Improving effects of huperzine A on spatial working memory in aged monkeys and young adult monkeys with experimental cognitive impairment

Our previous studies demonstrated that huperzine A, a reversible and selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, exerts beneficial effects on memory deficits in various rodent models of amnesia. To extend the antiamnesic action of huperzine A to nonhuman primates, huperzine A was evaluated for its ability to reverse the deficits in spatial memory produced by scopolamine in young adult monkeys or those that are naturally occurring in aged monkeys using a delayed-response task. Scopolamine, a muscarinic receptor antagonist, dose dependently impaired performance with the highest dose (0.03 mg/kg, i.m.) producing a significant reduction in choice accuracy in young adult monkeys. The delayed performance changed from an average of 26.8/30 trials correct on saline control to an average of 20.2/30 trials correct after scopolamine administration. Huperzine A (0.01-0.1 mg/kg, i.m.) significantly reversed deficits induced by scopolamine in young adult monkeys on a delayed-response task; performance after an optimal dose (0.1 mg/kg) averaged 25.0/30 correct. In four aged monkeys, huperzine A (0.001-0.01 mg/kg, i.m.) significantly increased choice accuracy from 20.5/30 on saline control to 25.2/30 at the optimal dose (0.001 mg/kg for two monkeys and 0.01 mg/kg for the other two monkeys). The beneficial effects of huperzine A on delayed-response performance were long lasting; monkeys remained improved for about 24 h after a single injection of huperzine A. This study extended the findings that huperzine A improves the mnemonic performance requiring working memory in monkeys, and suggests that huperzine A may be a promising agent for clinical therapy of cognitive impairments in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Effect of huperzine A on working memory in reserpine- or yohimbine-treated monkeys

The effect of huperzine A, a reversible and selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, on reserpine- or yohimbine-induced spatial working memory deficits in monkeys has been examined using the delayed response task that depends on the integrity of prefront

Extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves reverses yohimbine-induced spatial working memory deficit in rats

Extract of Ginkgo biloba is used to alleviate age-related decline in cognitive function, which may be associated with the loss of catecholamines in the prefrontal cortex. The purpose of this study was to verify whether alpha-2 adrenergic activity is involved in the facilitative effects of extract of Ginkgo biloba on prefrontal cognitive function. Male Wistar rats were trained to reach criterion in the delayed alternation task (0, 25, and 50-s delay intervals). A pilot study found that 3 or 4 mg/kg of yohimbine (intraperitoneal) reduced the choice accuracy of the delayed alternation task in a dose and delay-dependent manner, without influencing motor ability or perseverative behaviour. Acute oral pre-treatment with doses of 50, 100, or 200 mg/kg (but not 25 mg/kg) of extract of Ginkgo biloba prevented the reduction in choice accuracy induced by 4 mg/kg yohimbine. These data suggest that the prefrontal cognition-enhancing effects of extract of Ginkgo biloba are related to its actions on alpha-2-adrenoceptors.

Disconnection of the hippocampal-prefrontal cortical circuits impairs spatial working memory performance in rats

There is a unidirectional, ipsilateral and monosynaptic projection from the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex. The cognitive function of hippocampal-prefrontal cortical circuit is not well established. In this paper, we use muscimol treated rats to inv

The effects of centrally administered fluorocitrate via inhibiting glial cells on working memory in rats

Although prefrontal and hippocampal neurons are critical for spatial working memory, the function of glial cells in spatial working memory remains uncertain. In this study we investigated the function of glial cells in rats' working memory. The glial cell

Silicon on insulator thermodiode with extremely wide working temperature range

This paper presents for the first time the performance of a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) p-n thermodiode, which can operate in an extremely wide temperature range of 200°C to 700°C while maintaining its linearity. The thermodiode is embedded in a thin dielectric membrane underneath a tungsten microheater, which allows the diode characterization at very high temperature (> 800°C). The effect of the junction area (Aj) on the thermodiode linearity, sensitivity and self-heating is experimentally and theoretically investigated. Results on the long-term diode stability at high temperature are also reported. © 2013 IEEE.

Factorial comparison of working memory models.

Three questions have been prominent in the study of visual working memory limitations: (a) What is the nature of mnemonic precision (e.g., quantized or continuous)? (b) How many items are remembered? (c) To what extent do spatial binding errors account for working memory failures? Modeling studies have typically focused on comparing possible answers to a single one of these questions, even though the result of such a comparison might depend on the assumed answers to both others. Here, we consider every possible combination of previously proposed answers to the individual questions. Each model is then a point in a 3-factor model space containing a total of 32 models, of which only 6 have been tested previously. We compare all models on data from 10 delayed-estimation experiments from 6 laboratories (for a total of 164 subjects and 131,452 trials). Consistently across experiments, we find that (a) mnemonic precision is not quantized but continuous and not equal but variable across items and trials; (b) the number of remembered items is likely to be variable across trials, with a mean of 6.4 in the best model (median across subjects); (c) spatial binding errors occur but explain only a small fraction of responses (16.5% at set size 8 in the best model). We find strong evidence against all 6 documented models. Our results demonstrate the value of factorial model comparison in working memory.

"Plateau"-related summary statistics are uninformative for comparing working memory models.

Performance on visual working memory tasks decreases as more items need to be remembered. Over the past decade, a debate has unfolded between proponents of slot models and slotless models of this phenomenon (Ma, Husain, Bays (Nature Neuroscience 17, 347-356, 2014). Zhang and Luck (Nature 453, (7192), 233-235, 2008) and Anderson, Vogel, and Awh (Attention, Perception, Psychophys 74, (5), 891-910, 2011) noticed that as more items need to be remembered, "memory noise" seems to first increase and then reach a "stable plateau." They argued that three summary statistics characterizing this plateau are consistent with slot models, but not with slotless models. Here, we assess the validity of their methods. We generated synthetic data both from a leading slot model and from a recent slotless model and quantified model evidence using log Bayes factors. We found that the summary statistics provided at most 0.15 % of the expected model evidence in the raw data. In a model recovery analysis, a total of more than a million trials were required to achieve 99 % correct recovery when models were compared on the basis of summary statistics, whereas fewer than 1,000 trials were sufficient when raw data were used. Therefore, at realistic numbers of trials, plateau-related summary statistics are highly unreliable for model comparison. Applying the same analyses to subject data from Anderson et al. (Attention, Perception, Psychophys 74, (5), 891-910, 2011), we found that the evidence in the summary statistics was at most 0.12 % of the evidence in the raw data and far too weak to warrant any conclusions. The evidence in the raw data, in fact, strongly favored the slotless model. These findings call into question claims about working memory that are based on summary statistics.

Quantum well infrared photodetector simultaneously working in two atmospheric windows

We have demonstrated a two-contact quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) exhibiting simultaneous photoresponse in both the mid- and the long-wavelength atmospheric windows of 3-5 mu m and of 8-12 mu m. The structure of the device was achieved by sequentially growing a mid-wavelength QWIP part followed by a long-wavelength QWIP part separated by an n-doped layer. Compared with the conventional dual-band QWIP device utilizing three ohmic contacts, our QWIP is promising to greatly facilitate two-color focal plane array (FPA) fabrication by reducing the number of the indium bumps per pixel from three to one just like a monochromatic FPA fabrication and to increase the FPA fill factor by reducing one contact per pixel; another advantage may be that this QWIP FPA boasts broadband detection capability in the two atmospheric windows while using only a monochromatic readout integrated circuit. We attributed this simultaneous broadband detection to the different distributions of the total bias voltage between the mid- and long-wavelength QWIP parts.

Two-color quantum well infrared photodetector simultaneously working at 10-14 mu m

We have demonstrated a two-color quantum well infrared photodetector (QWIP) exhibiting simultaneous photoresponse with cutoff wavelengths at 11.8 and 14.5 mu m, respectively. Strong photocurrent signals are observed at temperature of 77 K. The simultaneous two-color photoresponse is achieved by utilizing a simple design by broadening the width of the quantum well and selecting an appropriate doping density. The two peaks are attributed to the intersubband transitions from the ground state to the first excited state (bound state) and to the fifth excited state (continuum state), respectively.

Room-Temperature Continuous-Wave Operation of InGaN-Based Blue-Violet Laser Diodes with a Lifetime of 15.6 Hours

We report our recent progress of investigations on InGaN-based blue-violet laser diodes (LDs). The room-temperature (RT) cw operation lifetime of LDs has extended to longer than 15.6 h. The LD structure was grown on a c-plane free-standing (FS) GaN substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The typical threshold current and voltage of LD under RT cw operation are 78 mA and 6.8 V, respectively. The experimental analysis of degradation of LD performances suggests that after aging treatment, the increase of series resistance and threshold current can be mainly attributed to the deterioration of p-type ohmic contact and the decrease of internal quantum efficiency of multiple quantum well (MQW), respectively.

制革废水生物强化处理及中水回用试验研究

制革行业是轻工行业中仅次于造纸业的高耗水、重污染行业，作为劳动密集型行业，在解决大量人口就业问题的同时，也对所在地区环境造成了严重污染。目前我国制革行业每年排放废水8,000~12,000万吨，废水中含铬约3,500 t，SS为1.2×105 t，COD为1.8×105 t，BOD为7×104 t，对水体污染严重。 本研究在对厌氧酸化工艺进行研究、一级好氧处理段进行工艺比选研究的基础上，获得了匀质调节—SBBR—BAF的生物处理工艺，并依托该工艺进行了生物强化处理的研究，考察了菌剂的强化运行效果及其处理水回用的可行性。 研究表明，在进水COD＞3,000 mg/L，厌氧酸化具有很好的抗冲击作用，保证了好氧工艺出水COD＜200 mg/L；在进水COD＜3,000 mg/L，可只通过好氧处理实现出水COD＜200 mg/L。厌氧酸化停留时间选择不当，会导致厌氧出水硫化物浓度升高，严重影响好氧系统，会使好氧活性污泥因中毒而解絮。 研究表明，当进水COD为2,000~2,500 mg/L，NH4+-N为130~146 mg/L时，COD、NH4+-N去除率SBBR分别为93.8%~96.6%和14.5%~55.9%，SBR分别为88.8%~94.9%和13%~50.7%，表明SBBR优于SBR。同时，研究发现SBBR污泥增长率为0.05 kgVSS/kgCOD，仅为SBR0.57 kgVSS/kgCOD的8.8%。此外，研究发现SBBR在停止运行后经3个运行周期可回复原油能力，而SBR池经9个周期培养也不能恢复，说明SBBR恢复能力明显优于SBR。 研究表明，以匀质调节—SBBR—BAF为主的制革废水处理工艺，出水水质稳定，进水COD 801~2,834 mg/L、NH4+-N 87~203 mg/L，出水COD＜80 mg/L、NH4+-N＜10 mg/L，基本达到中水回用标准；操作简单灵活，没有污泥回流系统，污泥产率低，污泥处理费用低；工艺基本不需要添加化学药剂，既节约成本、又避免了二次污染；两级生物膜使得该工艺具有很强的耐冲击负荷能力，特别适合制革废水水质水量波动大的特点。 研究表明，高效菌对系统的启动具有一定的促进作用，强化系统生物膜6天可以成熟，对照系统生物膜9天可以成熟。同时高效菌能加速COD降解，缩短停留时间，强化系统6~8 h可使COD＜200 mg/L，对照系统8~10 h可使COD＜200 mg/L。长期运行表明，强化系统的SBBR在COD和NH4+-N的去除率都优于对照系统的SBBR。最终出水COD强化系统平均为53 mg/L、对照系统为74 mg/L。在模拟循环过程中，强化系统均有更高的稳定性。可实现8次理论循环，而对照系统只能实现4次理论循环。 研究表明，通过合理的工艺设计，可以实现猪皮制革废水达到《污水综合排放标准GB8976-1996》一级标准，同时满足工厂部分用水要求。通过添加高效微生物，可提高生物处理系统处理能力，使处理水能够满足工厂的多次回用。 As a labour-intensive industry, tanning has created large amount of working opportunities as well as caused severe contamination to environment. And it is one of the highest water-consuming and polluting industry, only second to manufacturing. At present time, Chinese leather industry emits wastewater about 80,000,000~120,000,000 t annually, which contains chromium about 3,500 t, SS 1.2×105 t, COD 1.8×105 t, BOD 7×104 t and ambient riverhead has been polluted greatly. Based on the research of anaerobic acidification and comparison of SBBR and SBR, biotreatment process (Homogenization—SBBR—BAF) had been established to amend the disadvantages of traditional sewage treatment such as too much sludge, high cost of advanced treatment and NH4+-N can not reach the emission standard. Research on the bioaugmentation was also been carried out. Researches showed, when COD of influent was beyond 3,000 mg/L, anaerobic acidification could resist strong impact, thus COD of effluent was less than 200 mg/L; when COD of influent was less than 3,000 mg/L, only throughout aerobic sewage treatment could COD of effluent beless than 200 mg/L. False residence tiome of anaerobic acidification would lead to the higher effluent concentration of sulfide and disintegration of aerobic activated sludge. Researches showed SBBR worked a better than SBR: when influent between 2,000 and 2,500 mg/L, NH4+-N between 130 mg/L and 146 mg/L, COD, NH4+-N removal rate of SBBR was 93.3%~96.6%, 14.5%~55.9% respectively while COD, NH4+-N removal rate of SBR was 88.8%~94.9%, 13%~50.7% respectively. Sludge growth rate of SBBR was 8.8% of that of 0.05 kgVSS/kgCOD. Besides, SBBR could recovered after 3 operating periods while SBR worked no better after 9 operating periods.Therefore, SBBR excelled SBR. Researches showed, effluent quantity of tannery wastewater treatment process (Homogenization—SBBR—BAF) was stable. When COD of influent was between 801 and 2,834 mg/L, NH4+-N was between 87 mg/L and 203 mg/L, COD of effluent was less than 80 mg/L, NH4+-N was less than 10 mg/L, which achieved the standard of reuse. This biotreatment was featured in low cost, easy and flexible management, less sludge, no inverse sludge system. Besides, this technique required no chemical, which could lower the cost and avoid secondary pollution. Great resistant of impact due to two membranes and was suitable for tannery wastewater which was featured by fluctuation of influent quality and quantity. Researches showed effective microorganisms promotes the startup of the process.Biofilm in the bioaugmentation process matured with 6 days while biofilm in normal process matured with 9 days. Effective microorganisms could accelerate the degradation of COD and shorten the residence time. Aggrandizement system could make COD<200 mg/L with 6 to8 hours while cntrolling system could make COD<200 mg/L with 8 to 10 hours. Long-term operating shows that SBBR in the bioaugmentation system worked better than the normal system in the treatment of COD and NH4+-N. The average COC of effluent in bioaugmentation system was 53 mg/L, normal system was 74 mg/L. In the simulative circulation process,aggrandizement process, which could fulfill 8 times theoretical circulation, works more stably than controlling process which could only fulfill 4 times theoretical circulation. Researches showed that reasonable design could make the wastewater meet the first grade of discharging standard of National Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard (GB8976-1996), and partially meet the demand of water using of the factory. Adding effective microorganisms could enhance the biotreatment and make the effluents reuse many times.

Electrochemiluminescent microoptoprobe with mini-grid working electrode and self-contained sample container

A new electrochemiluminescence (ECL) microoptoprobe with simple structure. small sampling volume and high efficiency was developed. It was constructed by fixing the transparent gold mini-grid on the end surface of the optical fiber, and by surrounding the fiber with the counter- and reference electrodes to form a self-contained three-electrode system. The use of mini-grid electrode increased the surface area and collection efficiency. which resulted in higher ECL signal and better sensitivity. The counter electrode together with one end of the fiber formed a mini-vessel, which eliminated the need of additional container and allowed to perform ECL detection in a very small volume (about 10 mul). The microoptoprobe obtained was characterized with the Ru(bpy)(3)(2-)-tripropylamine system and was applied for the determination of oxalate and chlorpromazine (CPZ). Detection limits (S/N = 3) were 5 x 10(-7) and 1 x 10(-6) mol l(-1) for oxalate and CPZ. respectively. The linear range for oxalate and CPZ extended from 1 x 10(-6) to 1 x 10(-3) mol l(-1), and from 5 x 10(-6) to 5 x 10(-4) mol l(-1). respectively.

Catalytic oxidation of chlorobenzene on supported manganese oxide catalysts

Total oxidation of chlorinated aromatics on supported manganese oxide catalysts was investigated. The catalysts have been prepared by wet impregnation method and characterized by XRD and TPR. Among the catalysts with the supports of TiO(2), Al(2)O(3) and SiO(2), titania supported catalyst (MnO(x)/TiO(2)) gives the highest catalytic activity. MnO(x)/TiO(2) (Mn loading, 1.9 wt.%) shows the total oxidation of chlorobenzene at about 400 degreesC. The activity can be stable for over 82 h except for the first few hours. At lower Mn loadings for MnO(x)/TiO(2), only one reduction peak appears at about 400 degreesC due to the highly dispersed manganese oxide. With the increase of Mn loading, another reduction peak emerges at about 500 degreesC, which is close to the reduction peak of bulk Mn(2)O(3) at 520 degreesC. TPR of the used catalyst is totally different from that of the fresh one indicating that the chemical state of the active species is changed during the chlorobenzene oxidation. The characterization studies of MnO(x)/TiO(2) showed that the highly dispersed MnO(x) is the precursor of the active phase, which can be converted into the active phase, mainly oxychlorinated manganese (MnO(y)Cl(z)), under working conditions of chlorobenzene oxidation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.