {χ, m, p} as brain images in different measurements. We performed GIG-ICA for brain function decomposition and constructed the FC matrices (χFC, mFC, pFC} (in size of 50 × 50 for a selection of 50 ICA nodes), followed by a comparative analysis on brain FC agings using {χ, m, p} data. In the results, we found that: (i) χFC aging upholds a FC balance in life span, in an intermediator between mFC and pFC agings by: mean(pFC) = -0.011 < mean(χFC) = 0.015 < mean(mFC) = 0.036; and (ii) the χFC aging exhibits a slight decline with a slightly downward fitting line in intermediation between the two slightly upward fitting lines for the mFC and pFC agings. On the rationale of the χ-depicted MRI-free brain functional state, the brain χFC aging is closer to the brain FC aging truth than the MRI-borne mFC and pFC agings.
In this study, a combination method of freeze-thaw cycle, dry-wet cycle, and chemical agings was used to investigate the aging effect of MgO-modified palygorskite/biochar composite (MPBC) in soil, and its immobilization capacity on Cd under aging. The immobilization mechanisms of MPBC for Cd were explored through several characterizations and DFT calculations. The results showed that MPBC effectively reduced the activate state of Cd by 56.63% at 8 mg/kg Cd concentration. Additionally, MPBC treatment improved physicochemical properties of soil, notably increasing soil pH by 0.26-0.64 units, thereby facilitating Cd immobilization. The predominant mechanism underlying Cd immobilization by MPBC involved the Cd-π complexation, ions exchange, precipitation, and complexation of surface functional groups, including C-O and C=O, with Cd. The citric acid emerged as a milder oxidizing agent combined with freeze-thaw and dry-wet aging conducive to studying the aging effect of MPBC. The dynamic calculation showed that MgO played an important role in the Cd adsorption, with a maximum probability function of 18.35 for Cd. Moreover, within the temperature range of 20 °C-30 °C, the distance between MPBC and Cd was the closest. This study provides a new idea for artificial aging of biochar and a practical method for the remediation of Cd pollution in soil.
The application of catalytically coated metallic foams in catalytic processes has a high potential for exothermic catalytic reactions such as CO2 methanation or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis due to good heat conductivity, improved turbulent flow properties and high catalyst efficiencies. But the preparation of homogenous catalyst coats without pore blocking is challenging with conventional wash coating techniques. Here, we report on a stable and additive free colloidal CoAlOOH suspension (sol) for the preparation of catalytically active Co/Al2O3 xerogel catalysts and coatings. Powders with 18wt% Co3O4 prepared from this additive free synthesis route show a catalytic activity in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and CO2 methanation which is similar to a catalyst prepared by incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) after activating the material under flowing hydrogen at 430°C. Yet, the xerogel catalyst exhibits a much higher thermal stability as compared to the IWI catalyst, as demonstrated in catalytic tests after different heat agings between 430°C and 580°C. It was also found that the addition of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to the sol influences the catalytic properties of the formed xerogels negatively. Only non-reducible cobalt spinels were formed from a CoAlOOH sol with 20wt% PEG. Metallic foams with pores sizes between 450 and 1200μm were coated with the additive free CoAlOOH sol, which resulted in homogenous xerogel layers. First catalytic tests of the coated metal foams (1200μm) showed good performance in CO2 methanation.
The changes of the different phosphorus (P) forms in sediments, overlying water and the diversity of dry weight and root forms of Myriophyllum spicatum were studied using different type sediments under simulating condition. The characteristic of transformation of P forms and growth of submerged plant Myriophyllum spicatum were illustrated. The results indicated that the P release was promoted by adding the silver sand in sediment, and their P concentrations in the overlying water were increased. The chemical characteristic of the sediments were changed by adding NH4 Cl, which restrained the P release from their sediments and decreased the P concentration in their overlying water. About 49%, 107% of their plant, root dry weight and 19% root length of Myriophyllum spicatum from different treatments were raised by adding silver sand in sediments. The root growths of the Myriophyllum spicatum from different treatments were restrained and their agings were promoted by adding NH4 Cl in sediments. The P release from sediments were accelerated by the growth of Myriophyllum spicatum, and the early decay of Myriophyllum spicatum can increase the P accumulation in sediment. The changing trend of different P forms in the sediments decreased firstly, and then increased with the Myriophyllum spicatum growthing, their contents of Fe/Al-P form in sediments varied greatly (41%-57%). The P release and adsorption in sediments were mainly affected by their root length index of Myriophyllum spicatum from different treatments. The P release in sediment was accelerated through their changing penetrate capacity by root diameter increasing.
Evaluation of behavior and cognition in rodent models underpins mechanistic and interventional studies of brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases, especially dementia. Commonly used tests include Morris water maze, Barnes maze, object recognition, fear conditioning, radial arm water maze, and Y maze. Each of these tests reflects some aspects of human memory including episodic memory, recognition memory, semantic memory, spatial memory, and emotional memory. Although most interventional studies in rodent models of dementia have focused on pharmacological agents, there are an increasing number of studies that have evaluated nutritional interventions including caloric restriction, intermittent fasting, and manipulation of macronutrients. Dietary interventions have been shown to influence various cognitive and behavioral tests in rodents indicating that nutrition can influence brain aging and possibly neurodegeneration.
Our previous studies indicated that transcription factor Brn-4 is upregulated in the surgically denervated hippocampus in vivo, promoting neuronal differentiation of hippocampal neural stem cells (NSCs) in vitro. The molecules mediating Brn-4 upregulation in the denervated hippocampus remain unknown. In this study we examined the levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in hippocampus following denervation. Surgical denervation led to a significant increase in IGF-1 expression in vivo. We also report that IGF-1 treatment on NSCs in vitro led to a marked acceleration of Brn-4 expression and cell differentiation down neuronal pathways. The promotion effects were blocked by PI3K-specific inhibitor (LY294002), but not MAPK inhibitor (PD98059); levels of phospho-Akt were increased by IGF-1 treatment. In addition, inhibition of IGF-1 receptor (AG1024) and mTOR (rapamycin) both attenuated the increased expression of Brn-4 induced by IGF-1. Together, the results demonstrated that upregulation of IGF-1 induced by hippocampal denervation injury leads to activation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, which in turn gives rise to upregulation of the Brn-4 and subsequent stem cell differentiation down neuronal pathways.
Lycium barbarum is used both as a food additive and as a medicinal herb in many countries, and L. barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs), a major cell component, are reported to have a wide range of beneficial effects including neuroprotection, anti-aging and anticancer properties, and immune modulation. The effects of LBPs on neuronal function, neurogenesis, and drug-induced learning and memory deficits have not been assessed. We report the therapeutic effects of LBPs on learning and memory and neurogenesis in scopolamine (SCO)-treated rats. LBPs were administered via gastric perfusion for 2 weeks before the onset of subcutaneous SCO treatment for a further 4 weeks. As expected, SCO impaired performance in novel object and object location recognition tasks, and Morris water maze. However, dual SCO- and LBP-treated rats spent significantly more time exploring the novel object or location in the recognition tasks and had significant shorter escape latency in the water maze. SCO administration led to a decrease in Ki67- or DCX-immunoreactive cells in the dentate gyrus and damage of dendritic development of the new neurons; LBP prevented these SCO-induced reductions in cell proliferation and neuroblast differentiation. LBP also protected SCO-induced loss of neuronal processes in DCX-immunoreactive neurons. Biochemical investigation indicated that LBP decreased the SCO-induced oxidative stress in hippocampus and reversed the ratio Bax/Bcl-2 that exhibited increase after SCO treatment. However, decrease of BDNF and increase of AChE induced by SCO showed no response to LBP administration. These results suggest that LBPs can prevent SCO-induced cognitive and memory deficits and reductions in cell proliferation and neuroblast differentiation. Suppression of oxidative stress and apoptosis may be involved in the above effects of LBPs that may be a promising candidate to restore memory functions and neurogenesis.