Dating North Pacific Abyssal Sediments by Geomagnetic Paleointensity: Implications of Magnetization Carriers, Plio-Pleistocene Climate Change, and Benthic Redox Conditions

Non-carbonaceous abyssal fine-grained sediments cover vast parts of the North Pacific’s deep oceanic basins and gain increasing interests as glacial carbon traps. They are, however, difficult to date at an orbital-scale temporal resolution and still rarely used for paleoceanographic reconstructions. Here, we show that sedimentary records of past geomagnetic field intensity have high potential to improve reversal-based magnetostratigraphic age models. Five sediment cores from Central North Pacific mid-latitudes (39–47°N) and abyssal water depths ranging from 3,900 to 6,100 m were cube-sampled at 23 mm resolution and analyzed by automated standard paleo- and rock magnetic methods, XRF scanning, and electron microscopy. Relative Paleointensity (RPI) records were determined by comparing natural vs. anhysteretic remanent magnetization losses during alternating field demagnetization using a slope method within optimized coercivity windows. The paleomagnetic record delivered well interpretable geomagnetic reversal sequences back to 3 Ma. This age span covers the climate-induced transition from a biogenic magnetite prevalence in the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene to a dust-dominated detrital magnetic mineral assemblage since the Mid-Pleistocene. Volcaniclastic materials from concurrent eruptions and gravitational or contouritic sediment re-deposition along extinct seamount flanks provide a further important source of fine- to coarse-grained magnetic carriers. Surprisingly, higher proportions of biogenic vs. detrital magnetite in the late Pliocene correlate with systematically lowered RPI values, which seems to be a consequence of magnetofossil oxidation rather than reductive depletion. Our abyssal RPI records match the astronomically tuned stack of the mostly bathyal Pacific RPI records. While a stratigraphic correlation of rock magnetic and element ratio logs with standard oxygen isotope records was sporadically possible, the RPI minima allowed to establish further stratigraphic tie points at ∼50 kyr intervals. Thus, this RPI-enhanced magnetostratigraphy appears to be a major step forward to reliably date unaltered abyssal North Pacific sediments close to orbital-scale resolution

Alkali Recovery of Bauxite Residue by Calcification

Bauxite residue (red mud) generated during alumina production is a highly alkaline solid waste. The red mud is mainly stored on land, but it can cause harm to the surrounding environment and human health. The transformation of red mud into soil is a feasible method for the large-scale disposal of red mud, but alkali removal is the key process that controls the transformation of red mud into soil. In this study, the calcification dealkalization of red mud with a small particle size was carried out below 100 °C. The results show that the sodium in red mud is predominately distributed in small particles, mainly because the lattice alkali and alkali present between the crystals are exposed to the surface of red mud particles by ball milling. The dealkalization process was controlled by the internal diffusion of the shrinking-core model (SCM), and the apparent activation energy was 23.55 kJ/mol. The dealkalization rate and the Na2O content of dealkalized red mud reached 92.44% and 0.61%, respectively. The dealkalization rate increased with increasing reaction time, reactant concentration, and leaching temperature, and this result was consistent with the results of the kinetic study. In addition, calcification enhances the flocculation of particles, so the filtration performance of red mud improved.</jats:p

Study on The Likelihood Ratio Used to Evaluate the Muscle Tension of Upper Limb Spasm in Hemiplegia Patients

Aim: To evaluate the clinical usability of mechanomyography (MMG) in the evaluation of upper-limb spasticity states of hemiplegia patients with likelihood ratio analysis. Methods: The MMG signals from the 30 hemiplegia patients’ biceps and triceps were recorded with three-dimensional wireless accelerometer (Trigno Wireless System, Delsys Inc), when they extended or bent their elbow passively. At the same time, the physiotherapist assessed the MAS (Modified Ashworth Scale) of all the patients who participated in the study and would be divided them into four groups based on the MAS values (MAS0, MAS1, MAS1+ and MAS2). The MMG sensors were built with triaxial accelerometers named as X, Y and Z that represent the muscle fibers lengthwise movement, the cross movement and the vertical the muscle moving direction, respectively. The root mean square (RMS) value of the MMG signal was calculated for analysis. Likelihood ratio analysis were used in the study. Results: All of the variables of the X, Y, Z axis of signals of MMG of BB and TB have related with muscle spasticity grading during passive elbow flexion in multinomial logistic regression (P=0.000, P&lt;0.001). The regression coefficient of Y axis signal of MMG of BB is the largest. The 5 variables of the X, Y, Z axis of signals of MMG of BB and X, Y axis of TB have related with Muscle spasticity grading during passive elbow extension in multinomial logistic regression (P=0.000, P&lt;0.001). The regression coefficient of Y axis signal of MMG of BB is the largest in equation and the Y axis signal of MMG of TB is second large. Conclusions: The effect of agonist is more than the antagonist during the MAS assessment, especially the muscle fibers cross movement and the vertical movement by the MMG assessment.</jats:p

fMRI Analysis on Electroacupuncture on Tongli Acupoint in Healthy People

Objective:To investigate the effect and mechanism of electroacupuncture on Tongli acupoint on the right hand of normal subjects that may activate brain language area by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Methods:Twenty-four healthy volunteers were recruited and divided into treatment group and control group. The subjects of the treatment group were stimulated by the electroacupuncture on Tongli acupoint of the right hand, while the subjecs of the control group were stimulated on a fake acupoint beside Tongli with one week time interval and block design scheme. The data were analyzed by SPM8 to generate the image of active brain area. The distribution, voxel and intensity of active areas were compared between the two groups.Results:The active brain area images of both groups include vision, language and cognition areas, such as bilateral calcarine, cerebellum, fusiform, lingual, occipital, precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, left gyrus frontalis inferior, right gyrus temporalis inferior, etc. There were some overlap of the active areas between the two groups, but the intensities of the active brain areas in the treatment group were higher than the control group. During the first electroacupuncture task, the higher intensities of the treatment group included left cingulum post, posterior central gyrus, precentral gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (P&lt;0.01).In the second task, the areas, including bilateral loran shell, left insula, middle occipital gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, right cingulum post, and gyrus frontalis inferior, had higher intensities in the treatment group than the control group (P&lt;0.01).Conclusion:Language expression might connect with various neural networks which were related to brain regions. The right hemisphere was participated to produce the normal language. Results showed that the bilateral language areas, including BA45 area and cingulum post, were activated when the Tongli acupoint on the right hand was stimulated by electroacupuncture. This study suggested that the electroacupuncture of Tongli acupoint could be the potential strategy to evaluate the clinical efficacy

Alkali Recovery of Bauxite Residue by Calcification

Bauxite residue (red mud) generated during alumina production is a highly alkaline solid waste. The red mud is mainly stored on land, but it can cause harm to the surrounding environment and human health. The transformation of red mud into soil is a feasible method for the large-scale disposal of red mud, but alkali removal is the key process that controls the transformation of red mud into soil. In this study, the calcification dealkalization of red mud with a small particle size was carried out below 100 &deg;C. The results show that the sodium in red mud is predominately distributed in small particles, mainly because the lattice alkali and alkali present between the crystals are exposed to the surface of red mud particles by ball milling. The dealkalization process was controlled by the internal diffusion of the shrinking-core model (SCM), and the apparent activation energy was 23.55 kJ/mol. The dealkalization rate and the Na2O content of dealkalized red mud reached 92.44% and 0.61%, respectively. The dealkalization rate increased with increasing reaction time, reactant concentration, and leaching temperature, and this result was consistent with the results of the kinetic study. In addition, calcification enhances the flocculation of particles, so the filtration performance of red mud improved

Demethylzeylasteral (T-96) Treatment Ameliorates Mice Lupus Nephritis Accompanied by Inhibiting Activation of NF-κB Pathway.

Inflammation plays a vital role in the pathogenesis in lupus nephritis (LN), which is largely attributable to the activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signal pathway. NF-κB up-regulates pro-inflammatory mediators, such as TNF-α, cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and ICAM-1, and promotes macrophage infiltration into renal tissue, further inducing the progression of LN. Over the past 30 years, research has demonstrated that Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TWHF) possesses potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities, and that demethylzeylasteral (T-96), an extract of TWHF, may be one of the responsible compounds. Here, we investigate the pharmacodynamic role and therapeutic mechanism by which T-96 suppresses inflammation and reduces renal pathology in the lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice.Forty-eight MRL/lpr mice were equally randomly divided into 6 groups (1.2, 0.6 or 0.3 mg/10 g T-96, 0.022 pills/10 g kang lang chuang san (one of Traditional Chinese herb as positive control), 0.125 mg/10 g prednisone and 0.1 ml/10 g normal saline as the LN disease control group). Also, eight WT C57BL/6 mice were used as normal control. After treatment by gavage with 0.10 ml/10 g/day volumes for 8 weeks, all mice were sacrificed and renal tissues were collected. The amount of 24 h proteinuria and the levels of anti-dsDNA antibody in serum were assessed respectively at weeks 0, 4 and 8. Inflammation, cytokines and NF-κB levels were assessed by histological examinations, immunohistochemical analyses and Western blot analyses.In comparison with untreated MRL/lpr mice, mice treated with 1.2 and 0.6 mg/10 g of T-96 showed a significant improvement in 24 h proteinuria and the levels of anti-dsDNA antibody in serum. In addition, T-96 reduced the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α, COX-2 and ICAM-1, and the infiltration of macrophages in renal tissue. Moreover, T-96 significantly suppressed phosphorylations of cytoplasmic IKK and nuclear p65.This study suggests that T-96 exhibits reno-protective effects in LN accompanied by inhibiting the activation of NF-κB, reducing the downstream pro-inflammatory mediators and thus restricting macrophage infiltration. Because of these potent properties, T-96 should be considered as a promising therapeutic drug for LN