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Hemoglobin (Hb)-based electrodes were fabricated using a Co-based complex with cobalt nitrate hexahydrate and 2-methylimidazole as fundamental elements to accommodate enzymes via the conventional solvothermal method. The binding of redox protein molecules to metal–organic framework-based complexes occurred through a synergistic effect of hydrogen bonding and competitive complexation, resulting in a partially oriented arrangement of metalloprotein molecules with enhanced hydrophilicity. The Hb–Co complex was formed via a typical electrostatic quenching mode with a moderate binding capacity. The native heme site within Hb and the cofactor of the enzyme ligated with ZIF-67 were involved in the electron shuttle process. The former electro-active site displayed favorable electrochemical activity (apparent heterogeneous electron transport rate: 0.1 s–1). The inherent configuration of the cofactor in the protein and abnormal electrocatalytic activity of the incorporated protein were considerably maintained. The electrocatalytic efficiency could be affected by both the protein and the Co-based complex. The key step in restraining the electrochemical sensing performance was the H2O2 mass transfer procedure. The schematic illumination to the preparation procedure of hemoglobin-based electrode on the basis of Co element based MOF material: ZIF-67 as protein carrier via the collaborative effect of the hydrogen bond interaction and the competitive coordination between heme protein and elements in ZIF-67 as well as hemoglobin-induced electro-catalytic H2O2 reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the effects of "soft" behavioral intervention policies (eg, green emotions, social norms) and "soft" economic incentive policies (eg, high-intensity subsidies, low-intensity subsidies) and their combinations on the public's green product purchasing behavior. Participants and Methods: An online questionnaire experiment was conducted on Chinese users using Credamo online questionnaire platform to explore the effects of different "soft" intervention policies on consumers' green purchasing behavior, and the sample data were examined using multiple regression. In Study 1, a total of 460 valid samples were collected to explore the differences in the effects of single intervention policies; in Study 2, a total of 556 valid samples were collected to explore the effects of a combination of soft policies. Results: In the area of green product purchasing, both behavioral interventions and economic incentives alone can promote green consumption behavior; economic incentives have a more positive impact on guiding consumers to green consumption; the combination of "soft" behavioral interventions and "soft" economic incentives has a positive impact on green consumption. The combination of "soft" behavioral intervention policies and "soft" economic incentive policies is more effective than the individual policies. Conclusion: The experimental results of Study 1 show that the policy effects of both behavioral intervention policies and economic incentive intervention policies are evident for goods with different value attributes. Meanwhile, comparing the two types of soft intervention policies, we find that the effect of economic incentive intervention policies is stronger than that of soft behavioral intervention policies. In Study 2, the empirical analysis of the policy mix shows that the policy mix is more effective. The combination of "soft" economic incentive policies and "soft" behavioral intervention policies can effectively increase the salience of policy instruments, and the effect of policy combinations is greater than that of single policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: As one of the key determinants of water availability in arid regions, groundwater plays an essential role in regulating biodiversity, key ecosystem processes and functioning. Meanwhile, biodiversity is known to modulate ecosystem functions. Numerous studies have focused on the links between aboveground productivity and plant diversity, while the potential influence of root traits on fine root biomass (FRB) has barely been elucidated. Therefore, it remains unclear how groundwater, soil, species diversity, above- and belowground traits jointly regulate FRB. Methods: 230 plots were sampled under a broad range of groundwater and soil conditions across a typical arid inland river basin, within which FRB, associated soil properties, species diversity and functional traits were measured. Results: FRB was mainly regulated by the interactions between groundwater and root trait diversity, followed by groundwater, root trait diversity and soil moisture. Although mean and seasonality of groundwater depth had substantial effects on FRB, groundwater affected FRB mainly through indirect pathways mediated by root trait diversity. Furthermore, root trait diversity showed the largest direct effect on FRB, suggesting that it was the main driver of FRB. Species richness and aboveground traits had no significant direct effect on FRB, implying that root traits surpassed species richness and aboveground traits in regulating FRB. Conclusion: Our findings provide robust empirical evidence that groundwater and root trait diversity jointly drive existing belowground carbon storage in arid inland river basin. We emphasize the importance of groundwater and root trait diversity, as well as their interactions in forecasting underground ecological processes and functions under global changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Channel-regulated peptides (CRPs) derived from animal venom hold great promise as potential drug candidates for numerous diseases associated with channel proteins. However, discovering and identifying CRPs using traditional bio-experimental methods is a time-consuming and laborious process. While there were a few computational studies on CRPs, they were limited to specific channel proteins, relied heavily on complex feature engineering, and lacked the incorporation of multi-source information. To address these problems, we proposed a novel deep learning model, called DeepCRPs, based on graph neural networks for systematically mining CRPs from animal venom. By combining the sequence semantic and structural information, the classification performance of four CRPs was significantly enhanced, reaching an accuracy of 0.92. This performance surpassed baseline models with accuracies ranging from 0.77 to 0.89. Furthermore, we employed advanced interpretable techniques to explore sequence and structural determinants relevant to the classification of CRPs, yielding potentially valuable bio-function interpretations. Comprehensive experimental results demonstrated the precision and interpretive capability of DeepCRPs, making it an accurate and bio-explainable suit for the identification and categorization of CRPs. Our research will contribute to the discovery and development of toxin peptides targeting channel proteins. The source data and code are freely available at https://github.com/liyigerry/DeepCRPs. [Display omitted] • Sequence semantics and structural information were fused in graph-based models to improve the performance of CRPs prediction. • The pre-trained language model extracted the semantic features of protein sequences as feature vectors of nodes in the graph, which is better than other features such as one-hot encoding. • An advanced interpretable technique was employed to explore sequence and structural determinants relevant to classification, yielding potentially valuable bio-function interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore gas/liquid two-phase flow is widely existed in industrial fields, especially in chemical engineering. Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is considered to be one of the most promising techniques to monitor the transient flow process because of its advantages such as fast respond speed and cross-section imaging. However, maintaining high resolution in space together with low cost is still challenging for two-phase flow imaging because of the ill-conditioning of ERT inverse problem. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a sparse reconstruction (SR) method based on the learned dictionary has been proposed for ERT, to accurately monitor the transient flow process of gas/liquid two-phase flow in a pipeline. The high-level representation of the conductivity distributions for typical flow regimes can be extracted based on denoising the deep extreme learning machine (DDELM) model, which is used as prior information for dictionary learning. Findings: The results from simulation and dynamic experiments indicate that the proposed algorithm efficiently improves the quality of reconstructed images as compared to some typical algorithms such as Landweber and SR-discrete fourier transformation/discrete cosine transformation. Furthermore, the SR-DDELM has also used to estimate the important parameters of the chemical process, a case in point is the volume flow rate. Therefore, the SR-DDELM is considered an ideal candidate for online monitor the gas/liquid two-phase flow. Originality/value: This paper fulfills a novel approach to effectively monitor the gas/liquid two-phase flow in pipelines. One deep learning model and one adaptive dictionary are trained via the same prior conductivity, respectively. The model is used to extract high-level representation. The dictionary is used to represent the features of the flow process. SR and extraction of high-level representation are performed iteratively. The new method can obviously improve the monitoring accuracy and save calculation time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Accumulated evidence suggests that reproductive factors are related to different breast cancer subtypes, but most studies on these relationships are mainly focused on middle-aged and older patients, and it remains unclear how reproductive factors impact different subtypes of breast cancer in young women. Methods. We assessed the relationships between fertility factors and luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-enriched, and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes in 3792 patients and 4182 controls aged 20–70 years. Data on the reproductive history of the study participants were acquired through face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. We conducted case-control comparisons among tumor subtypes based on estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and HER2 statuses using unconditional polychotomous multivariate logistic regression models to compute odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results. Parity was inversely related to both luminal A and luminal B subtypes in young women and older women (all P trend < 0.05). Later age at first full-term birth was inversely related to the luminal A subtype ( P trend < 0.05) in young women but correlated with an increased risk of the luminal A subtype ( P trend < 0.05) in older women. Parous Chinese women 40 years old or younger who breastfed for 12 months or longer had a lower risk of luminal B and TNBC subtypes than women who never breastfed (OR = 0.55 , 95% CI 0.36-0.84 and OR = 0.52 , 95% CI 0.28-0.99, respectively). Conclusions. Our results implied that parity exerted a strong protective effect against luminal A and luminal B subtype breast cancer in young Chinese women, and long-term breastfeeding obviously decreased the risk of luminal B and TNBC subtypes in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An orthogonal state of coherent state is produced by applying an orthogonalizer related with Hermite-excited superposition operator H m (x a † + y a). Using some technique, we cleverly deal with the normalization and discuss the nonclassical and non-Gaussian characters of the orthogonal state. The analytical expressions for the Wigner functions of the orthogonal state are derived in detail. Numerical results show that the orthogonal state will exhibit its richly nonclassical and non-Gaussian character by changing the interaction parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the coherent state (S1) and the operator (x a † + y a) m , we induce other three quantum states (here we abbreviate them as S2, S3 and S4). S2 is obtained by operating the operator on S1 directly. S3 is an orthogonal state of S1 constructed from the orthogonalizer relevant with that operator. S4 is a continuous-variable (CV) qubit state superposed from S1 and S3. We study and compare the mathematical and physical properties of such four quantum states. We demonstrate some statistical properties for S1–S4, including the mean photon number (MPN), anti-bunching effect, quadrate squeezing, photon number distribution, Husimi Q-function and Wigner function. The numerical results show some interesting non-classical characters for such states. It is worthy to note that the photon-added coherent state introduced by Agarwal and Tara is only a special case of our considered states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reconsider the problem on a two-photon Jaynes–Cummings model interacting with the squeezed vacuum state, which has been studied by Gerry in 1988 [Phys. Rev. A 37, 2683-2686 (1988)]. By another different way (i.e. dressed state method), we cleverly deal with the dynamic evolution of more properties for the atom and the field in this process. The population inversion of the atom and the photon statistics of the optical field, in terms of photon number distribution, mean photon number, Mandel Q parameter and quadrature squeezing, are discussed in detail. Specially, we derive the analytic expressions and make the numerical simulation for these properties. Some interesting results involving in Gerry's paper are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using dressed state method, we cleverly solve the dynamics of atom-field interaction in the process of two-photon absorption and emission between atomic levels. Here we suppose that the atom is initially in the ground state and the optical field is initially in Fock state, coherent state or thermal state, respectively. The properties of the atom, including the population in excited state and ground state, the atom inversion, and the properties for optical field, including the photon number distribution, the mean photon number, the second-order correlation function and the Wigner function, are discussed in detail. We derive their analytical expressions and then make numerical analysis for them. In contrast with Jaynes-Cummings model, some similar results, such as quantum Rabi oscillation, revival and collapse, are also exhibit in our considered model. Besides, some novel nonclassical states are generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: The cases of bladder cancer (BC) with poor prognosis largely result from the distal metastases of the primary tumor. Since microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical roles during cancer metastases, determination of the involved miRNAs in the regulation of the metastases of BC may provide novel therapeutic targets for BC treatment. Here, we aimed to study the role of miR-138 in regulation of BC cell invasion and metastases. Methods: We analyzed the levels of miR-138 and ZEB2, a key factor that regulates cancer cell invasion, in the BC specimens from the patients. We also studied the correlation between miR-138 and ZEB2. We performed bioinformatics analyses on the binding of miR-138 to the 3'-UTR of ZEB2 mRNA, and verified the biological effects of this binding through promoter luciferase reporter assay. The effects of miR-138-modification on BC cell invasion were evaluated in a transwell cell invasion assay and a scratch would healing assay. Results: We found that the levels of miR-138 were significantly decreased and the levels of ZEB2 were significantly increased in BC specimens, compared to the paired normal bladder tissue. Metastatic BC appeared to contained lower levels of miR-138. Moreover, miR-138 and ZEB2 inversely correlated in BC specimens. Bioinformatics analyses showed that miR-138 targeted the 3'-UTR of ZEB2 mRNA to inhibit its translation. Furthermore, miR-138 overexpression inhibited ZEB2-mediated cell invasion and metastases, while miR-138 depletion increased ZEB2-mediated cell invasion and metastases in BC cells. Conclusion: Suppression of miR-138 in BC cells may promote ZEB2-mediated cancer invasion and metastases. Thus, miR-138 appears to be an intriguing therapeutic target to prevent metastases of BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pin1 is a peptidylprolyl isomerase that specifically recognizes phosphorylated Pro-directed Ser/Thr (pSer/Thr-Pro) peptide sequences. Genetic variants in the Pin1 gene may alter protein function and cancer risk. In this study, we genotyped the two common promoter polymorphisms -842G/C (rs2233678) and -667T/C (rs2233679) in two independent hospital-based case-control studies conducted in Eastern Chinese populations, including 209 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 444 cancer-free controls. We found -667TT heterozygotes had a significantly increased risk of oral squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.028, OR=1.66, 95%CI=1.02-2.69). However, there was no risk significant associated with the -842G/C polymorphism. Further large population-based studies are needed to confirm these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sliding-Window Fast Fourier Transform (SWFFT) is a very important and widely used time-frequency representation of a signal. In the paper, we mainly focus on the problem of how to implement non-recursive SWFFT in parallel programming. To avoid repeated calculations, non-recursive SWFFT algorithms always save the calculated results and use for later calculations. So the current calculations need the results from the earlier calculations, and this leads to the main obstacle of implementing SWFFT in parallel programming. By assuming that all the data have been present at the outset, a new parallel algorithm for non-recursive SWFFT is proposed in the paper. In our algorithm, 3D data structure is utilized to represent the computation of SWFFT while the calculations are carried out along level axis instead of time axis. Since the current calculations do not anymore depend on the results from the earlier calculations, our algorithm can be implemented by parallel programming easily. Finally, the algorithm is programmed in C++ based on OpenMP API and is evaluated on a 4-processor desktop computer. Threads up to four are created and each of them is performed by one processor core. A memory-shared parallel programming model is devised to achieve data accessing and results exchanging between threads. Compared with employing one thread, our algorithm reduces the computational time of a signal of length L=10 (the window length N=10) to 32% by employing four threads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

density functional theory (DFT) investigation on novel sandwich-type D [CLi]Mg[CLi] ( n = 2-8) complexes containing -Mg-Mg- chain has been performed in this work. The equilibrium geometries, electronic structures, vibrational frequencies, and stabilities of these complexes are researched by B3LYP and BP86 methods at 6-311+G(d) levels of theory. The Mg sandwich complexes with D symmetry are all true minima on the potential energy surface. NBO analyses for the series of complexes reveal that the Mg-Mg bond is a weak σ covalent bond. There are mainly electrostatic interactions between CLi ligands and Mg( n = 2-8) nuclear in these complexes. The NICS and NICS computed with GIAO-B3LYP/6-311+G(d) indicates that the CLi rings in the series of complexes are aromatic. These novel complexes turn out to be strongly thermodynamically favored in the gas phases and may be targeted in future experiments to expand the structural domain of sandwich-type complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A porous nickel film is prepared by selectively anodic dissolution of copper from an electrodeposited Ni–Cu alloy film. A porous nanostructured nickel hydroxide film electrode is further fabricated by the cathodic electrodeposition of Ni(OH)2 film on the obtained porous nickel film. The specific capacitances of the as-prepared porous nanostructured Ni(OH)2 film electrode at current densities of 2, 5 and 10A/g are 1634, 1563 and 1512F/g, respectively. The nanoporous Ni substrate significantly improves the electrochemically cyclic stability of the electrodeposited nickel hydroxide film in 1.0M KOH solution. The superior pseudocapacitive properties such as large specific capacitance, excellent rate capability and improved electrochemically cyclic stability of the as-prepared nickel hydroxide electrode suggest its potential application in electrochemical capacitors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: TiO2–Ni(OH)2 bilayer electrodes were prepared by the cathodic electrodeposition of Ni(OH)2 layer on a TiO2/ITO substrate. The porous Ni(OH)2 layers were obtained at relatively high current densities (≥1.0mAcm−2), and the particle size increased with increasing the deposition current density. A porous nanostructured TiO2–Ni(OH)2 bilayer was obtained at a current density of 1.0mAcm−2. The effects of OH− concentration in the electrolyte and surface structure in the Ni(OH)2 layer on storage of the oxidative energy of TiO2 were investigated. In our experimental conditions the oxidative energy storage of an UV-irradiated TiO2 photocatalyst in Ni(OH)2 was obviously enhanced in the electrolyte with 1.0M OH−. The porous nanostructured TiO2–Ni(OH)2 bilayer electrode showed the notably improved oxidative energy storage performance, resulting from its porous structure and nanostructured Ni(OH)2 particles. The TiO2–Ni(OH)2 bilayer electrode during UV irradiation exhibited much higher potentials and larger photocurrent than the TiO2/ITO electrode. The transition from Ni(OH)2 to NiOOH under UV irradiation proceeded in the potential range of −0.5 to −0.2V, much more negative than the Ni(OH)2/NiOOH redox potential. A possible mechanism on the oxidative energy storage of an UV-irradiated TiO2 photocatalyst in Ni(OH)2 was proposed, and the related experimental results were discussed in terms of the suggested model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A B2O3-doped SnO2 thin film was prepared by a novel experimental procedure combining the electrodeposition and the hydrothermal treatment, and its structure and electrochemical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge–discharge tests. It was found that the as-prepared modified SnO2 film shows a porous network structure with large specific surface area and high crystallinity. The results of electrochemical tests showed that the modified SnO2 electrode presents the largest reversible capacity of 676mAhg−1 at the fourth cycle, close to the theoretical capacity of SnO2 (790mAhg−1); and it still delivers a reversible Li storage capacity of 524mAhg−1 after 50 cycles. The reasons that the modified SnO2 film electrode shows excellent electrochemical properties were also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and objective: Previous studies have indicated that abnormal expression of atypical protein kinase C (aPKC-ɩ) plays a critical role in occurrence and progression of malignant tumor. This study analyzed the correlation of aPKC-ɩ with clinicopathology in hepatocarcinoma and Cyclin E and investigated molecular mechanisms of invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and methods: The expression of the aPKC-ɩ gene was examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in 7 specimens of normal liver tissues and 43 of hepatoma and adjacent tissues. Expression of aPKC-ɩ and Cyclin E protein was detected using immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Finally, we analyzed the correlation of aPKC-ɩ with clinicopathologic characteristics and invasion of hepatoma. Results: The expression value (0.844 ± 0.315) of aPKC-ɩ gene is obviously higher in hepatoma than the value (0.530 ± 0.217) in adjacent tissues and the value (0.372 ± 0.130) in normal tissue (P = 0.009). The positive expression rate (58.1%) of aPKC-ɩ protein in hepatoma is remarkably higher than the rate (23.3%) of adjacent tissues. The expression of aPKC-ɩ has a positive correlation with the expression of Cyclin E, differentiation degree, and invasion of tumor (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Differentiation degree and invasion of hepatoma are related to the expression of aPKC-ɩ, which plays an important role in invasion and metastasis of hepatoma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The prostate adenocarcinoma of the Copenhagen rat (R3327) is recognized as a suitable model for human prostate carcinoma. In this study, we sequenced its complete mitogenome and total length of the genome was 16,310 bp (GenBank Accession Number KM820831). It contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. This mitochondrial genome sequence will provide new genetic resource into prostate adenocarcinoma disease. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents two models of delayed multi-weighted complex dynamical networks (MWCDN) with different dimensional nodes, and the essential difference between them is that whether the switching topology is taken into consideration. Based on some new concepts of finite-time passivity, we respectively tackle finite-time passivity problem for two raised network models. Firstly, by designing a proper controller, we discuss the finite-time passivity of delayed MWCDN with fixed and switching topologies. Furthermore, several finite-time stability criteria are established in the case that networks are finite-time passive. In the end, we provide two illustrated examples to affirm the correctness and reasonableness of acquired finite-time passivity and stability results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The overall outcome of patients with refractory AML (rAML) remains poor. Though allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is considered as the only curative therapy, it is routinely recommended only for patients after remission with salvage chemotherapy. Objective: In this study, we evaluated the impact of salvage chemotherapy or allo-HSCT on the overall outcome in rAML. Methods: We collected the clinical data of 220 patients from 4 medical centers and performed retrospective analysis of prognosis factors, including salvage chemotherapy, intensity of chemotherapy, and allo-HSCT. Results: A total of 29 patients received allo-HSCT directly without salvage chemotherapy, 26 patients achieved complete remission (CR) or complete remission with incomplete hematological recovery (CRi) after transplantation and 4-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) were 45.0 ± 10.7 and 51.0 ± 10.6%, respectively. Another 191 patients received salvage chemotherapy and 81 (42.2%) achieved CR or CRi. Thirty-four patients among them underwent subsequent allo-HSCT with 4-year LFS and OS of 46.0 ± 8.8 and 46.2 ± 9.0%. The 4-year LFS and OS in 26 patients who failed to obtain CR or CRi but received allo-HSCT with active disease were 32.9 ± 10.0 and 36.9 ± 10.8%, respectively. For patients who received salvage chemotherapy but not allo-HSCT, few of them became long-term survivors. In multivariate analysis, salvage chemotherapy and the intensity of chemotherapy failed to have significant impact on both OS and LFS. Allo-HSCT was the only prognostic factor for improved OS and LFS in multivariate analysis. Conclusions: These results indicate the benefit of allo-HSCT in patients with rAML and direct allo-HSCT without salvage chemotherapy could be treatment option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Co-culturing with BMECs eased OGD-induced BVP injury. • Co-culturing with BVPs prevented OGD-induced impairment on BMEC permeability. • The crosstalk between BMECs and BVPs was implicated in the HIF-1α/PDGF-β signaling. The present study focused on whether hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha (HIF-1α) and platelet-derived factor-beta (PDGF-β) are involved in the crosstalk between brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) and brain vascular pericytes (BVPs) under ischaemic-hypoxic conditions. Mono-cultures or co-cultures of BVPs and BMECs were made for the construction of the blood–brain barrier (BBB) model in vitro and then exposed to control and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) conditions. BBB injury was determined by assessing the ability, apoptosis, and migration of BVPs and the transendothelial electrical resistance and horseradish peroxidase permeation of BMECs. Relative mRNA and protein levels of HIF-1α and PDGF-β, as well as tight junction proteins ZO-1 and claudin-5 were analyzed by western blotting, reverse transcription quantitative PCR, and/or immunofluorescence staining. Dual-luciferase reporter assays assessed the relationship between PDGF-β and HIF-1α. Co-culturing with BMECs alleviated OGD-induced reduction in BVP viability, elevation in BVP apoptosis, and repression in BVP migration. Co-culturing with BVPs protected against OGD-induced impairment on BMEC permeability. OGD-induced HIF-1α upregulation enhanced PDGF-β expression in mono-cultured BMECs and co-cultured BMECs with BVPs. Knockdown of HIF-1α impaired the effect of BMECs on BVPs under OGD conditions, and PDGFR-β silencing in BVPs blocked the crosstalk between BMECs and BVPs under OGD conditions. The crosstalk between BMECs and BVPs was implicated in OGD-induced BBB injury through the HIF-1α/PDGF-β signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. In this study, we aimed to determine the effects of intermittent hypoxia (IH) on hepatic cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) expression and the pharmacokinetics of CYP1A2-mediated aminophylline and warfarin in vitro and in a rabbit model of obstructive sleep apnea. Materials. Human normal liver (LO-2) cells were exposed to 30 min each of 1%, 1–21%, 21%, and 21–1% O2, and then, CYP1A2 expression and drug concentrations were analyzed. We compared the pharmacokinetic parameters of drugs administered to normoxic rabbits and those exposed to 10 min of IH during which the oxygen level fluctuated from 21% to 8%–10% (n = 10 per group). Results. The expression of CYP1A2 protein in vitro was significantly reduced in the IH compared with the normoxic cells (0.56 ± 0.11 vs. 1.27 ± 0.17, p < 0.001). Aminophylline was more abundant in cell culture supernatants after 48 h of IH than in those under normoxia. The T1/2, AUC0–24 h, and Ke values for aminophylline were significantly higher in the IH group. Conclusion. Intermittent hypoxia inhibits hepatic CYP1A2 expression and delays aminophylline metabolism, suggesting that the impact of IH on the expression of CYP enzymes should be closely monitored in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a discrete model that describes a linear chain of particles coupled to two defects. This model can be regarded as a linear generalization of the familiar Fano-Anderson model. The analytical result for the plane wave transmission coefficient is obtained. Comparing the transmission coefficient of Gaussian wave with that of plane wave, we can draw a conclusion that arising perfect reflection due to destructive interference depends on the input waveform of incident particle and a necessary switching condition of Fano resonance is the input plane wave. This interesting feature may play a guiding role in devising various particle switches in theory and experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The interaction of aconitine with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and effect of atropine sulphate and glycyrrhizic acid on binding constant, binding sites, and conformation were studied in an aqueous buffer solution (pH 7.40) by ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The study results show that aconitine quenched the endogenous fluorescence of BSA via a dynamic quenching procedure. Predominant intermolecular forces between aconitine and BSA were hydrophobic interactions, which stabilized the complex of aconitine–BSA. The distance between the donor and acceptor was 2.62nm. The conformation of BSA was investigated by synchronous fluorescence techniques, indicating that the microenvironment around tryptophan (Trp) residues was changed. Furthermore, with the addition of atropine sulphate or glycyrrhizic acid, binding constant and the number of binding sites of aconitine to BSA were decreased, and the conformation had no change, which provide an important theoretical support for aconitine detoxification by atropine sulphate and glycyrrhizic acid. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The interactions of baicalein, baicalin and scutellarin with lysozyme (LYSO) were studied by fluorescence and UV spectroscopy. The results showed that all the three flavones can quench the fluorescence of LYSO via static quenching with the distance between the donor and acceptor less than 7nm. The hydroxyl at B-ring gave flavones an advantage to binding with LYSO. Electrostatic forces played a major role in stabilizing baicalein–LYSO complex and baicalin–LYSO complex, whereas hydrophobic interactions in scutellarin–LYSO. Furthermore, the presence of pantothenic acid can increase the binding constant and the number of binding sites between flavones and LYSO. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper describes a new species of Bastiania , presents a new record and redescribes a known species of Tripyla. These nematodes are all in the order Triplonchida and were collected from Shanxi Province, North China. Bastiania sinensis sp. n. is characterised by having the female with a relatively slender body 1049-1295 μ m long, dorsally arcuate after heat relaxation, with outer labial setae and cephalic setae in a single circle, an oval amphid, 7-8 laterodorsal cervical setae scattered in the pharyngeal region, orthometamenes and pseudocoelomocytes present, tail conoid with a mucron 1-2 μ m long, two pairs of caudal setae present, a = 58.1-75.5, b = 4.0-4.6, c = 12.7-19.7, c′ = 4.1-7.8 and V = 61.1-67.7. Males were not found. Tripyla aquatica is recorded for the first time from China, and is redescribed. Tripyla setifera has been reported from China but without a detailed description – now provided. In addition, phylogenetic relationships among the species were analysed using data from the near full length small subunit (SSU) and D2-D3 segments of large subunit (LSU) of rRNA genes. Bastiania sinensis sp. n. is monophyletic with the Bastiania sequences available in GenBank, but is on an independent branch supporting its status as a separate species; T. aquatica and T. setifera are monophyletically clustered with known Tripyla species and grouped together with sequences from their respective species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To investigate the efficacy of idiopathic macular pucker (epimacular membrane) surgery and to identify the possible prognostic factor. Methods. This was a retrospective study which enrolled 38 patients with idiopathic macular pucker who underwent 23-gauge pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with indocyanine green-assisted peeling of epiretinal membrane (ERM) and internal limiting membrane (ILM). Visual outcomes were assessed at the baseline and during the follow-up including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and metamorphopsia score, as well as outer plexiform layer (OPL) angle and central retinal thickness (CRT) using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). A comparison was made between patients with the prepeeling CRTs ≥500 μm and those <500 μm. A comparison was also made between patients with the prepeeling OPL angles ≥130° and those <130°. Based on the prepeeling parameters, the correlations between various prepeeling and postpeeling visual functions were analyzed. Results. Mean follow-up was 36.07 ± 4.62 months (range 1.30–96.70 months). BCVA was significantly improved from 0.26 ± 0.03 to 0.67 ± 0.04 p < 0.001 ; metamorphopsia score was significantly reduced from 1.42 ± 0.16 to 0.61 ± 0.08 p < 0.001 ; CRT was significantly decreased from 519.62 ± 13.41 μm to 385.37 ± 8.97 μm p < 0.001 . Greater prepeeling OPL angle (≥130°) was associated with significantly greater BCVA improvement (Snellen E/LogMAR: p = 0.01 / 0.03) and greater metamorphopsia reduction p = 0.03 , as compared to smaller OPL angle (<130°) with less BCVA improvement and less metamorphopsia reduction. However, the final BCVA improvement and metamorphopsia reduction relevant to the prepeeling smaller CRT (<500 μm) did not significantly differ from that relevant to the prepeeling greater CRT (≥500 μm; p > 0.05). Endophthalmitis, retinal tear, or retinal detachment was not observed after peeling. Conclusion. Indocyanine green-assisted ERM/ILM peeling combined with small gauge vitrectomy is associated with significant visual acuity improvement and metamorphopsia reduction in patients with idiopathic macular pucker. Greater prepeeling OPL angle rather than CRT might act as a useful prognostic factor in predicting better final visual functional outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many studies have compared the performance of time series models in predicting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), but few have considered the role of meteorological factors in their prediction models. This study aims to explore whether incorporating meteorological factors can improve the performance of time series models in predicting PTB. Methods: We collected the monthly reported number of PTB cases and records of six meteorological factors in three cities of China from 2005 to 2018. Based on this data, we constructed three time series models, including an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, the ARIMA with exogenous variables (ARIMAX) model, and a recurrent neural network (RNN) model. The ARIMAX and RNN models incorporated meteorological factors, while the ARIMA model did not. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the performance of the models in predicting PTB cases in 2018. Results: Both the cross-correlation analysis and Spearman rank correlation test showed that PTB cases reported in the study areas were related to meteorological factors. The predictive performance of both the ARIMA and RNN models was improved after incorporating meteorological factors. The MAPEs of the ARIMA, ARIMAX, and RNN models were 12.54%, 11.96%, and 12.36% in Xuzhou, 15.57%, 11.16%, and 14.09% in Nantong, and 9.70%, 9.66%, and 12.50% in Wuxi, respectively. The RMSEs of the three models were 36.194, 33.956, and 34.785 in Xuzhou, 34.073, 25.884, and 31.828 in Nantong, and 19.545, 19.026, and 26.019 in Wuxi, respectively. Conclusions: Our study revealed a possible link between PTB and meteorological factors. Taking meteorological factors into consideration increased the accuracy of time series models in predicting PTB, and the ARIMAX model was superior to the ARIMA and RNN models in study settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A PKS1 gene responsible for the melanin biosynthesis and a NPG1 gene in Aureobasidium melanogenum XJ5-1 were cloned and characterized. An ORF of the PKS1 gene encoding a protein with 2165 amino acids contained 6495 bp while an ORF of the NPG1 gene encoding a protein with 340 amino acids had 1076 bp. After analysis of their promoters, it was found that expression of both the PKS1 gene and the NPG1 gene was repressed by nitrogen sources and glucose, respectively. The PKS deduced from the cloned gene consisted of one ketosynthase, one acyl transferase, two acyl carrier proteins, one thioesterase and one cyclase while the PPTase belonged to the family Sfp-type. After disruption of the PKS1 gene and the NPG1 gene, expression of the PKS1 gene and the NPG1 gene and the melanin biosynthesis in the disruptants K5 and DP107 disappeared and expression of the PKS1 gene in the disruptant DP107 was also negatively influenced. However, after the NPG1 gene was complemented in the disruptant DP107, the melanin biosynthesis in the complementary strain BP17 was restored and expression of the PKS1 gene and the NPG1 gene was greatly enhanced, suggesting that the PKS was indeed activated and regulated by the PPTase and expression of the PKS1 gene and the NPG1 gene had a coordinate regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yeast strain XJ5-1 isolated from the Taklimakan desert soil was identified to be a strain of Aureobasdium melanogenum and could produce a large amount of melanin when it was grown in the PDA medium, but its melanin biosynthesis and expression of the PKS gene responsible for the melanin biosynthesis was significantly repressed in the presence of (NH)SO. However, A. melanogenum P5 strain isolated from a mangrove ecosystem grown in both the presence and the absence of (NH)SO did not produce any melanin. The cell size of A. melanogenum XJ5-1 strain was much higher than that of A. melanogenum P5 strain. The melanized cells of the yeast strain XJ5-1 had higher tolerance to UV radiation, oxidation (200.0 mM HO), heat treatment (40 °C), salt shock (200.0 g/L NaCl), desiccation and strong acid hydrolysis (6.0 M HCl) at high temperature (80 °C) than the non-melanized cells of the same yeast strain XJ5-1. At the same time, the melanized cells of the yeast strain XJ5-1 also had higher tolerance to UV radiation, oxidation (200.0 mM HO), desiccation and strong acid hydrolysis (6.0 M HCl) at high temperature (80 °C) than A. melanogenum P5 strain, but had similar resistance to heat treatment (40 °C) and salt shock (200.0 g/L NaCl) compared to those of A. melanogenum P5 strain. All the results revealed that many characteristics of A. melanogenum XJ5-1 isolated from the Taklimakan desert soil was different from those of A. melanogenum P5 strain isolated from the mangrove ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Endothelial dysfunction is one of the most important early indicators of atherosclerosis in hypertension (HT) patients. Endocan has been reported to play a role in the pathophysiology of endothelial dysfunction. Objective: We sought to assess whether serum endocan levels are correlated with the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with HT. Methods: We measured endocan levels in 164 patients with HT and in 55 controls. The severity of CAD was assessed by the coronary atherosclerosis index scores. Results: Serum endocan levels were independently correlated with the presence and severity of CAD in HT patients. Conclusion: Endocan might function as a useful biomarker for monitoring the development and progression of CAD in HT patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective.The aim of this study was to report the authors' experience with percutaneous intrarenal marsupialization of symptomatic peripelvic renal cysts. Material and methods. Thirty-one patients (16 male and 15 female, with a mean age of 49 years) with a peripelvic renal cyst associated with chronic flank or lumbar pain or urinary infection were selected for percutaneous intrarenal marsupialization with a 2 μm laser in the authors' centre from January 2005 to December 2010. Cyst size ranged from 4.5 to 10.5 (mean 6.0) cm. The cysts were punctured by a percutaneous technique guided by ultrasonography, a 20.8 F nephroscope was introduced and the whole internal surface of the cyst was inspected. Methylene blue was injected through the ureteral catheter to help identify the collecting system. A 1.5-4 cm incision was made at the avascular area of the cystic wall by the 2 μm laser to achieve intrarenal marsupialization of the cyst into the renal collecting system. One or two 6 F double-J stents were placed with the proximal end in the cyst for 2-3 months. Results.The mean operation time was 50 (25-120) min. No serious complications such as massive bleeding, urine leak or infected haematoma occurred. The patients were followed up for a mean of 12 (range 3-36) months. All patients were relieved of their symptoms. Eighteen cysts disappeared after surgery, while 13 cysts reduced in size by over one-third and communicated with the renal collecting system. No enlargement of cysts was observed. Conclusions.Percutaneous intrarenal marsupialization with a 2 μm laser is an effective and safe procedure and may offer a minimally invasive alternative for the management of symptomatic peripelvic renal cysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To analyze the safety and clinical outcome of laparoscopic nephroureterectomy (LNUT) for native upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UC) in renal transplant (RT) recipients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 956 RT recipients from January 2003 to December 2010 to evaluate the benefit of LNUT for patients who were diagnosed with de novo UC after renal transplantation. Results: Women predominated (10/11, 91 %) in the 11 patients with upper tract UC who underwent LNUT. Five patients underwent LNUT ipsilateral to the transplanted kidney, 4 patients underwent contralateral LNUT, and 2 patients underwent bilateral LNUT. Nine were operated with LNUT combining resection of bladder cuff, 2 with right ureteral cancer underwent open ureterectomy with bladder cuff due to severe adhesions attached to the lesion. The mean surgical duration was 184.2 min (105-305), the mean blood loss was 182.3 ml (20-500), and the mean hospitalization time was 6.7 days (5-9). The mean levels of preoperative and postoperative serum creatinine were 0.99 mg/dl (0.78-1.16) and 1.01 mg/dl (0.89-1.18), respectively. No intraoperative complications occurred. One patient died of multiple metastases at 13 months after LNUT. The mean follow-up of the remaining 10 patients after diagnosis was 21.7 months (3-48). Two patients had recurrent bladder cancer and underwent transurethral resection of the tumor. Eight patients showed no evidence of disease during the follow-up. Conclusions: LNUT is a safe and effective approach with low morbidity in transplant recipients, and this therapy provides less trauma, quicker recovery, and acceptable oncological outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Linear Programming Technique for Multidimensional Analysis of Preference (LINMAP) developed by Srinivasan and Shocker [V. Srinivasan, A.D. Shocker, Linear programming techniques for multidimensional analysis of preference, Psychometrika 38 (1973) 337–342] is one of the existing well-known methods for multiattribute decision making (MADM) problems. However, the LINMAP only can deal with MADM problems in crisp environments. Fuzziness is inherent in decision data and decision making processes, and linguistic variables are well suited to assessing an alternative on qualitative attributes using fuzzy ratings. The aim of this paper is further extending the LINMAP method to develop a new methodology for solving MADM problems under fuzzy environments. In this methodology, linguistic variables are used to capture fuzziness in decision information and decision making processes by means of a fuzzy decision matrix. A new vertex method is proposed to calculate the distance between trapezium fuzzy number scores. Consistency and inconsistency indices are defined on the basis of preferences between alternatives given by the decision maker. Each alternative is assessed on the basis of its distance to a fuzzy positive ideal solution (FPIS) which is unknown. The FPIS and the weights of attributes are then estimated using a new linear programming model based upon the consistency and inconsistency indices defined. Finally, the distance of each alternative to the FPIS can be calculated to determine the ranking order of all alternatives. A numerical example is examined to demonstrate the implementation process of this methodology. Also it has been proved that the methodology proposed in this paper can deal with MADM problems under not only fuzzy environments but also crisp environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Many studies have compared the performance of time series models in predicting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB), but few have considered the role of meteorological factors in their prediction models. This study aims to explore whether incorporating meteorological factors can improve the performance of time series models in predicting PTB. Methods: We collected the monthly reported number of PTB cases and records of six meteorological factors in three cities of China from 2005 to 2018. Based on this data, we constructed three time series models, including an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model, the ARIMA with exogenous variables (ARIMAX) model, and a recurrent neural network (RNN) model. The ARIMAX and RNN models incorporated meteorological factors, while the ARIMA model did not. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate the performance of the models in predicting PTB cases in 2018. Results: Both the cross-correlation analysis and Spearman rank correlation test showed that PTB cases reported in the study areas were related to meteorological factors. The predictive performance of both the ARIMA and RNN models was improved after incorporating meteorological factors. The MAPEs of the ARIMA, ARIMAX, and RNN models were 12.54%, 11.96%, and 12.36% in Xuzhou, 15.57%, 11.16%, and 14.09% in Nantong, and 9.70%, 9.66%, and 12.50% in Wuxi, respectively. The RMSEs of the three models were 36.194, 33.956, and 34.785 in Xuzhou, 34.073, 25.884, and 31.828 in Nantong, and 19.545, 19.026, and 26.019 in Wuxi, respectively. Conclusions: Our study revealed a possible link between PTB and meteorological factors. Taking meteorological factors into consideration increased the accuracy of time series models in predicting PTB, and the ARIMAX model was superior to the ARIMA and RNN models in study settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an antibody-mediated disease with the target antigen being the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4). More than 90% of NMO patients have relapse. Optimal treatments to prevent recurrence have not been established. Previous reports suggest that interferon beta (IFNB) has not been effective in NMO. However, we present a case of NMO with positive anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) IgG and anti-AQP4 IgG treated with IFNB-1a successfully. The effect of IFNB on NMO and the role of anti-MOG antibodies in NMO deserve further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: MoS2/C nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route employing sulfocarbamide, sodium molybdate and D-grouse as starting materials. XRD analysis showed that the MoS2 was a two-dimensional nanosheet crystal and C was retained as amorphous after their calcinations at 800 °C. TEM images showed that MoS2 was uniformly dispersed in the amorphous carbon. The MoS2/C composites exhibited high reversible capacity and excellent cyclic performance when used as Li-intercalation electrodes. The improvements in electrochemical performance are attributed to the incorporation of amorphous carbon, which can suppress the aggregation and pulverization of active materials, and keep the active materials electrically connected. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The purpose of the present study was to prepare the solidified microcapsules and identify the effect of granulation and compression on the quality and stability of solidified spine date seed oil (SDSO). The fatty acid profile and the oxidative stabilities of the products were applied as indicators. The microencapsulation of SDSO–loaded granules were prepared using an electrostatic layer-by-layer deposition method and subsequently compressed as tablets. The study of granulation suggested that the impeller and chopper speed significantly affect retention efficiency of SDSO in granules (P < 0.05). However, the peroxide value was not affected by these parameters (P > 0.05). The overall study also suggested that the fatty acid composition was not changed significantly during the microencapsulation, granulation, and compressing process (P > 0.05). Moreover, the peroxide value of SDSO in the tablets (9.79 ± 0.62 mmol/kg) was lower than SDSO (47.57 ± 5.25 mmol/kg) and the microcapsules (23.16 ± 3.06 mmol/kg) (P < 0.05), after accelerated storage for 12 days, although the oxidative stability of the SDSO contained granules (84.23 ± 2.19 mmol/kg) was not satisfied in this study. The results of this work suggested that the microencapsulation of functional oils followed by the high shear granulation and tabletting process could be applied for oil products solidification due to the advantages of stability. • Spine date seed oil encapsulation was successfully developed. • The impeller and chopper speed significantly affect retention efficiency of SDSO. • The fatty acid composition was not changed during the manufacturing process. • The tabletting process significantly reduced the oxidation rate of the products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]