Neural Circuits and Some New Factors Involved in Hippocampal Memory

Humans and other primates have memory, and the hippocampus plays a critical role in this process. The neural circuitry is one of the structural foundations for the hippocampus in exerting memory function. To understand the relationship between the hippocampus and memory, we need to understand neural circuits. Past research has identified several classical neural circuits involved in memory. Although there are challenges with the study of hippocampal neural circuits, research on this topic has continued, and some progress has been made. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of hippocampal neural circuit mechanisms and some of the newly discovered factors that affect memory. Substantial progress has been made regarding hippocampal memory circuits and Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is unclear whether these novel findings regarding hippocampal memory circuits hold promise for human memory studies. Additional research on this topic is needed.

Systemic Sclerosis: From Pathophysiology to Novel Therapeutic Approaches

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic, immune-mediated chronic disorder characterized by small vessel alterations and progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. The combination of a predisposing genetic background and triggering factors that causes a persistent activation of immune system at microvascular and tissue level is thought to be the pathogenetic driver of SSc. Endothelial alterations with subsequent myofibroblast activation, excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, and unrestrained tissue fibrosis are the pathogenetic steps responsible for the clinical manifestations of this disease, which can be highly heterogeneous according to the different entity of each pathogenic step in individual subjects. Although substantial progress has been made in the management of SSc in recent years, disease-modifying therapies are still lacking. Several molecular pathways involved in SSc pathogenesis are currently under evaluation as possible therapeutic targets in clinical trials. These include drugs targeting fibrotic and metabolic pathways (e.g., TGF-β, autotaxin/LPA, melanocortin, and mTOR), as well as molecules and cells involved in the persistent activation of the immune system (e.g., IL4/IL13, IL23, JAK/STAT, B cells, and plasma cells). In this review, we provide an overview of the most promising therapeutic targets that could improve the future clinical management of SSc.

Cyclic Lattices, Ideal Lattices and Bounds for the Smoothing Parameter

<div>Cyclic lattices and ideal lattices were introduced by Micciancio in \cite{D2}, Lyubashevsky and Micciancio in \cite{L1} respectively, which play an efficient role in Ajtai's construction of a collision resistant Hash function (see \cite{M1} and \cite{M2}) and in Gentry's construction of fully homomorphic encryption (see \cite{G}). Let $R=Z[x]/\langle \phi(x)\rangle$ be a quotient ring of the integer coefficients polynomials ring, Lyubashevsky and Micciancio regarded an ideal lattice as the correspondence of an ideal of $R$, but they neither explain how to extend this definition to whole Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n$, nor exhibit the relationship of cyclic lattices and ideal lattices.</div><div>In this paper, we regard the cyclic lattices and ideal lattices as the correspondences of finitely generated $R$-modules, so that we may show that ideal lattices are actually a special subclass of cyclic lattices, namely, cyclic integer lattices. In fact, there is a one to one correspondence between cyclic lattices in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and finitely generated $R$-modules (see Theorem \ref{th4} below). On the other hand, since $R$ is a Noether ring, each ideal of $R$ is a finitely generated $R$-module, so it is natural and reasonable to regard ideal lattices as a special subclass of cyclic lattices (see corollary \ref{co3.4} below). It is worth noting that we use more general rotation matrix here, so our definition and results on cyclic lattices and ideal lattices are more general forms. As application, we provide cyclic lattice with an explicit and countable upper bound for the smoothing parameter (see Theorem \ref{th5} below). It is an open problem that is the shortest vector problem on cyclic lattice NP-hard? (see \cite{D2}). Our results may be viewed as a substantial progress in this direction.</div>

Cyclic Lattices, Ideal Lattices and Bounds for the Smoothing Parameter

<div>Cyclic lattices and ideal lattices were introduced by Micciancio in \cite{D2}, Lyubashevsky and Micciancio in \cite{L1} respectively, which play an efficient role in Ajtai's construction of a collision resistant Hash function (see \cite{M1} and \cite{M2}) and in Gentry's construction of fully homomorphic encryption (see \cite{G}). Let $R=Z[x]/\langle \phi(x)\rangle$ be a quotient ring of the integer coefficients polynomials ring, Lyubashevsky and Micciancio regarded an ideal lattice as the correspondence of an ideal of $R$, but they neither explain how to extend this definition to whole Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^n$, nor exhibit the relationship of cyclic lattices and ideal lattices.</div><div>In this paper, we regard the cyclic lattices and ideal lattices as the correspondences of finitely generated $R$-modules, so that we may show that ideal lattices are actually a special subclass of cyclic lattices, namely, cyclic integer lattices. In fact, there is a one to one correspondence between cyclic lattices in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and finitely generated $R$-modules (see Theorem \ref{th4} below). On the other hand, since $R$ is a Noether ring, each ideal of $R$ is a finitely generated $R$-module, so it is natural and reasonable to regard ideal lattices as a special subclass of cyclic lattices (see corollary \ref{co3.4} below). It is worth noting that we use more general rotation matrix here, so our definition and results on cyclic lattices and ideal lattices are more general forms. As application, we provide cyclic lattice with an explicit and countable upper bound for the smoothing parameter (see Theorem \ref{th5} below). It is an open problem that is the shortest vector problem on cyclic lattice NP-hard? (see \cite{D2}). Our results may be viewed as a substantial progress in this direction.</div>

Monitoring compliance with Senegal’s tobacco products packaging and labelling requirements 6 months after implementation of the law

IntroductionAs of December 2021, 22 countries and one jurisdiction in WHO African Region (AFRO) have adopted pictorial health warning labels on tobacco packaging, but only 13 have implemented them. In 2014, Senegal enacted a comprehensive tobacco control law, which requires strong provisions on tobacco packaging and labelling. The objective of this study was to assess the level of compliance with these provisions in Senegal 6 months after implementation.MethodsData collection took place in Senegal’s capital city of Dakar across 12 districts in February 2018, following the Tobacco Pack Surveillance System Field Protocol developed by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Unique tobacco packs were purchased from a total of 48 tobacco vendors, and compliance with new packaging and labelling provisions was assessed.ResultsIn total, seven unique cigarette packs were confirmed to be legally available for sale in Dakar, Senegal. All packs complied with all health warning provisions (type, size, location, language and quitline information) as well as bans on quantitative emissions yields. However, no pack complied with the descriptive constituents and emissions statement required on the lateral side, and four of the seven packs violated the ban on misleading brand descriptors.ConclusionsAFRO countries have made substantial progress in adopting comprehensive tobacco control laws that bring them closer into alignment with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This study found areas of effective implementation of FCTC recommended packaging and labelling requirements, as well as areas in need of stronger enforcement.

Structural Batteries for Aeronautic Applications—State of the Art, Research Gaps and Technology Development Needs

Radical innovations for all aircraft systems and subsystems are needed for realizing future carbon-neutral aircraft, with hybrid-electric aircraft due to be delivered after 2035, initially in the regional aircraft segment of the industry. Electrical energy storage is one key element here, demanding safe, energy-dense, lightweight technologies. Combining load-bearing with energy storage capabilities to create multifunctional structural batteries is a promising way to minimize the detrimental impact of battery weight on the aircraft. However, despite the various concepts developed in recent years, their viability has been demonstrated mostly at the material or coupon level, leaving many open questions concerning their applicability to structural elements of a relevant size for implementation into the airframe. This review aims at providing an overview of recent approaches for structural batteries, assessing their multifunctional performance, and identifying gaps in technology development toward their introduction for commercial aeronautic applications. The main areas where substantial progress needs to be achieved are materials, for better energy storage capabilities; structural integration and aircraft design, for optimizing the mechanical-electrical performance and lifetime; aeronautically compatible manufacturing techniques; and the testing and monitoring of multifunctional structures. Finally, structural batteries will introduce novel aspects to the certification framework.

Therapeutic enzymes as non-conventional targets in cardiovascular impairments:A Comprehensive Review

Over the last few decades, substantial progress has been made towards the understanding of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). In-depth mechanistic insights have also provided opportunities to explore novel therapeutic targets and treatment regimens to be discovered. Therapeutic enzymes are an example of such opportunities. The balanced functioning of such enzymes protects against a variety of CVDs while on the other hand, even a small shift in the normal functioning of these enzymes may lead to deleterious outcomes. Owing to the great versatility of these enzymes, inhibition and activation are key regulatory approaches to counter the onset and progression of several cardiovascular impairments. While cardiovascular remedies are already available in excess and of course they are efficacious, a comprehensive description of novel therapeutic enzymes to combat CVDs is the need of the hour. In light of this, the regulation of the functional activity of these enzymes also opens a new avenue for the treatment approaches to be employed. This review describes the importance of non-conventional enzymes as potential candidates in several cardiovascular disorders while highlighting some of the recently targeted therapeutic enzymes in CVDs.

Residual insecticide surface treatment for preventing malaria: a systematic review protocol

Introduction: Malaria presents a significant global public health burden, although substantial progress has been made, with vector control initiatives such as indoor residual surface spraying with insecticides and insecticide treated nets. There now exists many different approaches to apply residual insecticide to indoor and outdoor surfaces in malaria endemic settings. This review aims to synthesise the best available evidence regarding full or partial indoor or outdoor residual insecticide surface treatment for preventing malaria. Methods and Analysis: This review will comprehensively search the literature (both published and unpublished) for any studies investigating the effectiveness of residual insecticide surface treatment for malaria. Studies will be screened to meet the inclusion criteria by a minimum of two authors, followed by assessment of risk of bias (using appropriate risk of bias tools for randomised and non-randomised studies) and extraction of relevant information using structured forms by two independent authors. Meta-analysis will be carried out where possible for epidemiological outcomes such as malaria, anaemia, malaria related mortality, all-cause mortality and adverse effects. Certainty in the evidence will be established with GRADE assessments. Ethics and Dissemination: A full review report will be submitted to the Vector Control & Insecticide Resistance Unit, Global Malaria Program, WHO. A version of this report will be submitted for publication in an open access peer-reviewed journal. The report will inform the development of WHO recommendations regarding residual insecticide treatment for malaria. This systematic review does not require ethics approval as it is a review of primary studies. Registration: PROSPERO, ID 293194 (in progress as of 24th November, 2021)

Global-local attention for emotion recognition

Human emotion recognition is an active research area in artificial intelligence and has made substantial progress over the past few years. Many recent works mainly focus on facial regions to infer human affection, while the surrounding context information is not effectively utilized. In this paper, we proposed a new deep network to effectively recognize human emotions using a novel global-local attention mechanism. Our network is designed to extract features from both facial and context regions independently, then learn them together using the attention module. In this way, both the facial and contextual information is used to infer human emotions, therefore enhancing the discrimination of the classifier. The intensive experiments show that our method surpasses the current state-of-the-art methods on recent emotion datasets by a fair margin. Qualitatively, our global-local attention module can extract more meaningful attention maps than previous methods. The source code and trained model of our network are available at https://github.com/minhnhatvt/glamor-net.

Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology Consensus Recommendations on Dyslipidaemia

The prevalence of dyslipidaemia has been increasing in the Asia-Pacific region and this is attributed to dietary changes and decreasing physical activity. While there has been substantial progress in dyslipidaemia therapy, its management in the region is hindered by limitations in awareness, adherence and healthcare costs. The Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology (APSC) developed these consensus recommendations to address the need for a unified approach to managing dyslipidaemia. These recommendations are intended to guide general cardiologists and internists in the assessment and treatment of dyslipidaemia and are hoped to pave the way for improving screening, early diagnosis and treatment. The APSC expert panel reviewed and appraised the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system. Consensus recommendations were developed, which were then put to an online vote. The resulting consensus recommendations tackle contemporary issues in the management of dyslipidaemia, familial hypercholesterolaemia and lipoprotein(a) in the Asia-Pacific region.