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Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a movement disorder caused by progressive degeneration of the midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). Despite intense research efforts over the past decades, the etiology of PD remains largely unknown. Here, we discovered the involvement of trophoblast glycoprotein (Tpbg) in the development of PD-like phenotypes in mice. Tpbg expression was detected in the ventral midbrain during embryonic development and in mDA neurons in adulthood. Genetic ablation of Tpbg resulted in mild degeneration of mDA neurons in aged mice (12–14 months) with behavioral deficits reminiscent of PD symptoms. Through in silico analysis, we predicted potential TPBG-interacting partners whose functions were relevant to PD pathogenesis; this result was substantiated by transcriptomic analysis of the SNc of aged Tpbg knockout mice. These findings suggest that Tpbg is a new candidate gene associated with PD and provide a new insight into PD pathogenesis.

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Electrochemical ion exchange method is expected to be one of the most acceptable techniques for the separation of radioactive cations from nuclear wastewater. In this study a thin film of hexacyanoferrate on nickel surface was derivatized chemically in an aqueous potassium-ferricyanide solution. Electrochemical redox behavior of the nickel hexacyanoferrate(NiHCNFe) film electrode was investigated with the use of cyclic voltammetry potentiostated from -100 to 800 mV versus SCE. The electro-reduction characteristics of the NiHCNFe film were examined in the cobalt solutions. The NiHCNFe ion exchanger was more useful at lower concentration, lower temperature, and pH7 of the cobalt solution. The capacity loss of NiHCNFe was 0.018%/cycle that was less than the average loss of 2~3%/cycle of the convective organic exchanger. The 45~55% of the initial cobalt ions was electro-deposited on the NiHCNFe by using continuous recirculating reactor system. As a result, it was found that the electroactive NiHCNFe films showed better performance than the organic resins for the separation of cobalt ion from the aqueous solutions.