J. Neurochem. (2010) 115, 921–929. Abstract Antagonism of tumor necrosis factor‐alpha with etanercept has proved to be effective in the treatment of spinal cord injury and centrally endotoxin‐induced brain injury. However, etanercept may offer promise as therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI). In this study, anesthetized rats, immediately after the onset of TBI, were divided into two major groups and given the vehicle solution (1 mL/kg of body weight) or etanercept (5 mg/kg of body weight) intraperitoneally once per 12 h for consecutive 3 days. Etanercept caused attenuation of TBI‐induced cerebral ischemia (e.g., increased cellular levels of glutamate and lactate‐to‐pyruvate ratio), damage (e.g., increased cellular levels of glycerol) and contusion and motor and cognitive function deficits. TBI‐induced neuronal apoptosis (e.g., increased numbers of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase αUTP nick‐end labeling and neuronal‐specific nuclear protein double‐positive cells), glial apoptosis (e.g., increased numbers of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase αUTP nick‐end labeling and glial fibrillary acidic protein double‐positive cells), astrocytic (e.g., increased numbers of glial fibrillary acidic protein positive cells) and microglial (e.g., increased numbers of ionized calcium‐binding adapter molecule 1‐positive cells) activation and activated inflammation (e.g., increased levels of tumor necrosis factor‐alpha, interleukin‐1β and interleukin‐6) were all significantly reduced by etanercept treatment. These findings suggest that etanercept may improve outcomes of TBI by penetrating into the cerebrospinal fluid in rats.

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The electrical-insulation degradation of BaTiO3 is now of growing interest as the BaTiO3-based dielectric layers of multilayer ceramic capacitors are getting thinner to submicron thicknesses. The degradation is understood to be due to the electrotransport of oxygen vacancies and may be monitored by the colors emanating from the cathode and/or anode. In the case of single crystal BaTiO3, a brown color emanates from the anode and a blue color from the cathode. We will experimentally review the generation of the colors in BaTiO3 in electric fields, and discuss their origins and kinetics of color front migration. From the latter the oxygen vacancy mobility against temperature in the range of 150–500°C is subsequently determined and compared with all the literature data that have normally been estimated by other means at elevated temperatures.

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Neurofeedback is a strong direct training method for brain function, wherein brain activity patterns are measured and displayed as feedback, and trainees try to stabilize the feedback signal onto certain desirable states to regulate their own mental states. Here, we introduce a novel neurofeedback method, using the mismatch negativity (MMN) responses elicited by similar sounds that cannot be consciously discriminated. Through neurofeedback training, without participants' attention to the auditory stimuli or awareness of what was to be learned, we found that the participants could unconsciously achieve a significant improvement in the auditory discrimination of the applied stimuli. Our method has great potential to provide effortless auditory perceptual training. Based on this method, participants do not need to make an effort to discriminate auditory stimuli, and can choose tasks of interest without boredom due to training. In particular, it could be used to train people to recognize speech sounds that do not exist in their native language and thereby facilitate foreign language learning.