Highlights d Knockdown of Ptbp1 converts Mu ¨ller glia into retinal ganglion cells in mature retinas d Central projections of converted retinal ganglion cells restore visual responses d Induction of neurons with dopaminergic features in PD model mice

Highlights d Neurons in l/vlPAG exhibit scratching behavior related to neural activities d Ablation of Tac1 + but not SST + neurons decreases itchinduced scratching behavior d Activation of Tac1 + neurons induces spontaneous scratching and grooming behaviors d l/vlPAG Tac1 + neurons modulate spinal itch processing via a RVM-dependent pathway

Spinal gastrin-releasing peptide receptor-expressing (GRPR+) neurons play an essential role in itch signal processing. However, the circuit mechanisms underlying the modulation of spinal GRPR+neurons by direct local and long-range inhibitory inputs remain elusive. Using viral tracing and electrophysiological approaches, we dissected the neural circuits underlying the inhibitory control of spinal GRPR+neurons. We found that spinal galanin+GABAergic neurons form inhibitory synapses with GRPR+neurons in the spinal cord and play an important role in gating the GRPR+neuron-dependent itch signaling pathway. Spinal GRPR+neurons also receive inhibitory inputs from local neurons expressing neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). Moreover, spinal GRPR+neurons are gated by strong inhibitory inputs from the rostral ventromedial medulla. Thus, both local and long-range inhibitory inputs could play important roles in gating itch processing in the spinal cord by directly modulating the activity of spinal GRPR+neurons.

Serotonergic neurons play key roles in various biological processes. However, circuit mechanisms underlying tight control of serotonergic neurons remain largely unknown. Here, we systematically investigated the organization of long-range synaptic inputs to serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) of mice with a combination of viral tracing, slice electrophysiological, and optogenetic techniques. We found that DRN serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons receive largely comparable synaptic inputs from six major upstream brain areas. Upon further analysis of the fine functional circuit structures, we found both bilateral and ipsilateral patterns of topographic connectivity in the DRN for the axons from different inputs. Moreover, the upstream brain areas were found to bidirectionally control the activity of DRN serotonergic neurons by recruiting feedforward inhibition or via a push-pull mechanism. Our study provides a framework for further deciphering the functional roles of long-range circuits controlling the activity of serotonergic neurons in the DRN.

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In order to deploy a secure WLAN mesh network, authentication of both users and APs is needed, and a secure authentication mechanism should be employed. However, some additional configurations of trusted third party agencies are still needed on-site to deploy a secure authentication system. This paper proposes a new block chain-based authentication protocol for WLAN mesh security access, to reduce the deployment costs and resolve the issues of requiring key delivery and central server during IEEE 802.11X authentication. This method takes the user's authentication request as a transaction, considers all the authentication records in the mesh network as the public ledger and realizes the effective monitoring of the malicious attack. Finally, this paper analyzes the security of the protocol in detail, and proves that the new method can solve the dependence of the authentication node on PKI and CA.

The observed maximum concentration of total suspended particles (TSP) was 5.2 mg m À3 during the dust event of April 2003. Variations in the TSP and PM 11 (particles smaller than 11 mm) show that high atmospheric concentrations were observed during dust events that occurred mainly in spring and summer. According to the meteorological observations, dust storms or blowing sand/dust occurred not only in spring, but also in summer and autumn, though floating dust occurred mainly in March and April. The frequency of dust events was consisted with the results of dry deposition.During spring and summer, the size-distribution of aerosols is unimodal with a maximum in the range 3.3-7.0 mm, while in winter the size-distribution shows a bimodal pattern with two peaks; at 3.3-7.0 mm for soil particles and 0.65-1.1 mm for anthropogenic particles. From the results of size distribution of soluble ion concentration, anthropogenic particles consist mainly of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate, which result from coal combustion for heating during winter.Concerning chemical composition, aerosols from Aksu contain a significant amount of evaporate minerals such as calcium carbonate (calcite), sodium chloride (halite), and calcium sulfate (gypsum and anhydrite). These evaporates are common minerals in the saline soils which are widespread around observation site, and it is suggested that they are provided into atmosphere from the ground surface together with soil particles.Major element composition for aerosols in Aksu show a lower SiO 2 content and higher FeO, K 2 O and MgO content compared with that for the saline soils (j < 125 mm), the loess deposits in the Tarim Basin and Central Loess Plateau, and Taklimakan Desert sands (j < 125 mm). This suggests that minerals rich in Fe, K and Mg, such as clay minerals and mica, come selectively from the soil surface into the atmosphere as mineral aerosols. This is because their particle size is generally smaller than that of quartz, the main constituent minerals in the soil.

Summary Norepinephrine (NE) neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) play key roles in modulating sleep and wakefulness. Recent studies have revealed that the paraventricular thalamic nucleus (PVT) is a critical wakefulness-controlling nucleus in mice. However, the effects of NE on PVT neurons remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated the mechanisms of NE modulating wakefulness in the PVT by using viral tracing, behavioral tests, slice electrophysiology, and optogenetics techniques. We found that the PVT-projecting LC neurons had few collateral projections to other brain nuclei. Behavioral tests showed that specific activation of the LC-PVT projections or microinjection of NE into the PVT accelerated emergence from general anesthesia and enhanced locomotion activity. Moreover, brain slice recording results indicated that NE increased the activity of the PVT neurons mainly by increasing the frequency of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents via α1 adrenoceptors. Thus, our results demonstrate that NE modulates wakefulness via α1 adrenoceptors in the PVT.