P2X Receptor-Dependent Modulation of Mast Cell and Glial Cell Activities in Neuroinflammation

Localisation of mast cells (MCs) at the abluminal side of blood vessels in the brain favours their interaction with glial cells, neurons, and endothelial cells, resulting in the activation of these cells and the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. In turn, stimulation of glial cells, such as microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes may result in the modulation of MC activities. MCs, microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes all express P2X receptors (P2XRs) family members that are selectively engaged by ATP. As increased concentrations of extracellular adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) are present in the brain in neuropathological conditions, P2XR activation in MCs and glial cells contributes to the control of their communication and amplification of the inflammatory response. In this review we discuss P2XR-mediated MC activation, its bi-directional effect on microglia, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes and role in neuroinflammation.

A Ball-Type Passive Tuned Mass Vibration Absorber for Response Control of Structures under Harmonic Loading

Ball-type tuned mass absorbers are growing in popularity. They combine a multi-directional effect with compact dimensions, properties that make them attractive for use at slender structures prone to wind excitation. Their main drawback lies in limited adjustability of damping level to a prescribed value. Insufficient damping makes ball-type absorbers more prone than pendula to objectionable effects stemming from the non-linear character of the system. Thus, the structure and design of the damping device have to be made so that the autoparametric resonance states, occurrence of which depends on system parameters and properties of possible excitation, are avoided for safety reasons. This chapter summarises available 3D mathematical models of a ball-pendulum and introduces the non-linear approach based on the Appell–Gibbs function. Efficiency of the models is then illustrated for the case of kinematic and random excitation. Interaction of the absorber and the harmonically forced simple linear structure is numerically analysed. Finally, the chapter provides examples of typical patterns of the autoparametric response and outlines possibilities of applications in practical engineering.

The Effect of Financial and Non-Financial Indicators on the Profitability of Islamic Commercial Banks in Indonesia

This study aims to analyze the influence of financial indicators (CAR, FDR, BOPO, NIM, NPF) and non-financial (number of bank offices, market share, GCG, CSR) on profitability that is proxied by Return on Assets (ROA) of Islamic Banks in 2014 -2018. The data source used is secondary data from 2014-2018. Data analysis techniques used are descriptive analysis, multiple linear regression analysis and the classic assumption test. Findings. The results of the study are that CAR does not have a significant negative effect. FDR does not have a significant negative directional effect. BOPO has a significant negative effect. NIM has a positive positive significant effect. NPF has a significant negative effect. The number of bank offices has no significant positive effect. Market share does not have a significant negative directional effect. GCG does not have a significant negative effect. CSR has a significant negative effect. The adjusted R2 value is 73.21% while the remaining 26.79% is influenced by other variables outside the study so the researcher should further add other variables.

Effect of Electric Field on ANTA

The present study considers an insensitive explosive, ANTA, (5(3)-amino-3(5)-nitro-1H-1,2,4-triazole) which is optimized within the restrictions of DFT (B3LYP/cc-PVTZ and B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p)). The optimized structure is subsequently subjected to single-point semi empirical MNDO and/or PM3 level of calculations to visualize the effect of electric field which has been set to magnitudes of 0.001 and 0.01 au. Perturbations on the energy and dipole moment are investigated. Also, the directional effect of the field along the axes of inertia of the molecule has been investigated. Generally, the effect of the field is more pronounced along the principle axis of ANTA.

Directional effect on the fusion of ellipsoidal morphologies into nanorods and nanotubes

Herein, a directional fusion of ellipsoidal morphologies into nanorods and nanotubes was demonstrated through the study of polymerization-induced self-assembly behaviors of semi-fluorinated liquid-crystalline block copolymers.

Informational Role of Open Interest and Transaction Volume of Options: A Meta-Analytic Review

The study examines the research literature pertaining to the informational content of open interest and transaction volume in a systematic manner. Our review upheld their informational role in estimating the price of the underlying stock in future, in predicting future volatility and in ascertaining the market behaviour around corporate/macro-economic announcements with mixed directional effect. Further, through well-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria, we choose 38 research works to uncover the factors and conditions upon which open interest and transaction volume are more informative via meta-regression. The temporal and spatial factors indicate that open interest and transaction volume are more informative in an emerging market as compared to a developed market.

Obtaining and prospects for the use of hydrazide N-vinylsuccinamic acid copolymers as a carrier of biofunctional substances with directional effect

Water-soluble (co) polymers of N-vinylsuccinamic acid hydrazide are obtained as a result of polymer-analogous transformations in the interaction of hydrazine-hydrate of vinyl acetate copolymers with vinyl succinimide and polyvinyl succinimide. Using IR spectroscopy, potentiometric titration, elemental analysis, their structure and composition were established. The possibility of using copolymers as carriers of biofunctional substances of an acidic nature is shown.