Objective Numerous investigators have theorized that postoperative changes in Alzheimer's disease neuropathology may underlie postoperative neurocognitive disorders. Thus, we determined the relationship between postoperative changes in cognition and cerebrospinal (CSF) tau, p‐tau‐181p, or Aβ levels after non‐cardiac, non‐neurologic surgery in older adults. Methods Participants underwent cognitive testing before and 6 weeks after surgery, and lumbar punctures before, 24 h after, and 6 weeks after surgery. Cognitive scores were combined via factor analysis into an overall cognitive index. In total, 110 patients returned for 6‐week postoperative testing and were included in the analysis. Results There was no significant change from before to 24 h or 6 weeks following surgery in CSF tau (median [median absolute deviation] change before to 24 h: 0.00 [4.36] pg/mL, p = 0.853; change before to 6 weeks: −1.21 [3.98] pg/mL, p = 0.827). There were also no significant changes in CSF p‐tau‐181p or Aβ over this period. There was no change in cognitive index (mean [95% CI] 0.040 [−0.018, 0.098], p = 0.175) from before to 6 weeks after surgery, although there were postoperative declines in verbal memory (−0.346 [−0.523, −0.170], p = 0.003) and improvements in executive function (0.394, [0.310, 0.479], p < 0.001). There were no significant correlations between preoperative to 6‐week postoperative changes in cognition and CSF tau, p‐tau‐181p, or Aβ42 changes over this interval (p > 0.05 for each). Interpretation Neurocognitive changes after non‐cardiac, non‐neurologic surgery in the majority of cognitively healthy, community‐dwelling older adults are unlikely to be related to postoperative changes in AD neuropathology (as assessed by CSF Aβ, tau or p‐tau‐181p levels or the p‐tau‐181p/Aβ or tau/Aβ ratios). Trial Registration: http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01993836).

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This study was designed to investigate the physiological and biochemical responses of Brandt's voles to the persistent presence of dietary tannic acid. The diet for animals in the experimental group was supplemented with 3% dietary tannic acid for 5weeks. The control group received a commercial lab chow. No significant differences were detected in body weight, organ (heart, kidney, and liver) weights, and organ parameters between animals from two groups. However, voles in the experimental group had significantly higher daily food intake, increased contents of proline and histidine in saliva and feces after protein hydrolysis, and elevated hepatic expression of transferrin than the control. Our results suggested the existence of adaptive strategies developed in Brandt's voles to overcome the adverse effects of dietary tannic acid. (1) Food consumption was increased to satisfy their nutritional demands. (2) The secretion of tannic-acid-binding salivary proteins was promoted. (3) The absorption of iron was enhanced. These alterations contributed to neutralize the negative effects of tannic acid and maintain body mass in animals supplemented with tannic acid. As the result of the consumption of tannic acid, hepatic expression of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase was significantly decreased, while the overall potential of the antioxidant system, characterized by increased hepatic enzymatic activities of catalase and glutathione peroxidase, was enhanced. Our results also implied the involvement of tannic acid in the regulation of lipid metabolism and oxidative stress in voles.

Abstract:Due to the many vulnerabilities of today's computer systems, IT security education has become an important topic. For that reason, a new tutoring system is developed at the Institute for Telematics, Trier, that allows users to gain knowledge about security technologies and tools via a web browser interface. Unlike other systems, this tutoring system does not provide a restricted simulation environment. Instead, guided exercises are performed on a real system (Linux). In this paper, the user interface and architecture of the tutoring system as well as some implementation aspects and future enhancements are described.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), a swine enteric coronavirus causing acute diarrhea in piglets, is one of the major threatens to the pork industry globally. Reverse genetics is a valuable tool for the virological study and vaccine development for coronaviruses. Due to the large size and unstable problem in Escherichia coli of coronavirus genome, construction and manipulation of reverse genetics system for coronaviruses remain laborious and time-consuming. In this study, a reverse genetics system of the genotype II PEDV strain HM was generated using the transformation-associated recombination (TAR) technology in yeast within 1 week. The rescued virus (rPEDV) exhibited similar growth properties to the wild-type virus in vitro. With this PEDV infectious cDNA clone, CRISPR/Cas9 technology and homologous recombination were combined to generate a recombinant virus rPEDV-EGFP in which the ORF3 gene was swapped with an EGFP gene. The reporter virus displayed similar growth properties to the parental virus rPEDV and remained stable during serial passage in vitro. Of note, the strategies of construction and manipulation of PEDV infectious cDNA clone are extremely simple and efficient, which could be applied for other RNA viruses and DNA viruses.