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In this paper, we consider a dissipative system of one-dimensional piezoelectric beam with magnetic effect and a tip load at the free end of the beam, which is modeled as a special form of double boundary dissipation. Our main aim is to study the well-posedness and asymptotic behavior of this system. By introducing two functions defined on the right boundary, we first transform the original problem into a new abstract form, so as to show the well-posedness of the system by using Lumer–Phillips theorem. We then divide the original system into a conservative system and an auxiliary system, and show that the auxiliary problem generates a compact operator. With the help of Weyl’s theorem, we obtain that the system is not exponentially stable. Moreover, we prove the polynomial stability of the system by using a result of Borichev and Tomilov (Math. Ann. 347 (2010), 455–478). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Diquat has replaced paraquat in agricultural areas as a herbicide but has led to extensive poisoning. Unlike paraquat, which targets the lungs, diquat primarily targets the kidneys. Autopsies and animal experiments suggest that interstitial kidney damage is the most critical renal lesion. Diquat is a nonselective chemical widely used for terrestrial and aquatic plants after the ban on paraquat. Although diquat is known to affect the kidneys mainly, no study has reported renal biopsy in patients with diquat poisoning. Methods: We investigated the histopathologic feature in a young man with diquat poisoning who developed acute kidney injury by renal biopsy. Results: Autopsy and animal experiments suggest that interstitial kidney inflammation is the most critical renal lesion. Surprisingly, our results showed that lipid degeneration and acute tubular injury with limited interstitial inflammation were the dominant histologic findings in this patient. Conclusions: Based on a renal biopsy, this was the first study describing the characteristics of the kidney affected by diquat poisoning. Our findings might provide information for managing patients who develop AKI due to diquat poisoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The current review aimed to assess the efficacy of adjunctive chlorhexidine (CHX) in the non-surgical treatment of peri-implantitis/peri-implant mucositis. Methods: PubMed, Embase, Science Direct, CENTRAL, and Google Scholar databases were searched up to 10th March 2022 for relevant randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials. Results: Fourteen studies were included. Meta-analysis revealed significantly lower probing depths in peri-implant mucositis patients using CHX adjuncts as compared to controls (SMD: -1.49 95% CI: -2.56, -0.42 I²=95% p=0.006). However, the same effect was not noted in peri-implantitis (SMD: -1.18 95% CI: -0.04, 2.40 I²=96% p=0.06). CHX was not found to improve bleeding of probing in peri-implant mucositis while sufficient data was unavailable for periimplantitis. Results on other outcome variables were conflicting. Conclusion: Evidence on the efficacy of adjunctive CHX for peri-implant mucositis is conflicting. Similarly, strong conclusions on the effect of CHX for peri-implantitis cannot be drawn due to limited number of studies. Overall, there seems to be a trend of non-significant impact of CHX on outcomes of peri-implant mucositis as well as periimplantitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serpin family A member 1 (SERPINA1) is expressed abundantly in gliomas and can predict unfavorable prognosis of patients with glioma. Studies have shown that nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) can promote the proliferation of glioblastoma multiforme cells and enhance the expression of SERPINA1, but its effects on glioma cells remain unknown. In this study, we explored the functions of SERPINA1 in glioma tumorigenesis in vitro and then investigated whether NQO1 affects the protein expression of SERPINA1 and its mRNA level. The results showed that the translation of SERPINA1 was suppressed while its mRNA level had no significant changes under the condition of NQO1 silencing. Luciferase reporter assay and biotin pull-down assay further indicated that NQO1 bond with SERPINA1 3′ untranslated region. miR-1321 was also identified to target SERPINA1, repressing its mRNA and protein levels. SERPINA1 and NQO1 promoted glioma cell proliferation and suppressed cell apoptosis. Moreover, SERPINA1 rescued the effects of sh-NQO1 in glioma cell malignant phenotypes. In conclusion, our findings showed that oncogene NQO1 and antioncogene miR-1321 bind to oncogene SERPINA1 to affect proliferation and apoptosis of glioma cells, which can bring new solution of antitumor treatments for glioma in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of TANPy based energetic materials were designed and their structures were optimized at B3LYP/6-311G (d,p) level. Values of heats of formation, detonation properties and impact sensitivities of the designed compounds were fully calculated to screen some potential high energy density materials. [Display omitted] • A series of TANPy based energetic materials were designed. • DFT method was employed to calculate the properties of the designed compounds. • Compounds D2, E2 and F2 were screened as candidates of high energy density materials. A series of 2,4,6-triamino-3,5-dinitropyridine (TANPy) based energetic compounds were designed and optimized at the B3LYP/6-311G (d,p). The results show that all the designed compounds have high positive heats of formation, and the tetrazole ring/–N 3 was an beneficial combination to increase the heats of formation. The introduction of furazan-furazan/-C(NO 2) 3 /–CH(NO 2) 2 combination was effective to improve the densities and detonation properties while the furazan-furazan or furazan-tetrazine rings was beneficial to improving the values of heats of detonation. Considering the detonation properties and sensitivities, compounds D2, E2, F2 were finally screened as potential high energy density materials and their physicochemical properties were fully investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 2017-2018, Barmah Forest virus was recovered from mosquitoes trapped in military training areas in Australia and from a soldier infected at 1 of these areas. Phylogenies of the nucleotide sequences of the envelope glycoprotein gene E2 and the 3' untranslated region suggest that 2 lineages are circulating in eastern Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is an important environmental factor affecting the growth and production of agricultural crops and fruits worldwide, including apple (Malus domestica). Heat shock factors (HSFs) have well-documented functions in stress responses, but their roles in flavonoid synthesis and the flavonoid-mediated drought response mechanism remain elusive. In this study, we demonstrated that a drought-responsive HSF, designated MdHSFA8a, promotes the accumulation of flavonoids, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, and plant survival under drought conditions. A chaperone, HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN90 (HSP90), interacted with MdHSFA8a to inhibit its binding activity and transcriptional activation. However, under drought stress, the MdHSP90-MdHSFA8a complex dissociated and the released MdHSFA8a further interacted with the APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR family transcription factor RELATED TO AP2.12 to activate downstream gene activity. In addition, we demonstrated that MdHSFA8a participates in abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure and promotes the expression of abscisic acid signaling-related genes. Collectively, these findings provide insight into the mechanism by which stress-inducible MdHSFA8a modulates flavonoid synthesis to regulate drought tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The g-extra connectivity of a multiprocessor system modeled by a graph G, denoted by (g) o (G), is the minimum number of removed vertices such that the network is disconnected and each residual component has no less than g + 1 vertices. The t/k-diagnosis strategy can detect up to t faulty processors which might include at most k misdiagnosed processors. These two parameters are important to measure the fault tolerant ability of a multiprocessor system. The extra connectivity and t/k-diagnosability of many well-known networks have been investigated extensively and independently. However, the general relationship between the extra connectivity and the t/k-diagnosability of general regular networks has not been established. In this paper, we explore the relationship between the k-extra connectivity and t/k-diagnosability for regular networks under the classic PMC diagnostic model. More specifically, we derive the relationship between 1-extra connectivity and pessimistic diagnosability for regular networks. Furthermore, the t/k-diagnosability and pessimistic diagnosability of some networks, including star network, BC networks, Cayley graphs generated by transposition trees etc., are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents the in-plane thermal-conductivity data for pure as well as boron-doped (1.6×1021/cm3), arsenic-doped (2.3×1020/cm3), and phosphorus-doped (2.3×1020/cm3) silicon layers of thickness 30 nm in the temperature range of 300–450 K. The steady-state Joule heating and electrical resistance thermometry are used to measure the lateral thermal conductivity of suspended silicon layers. Thermal-conductivity data for pure and doped single-crystalline thin silicon layers can be interpreted using thermal-conductivity integral in relaxation-time approximation that accounts for phonon-boundary and phonon-impurity scatterings. No additional fitting parameters are used in this work in contrast with previous studies that required an unusually large phonon-impurity scattering coefficient to fit the thermal-conductivity data for bulk doped silicon to the predictions of the thermal-conductivity integral in relaxation-time approximation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two outbreaks of epidemic polyarthritis occurred among Australian Defence Force personnel during and following short military exercises in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, northeastern Australia, in 2016 and 2017. Ross River virus (RRV) IgM was detected in acute-phase serum samples from most patients (28/28 in 2016 and 25/31 in 2017), and RRV was recovered from 4/38 serum samples assayed (1/21 in 2016 and 3/17 in 2017). Phylogenetic analyses of RRV envelope glycoprotein E2 and nonstructural protein nsP3 nucleotide sequences segregated the RRV isolates obtained in 2016 and 2017 outbreaks into 2 distinct sublineages, suggesting that each outbreak was caused by a different strain of RRV. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the 2016 outbreak suggested that some of the infections involved human-mosquito-human transmission without any intermediate host. These outbreaks highlight the importance of personal protective measures in preventing vectorborne diseases for which no vaccine or specific prophylaxis exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore whether the genetic variant of COL11A1 is functionally associated with the development of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) in Chinese population. SNP rs1676486 of COL11A1 was genotyped in 647 patients and 532 healthy controls. The differences of genotype and allele distributions between LDH patients and healthy controls were evaluated using the χ² test. One-way ANOVA test was used to compare the relationship between genotypes and clinical features including tissue expression of COL11A1 and the degree of disc degeneration. Patients were found to have a significantly higher frequency of TT than the controls (10.2% versus 7.3%, P = 0.004). Besides, the frequency of allele T was found to be remarkably higher in the patients than the controls (34.8% versus 28.1%, P < 0.001) with an odds ratio of 1.36 (95% confidential interval=1.14-1.63). Patients with genotype TT were found to have remarkably more severe disc degeneration (P = 0.02). Besides, the expression of COL11A1 in the lumbar disc was significantly lower in the patients with genotype TT than in those with genotype CT or CC (P < 0.001). Moreover, the expression level was inversely correlated with the severity of disc degeneration (P < 0.001). We confirmed that the rs1676486 of COL11A may be functionally associated with LDH in the Chinese population. Extracellular matrix related proteins may play an important role in the pathogenesis of LDH. Our findings shed light on a better understanding of the pathogenesis of LDH, which could be a promising target for a novel treatment modality of LDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our previous studies, a functionally unknown gene, family with sequence similarity 172, member A (FAM172A), was identified. High levels of FAM172A suppressed the cell cycle process, arresting HepG2 cells in G1/S and inhibiting cell proliferation. The present study aimed to confirm the expression levels of FAM172A and nucleotide-binding protein 1 (NUBP1) in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and normal colorectal tissues. The impact of FAM172A and NUBP1 on the prognosis of patients with CRC was also analyzed. Immunohistochemical staining for FAM172A and NUBP1 was performed on 180 cancerous tissues and 60 normal paraffin-embedded tissues from patients with CRC. In total, 85 and 83% of 180 patients revealed positive expression of FAM172A and NUBP1, respectively. FAM172A expression level was associated with Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging (P<0.001), the levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA; P=0.023) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9; P=0.016), lymph node involvement (P=0.004), tissue type (P=0.016), Dukes' staging (P<0.001) and NUBP1 (P=0.026). Furthermore, the expression level of NUBP1 was also markedly associated with the levels of serum CEA (P=0.006) and CA19-9 (P=0.001), TNM staging (P<0.001), lymph node involvement (P=0.005), histological typing (P=0.024) and Dukes' stage (P<0.001). Results of the univariate analysis demonstrated that there was a negative correlation between the expression level of FAM172A and overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) (P=0.013 and P=0.012, respectively), and there was also a negative correlation between NUBP1 expression level and OS and RFS (P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively). With regards to OS and RFS, multivariate analysis revealed that expression levels of FAM172A and NUBP1 and tumor stage may be independent prognostic factors Thus, the present study suggested that FAM172A and NUBP1 may be prognostic makers for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the global existence and general decay rate for a one-dimensional full von Kármán beam with a thermo-viscoelastic damping, frictional dampings and a delay term in the internal feedback. First, we use the Faedo-Galerkin approximations together with energy estimates to obtain the existence and uniqueness of the global solutions. Then, by introducing suitable energy and Lyapunov functionals, under a hypothesis between the weight of the delay term and the weight of the friction damping term in the internal feedback, we establish a general decay rate result for the energy, which allows a wider class of relaxation functions, and thus generalize some previous results existing in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent dysregulation of the DNA damage response and repair in cells causes genomic instability. The resulting genetic changes permit alterations in growth and proliferation observed in virtually all cancers. However, an unstable genome can serve as a double-edged sword by providing survival advantages in the ability to evade checkpoint signaling, but also creating vulnerabilities through dependency on alternative genomic maintenance factors. The Fanconi anemia pathway comprises an intricate network of DNA damage signaling and repair that are critical for protection against genomic instability. The importance of this pathway is underlined by the severity of the cancer predisposing syndrome Fanconi anemia which can be caused by biallelic mutations in any one of the 21 genes known thus far. This review delineates the roles of the Fanconi anemia pathway and the molecular actions of Fanconi anemia proteins in confronting replicative, oxidative, and mitotic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A companion of Ostrowski like inequality for mappings whose second derivatives belong to L∞ spaces is established. Applications to composite quadrature rules are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we establish some perturbed versions of the generalized Trapezoid inequality for functions of bounded variation in terms of the cumulative variation function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hirsch proposed h-index in 2005. To overcome some limitations of h-index in practical application, many scholars have proposed a series of derivative indexes. So far, derivative indexes designed by the scholars are mostly based on the citations and total number of papers. Although they are simple to use, they have certain oneness on the data source. To overcome this situation, two methods are used in this paper to analyze various factors. Firstly, we use the principal component analysis method to analyze original data such as the total number of papers, citation and so on, and then draw a comprehensive evaluation result of Z to quantify scientific research output, which avoid the oneness on the factor. Then, based on the "Gold priority" rule and ha -index proposed by Xu, we introduce a new comprehensive scientific research evaluation index, named as hf - index, to enhance the degree of differentiation and sensitivity of h-index. For two methods above, examples are given respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus (L. bulgaricus) is well known for its worldwide application in yogurt production. Flavor production and acid producing are considered as the most important characteristics for starter culture screening. To our knowledge this is the first study applying functional gene sequence multilocus sequence typing technology to predict the fermentation and flavor-producing characteristics of yogurt-producing bacteria. In the present study, phenotypic characteristics of 35 L. bulgaricus strains were quantified during the fermentation of milk to yogurt and during its subsequent storage; these included fermentation time, acidification rate, pH, titratable acidity, and flavor characteristics (acetaldehyde concentration). Furthermore, multilocus sequence typing analysis of 7 functional genes associated with fermentation time, acid production, and flavor formation was done to elucidate the phylogeny and genetic evolution of the same L. bulgaricus isolates. The results showed that strains significantly differed in fermentation time, acidification rate, and acetaldehyde production. Combining functional gene sequence analysis with phenotypic characteristics demonstrated that groups of strains established using genotype data were consistent with groups identified based on their phenotypic traits. This study has established an efficient and rapid molecular genotyping method to identify strains with good fermentation traits; this has the potential to replace time-consuming conventional methods based on direct measurement of phenotypic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we modify the present linear and nonlinear dynamic models of love between two individuals. For the linear system, we make the model more realistic by introducing external perturbation functions, and then discuss the influences of different types of external perturbation functions. For the nonlinear system, we focus on the love affairs between two "complementary people" and introduce the nonlinearities in a different way. Then we investigate the corresponding mathematical properties of the systems trajectories and phase-plane, and explain its special meanings in a romantic relationship. Also, we have offered some practical advice to promote the development of their relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lactobacillus plantarum is a lactic acid bacterium (LAB) of considerable industrial interest since it has an important role in the production of fermented food. In the present study, the genetic diversity and population structure within 186 L. plantarum isolates was determined based on a novel MLST scheme employing eight housekeeping genes. These isolates had originated from different sources and geographic regions: 179 isolates were from our own culture collection and originated from China and Mongolia and seven isolates were type or reference isolates from other collections. Results: The results showed that 179 isolates and seven reference isolates could be assigned to 73 different sequence types (STs), forming ten clonal complexes (CCs) and 23 singletons. There were 158 polymorphic sites detected in total, and the nucleotide diversity per site varied from 0.00401 in clpX to 0.03220 in groEL. The minimum spanning tree analyses suggested that the evolution of L. plantarum isolates have little relationship with ecological sources have similar nucleotide diversity. Phylogenetic trees and structure indicated that there were six lineages in the L. plantarum isolates used in our study. Split-decomposition and ClonalFrame analysis indicated that recombination had occurred throughout the population of L. plantarum, but it occurred at a low frequency in these eight loci. Conclusion: We deduced that L. plantarum isolates from the same ecological niches have similar genetic diversity and population structure. The MLST scheme presented in this study provides abundant sequence data for L. plantarum and enabled global comparisons of isolates associated with various environmental origins to be made. This will further advance our understanding of the microbial ecology of this industrially important LAB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some inequalities of Ostrowski type for MT-convex functions via fractional integrals are obtained. These results not only generalize those of [25], but also provide new estimates on these types of Ostrowski inequalities for fractional integrals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lactobacillus fermentum is economically important in the production and preservation of fermented foods. A repeatable and discriminative typing method was devised to characterize L. fermentum at the molecular level. The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme developed was based on analysis of the internal sequence of 11 housekeeping gene fragments (clpX, dnaA, dnaK, groEL, murC, murE, pepX, pyrG, recA, rpoB, and uvrC). Results: MLST analysis of 203 isolates of L. fermentum from Mongolia and seven provinces/ autonomous regions in China identified 57 sequence types (ST), 27 of which were represented by only a single isolate, indicating high genetic diversity. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequence of the 11 housekeeping gene fragments indicated that the L. fermentum isolates analyzed belonged to two major groups. A standardized index of association (IAS) indicated a weak clonal population structure in L. fermentum. Split decomposition analysis indicated that recombination played an important role in generating the genetic diversity observed in L. fermentum. The results from the minimum spanning tree strongly suggested that evolution of L. fermentum STs was not correlated with geography or food-type. Conclusions: The MLST scheme developed will be valuable for further studies on the evolution and population structure of L. fermentum isolates used in food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lactobacillus fermentum is economically important in the production and preservation of fermented foods. A repeatable and discriminative typing method was devised to characterize L. fermentum at the molecular level. The multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme developed was based on analysis of the internal sequence of 11 housekeeping gene fragments (clpX, dnaA, dnaK, groEL, murC, murE, pepX, pyrG, recA, rpoB, and uvrC). Results: MLST analysis of 203 isolates of L. fermentum from Mongolia and seven provinces/ autonomous regions in China identified 57 sequence types (ST), 27 of which were represented by only a single isolate, indicating high genetic diversity. Phylogenetic analyses based on the sequence of the 11 housekeeping gene fragments indicated that the L. fermentum isolates analyzed belonged to two major groups. A standardized index of association (IA S) indicated a weak clonal population structure in L. fermentum. Split decomposition analysis indicated that recombination played an important role in generating the genetic diversity observed in L. fermentum. The results from the minimum spanning tree strongly suggested that evolution of L. fermentum STs was not correlated with geography or food-type. Conclusions: The MLST scheme developed will be valuable for further studies on the evolution and population structure of L. fermentum isolates used in food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactobacillus helveticus is an economically important lactic acid bacterium used in industrial dairy fermentation. In the present study, the population structure of 245 isolates of L. helveticus from different naturally fermented dairy products in China and Mongolia were investigated using an multilocus sequence typing scheme with 11 housekeeping genes. A total of 108 sequence types were detected, which formed 8 clonal complexes and 27 singletons. Results from Structure, SplitsTree, and ClonalFrame software analyses demonstrated the presence of 3 subpopulations in the L. helveticus isolates used in our study, namely koumiss, kurut-tarag, and panmictic lineages. Most L. helveticus isolates from particular ecological origins had specific population structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leuconostoc mesenteroides strains play an important role in food fermentation. In this study, 136 strains from different dairy products in China and Mongolia were examined by multilocus sequence typing of 9 housekeeping genes. In total, 82 polymorphic sites were detected among the 9 loci. The number of polymorphic nucleotide sites varied between 4 (dnaA) and 18 (uvrC), whereas the nucleotide diversity per site among the 9 genes varied from 0.00379 in dnaA to 0.01195 in uvrC, suggesting a relatively low level of sequence diversity. For the recombination measurement, incongruence in the trees based on a single gene and concatenated sequences of all sequencing types were observed, indicative of extensive intragenic homologous recombination. The overall relatedness built by minimum spanning trees showed no clear relationship between the clonal complexes and either isolation source or sampling location of the strains. Our study presents, for the first time, the population structure of Leuc. mesenteroides strains of dairy origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Traditional fermented dairy products are major components of the typical Mongolian diet since ancient times. However, almost all the previous studies on the microbial composition of traditional Mongolian fermented dairy products analyzed food samples from the Chinese Mongolian region and Mongolia but not the Russian Mongolian region. In this study, the bacterial and fungal community diversity of nineteen naturally fermented cow's milk (NFCM) samples from local Mongolian families residing in Kalmykia and Chita of Russia was investigated with pyrosequencing. Results: Firmicutes and Ascomycota were the predominant phyla respectively for bacteria and fungi. The abundance of the bacterial phylum Acidobacteria was considerably different between the samples from the two regions. At genus level, Lactobacillus and Pichia were the predominating bacterial and fungal genera, respectively, while six bacterial genera significantly differed between the Kalmykia (enrichment of Aeromonas, Bacillus, Clostridium, Streptococcus, Vogesella) and Chita (enrichment of Lactococcus) samples. The results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) based on the bacterial or fungal composition of the Kalmykia and Chita samples revealed a different microbiota structure between the samples collected in these two locations. The redundancy analysis (RDA) identified 60 bacterial and 21 fungal OTUs as the key variables responsible for such microbiota structural difference. Conclusions: Our results suggest that structural differences existed in the microbiota of NFCM between Kalmykia and Chita. The difference in geographic environment may be an important factor influencing the microbial diversity of NFCM made by the Mongolians in Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folding and maturation of most protein kinases require chaperone assistance. In higher eukaryotes, CDC37 is the predominant cochaperone that facilitates the transfer of kinase clients to HSP90. Kinase recognition is thought to occur through the N-terminal domain, which has, thus far, eluded structure determination. Client processing also requires the phosphorylation of the N-terminal tail at Ser13 by protein kinase CK2 (casein kinase 2). How phosphorylation alters the molecular properties of CDC37 is not understood. We show that the phosphorylation at Ser13 induces a large shift toward a more compact structure, based on ANS fluorescence, while modestly increasing secondary structure. Moreover, this transition requires interactions of the N-terminal domain and the remainder of CDC37. The stabilizing property of the phosphorylation event can be recreated in trans by a (phospho-Ser13) peptide derived from the N-terminal tail. However, the phosphorylation-induced transition is not dependent on the transferred phosphate group but rather the loss of serine-like properties at position 13. The complete absence of the N-terminal tail results in reduced secondary structure and unresponsiveness to subsequent addition of peptides. The N-terminal tail may therefore serve as an intramolecular chaperone that ensures that CDC37 assumes one of two readily interconvertible states in a manner that impacts the interaction of the client binding N-domain and the MC-domains, involved in dimerization and HSP90 binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more companies provide free information service in Chinese Internet, in order to obtain indirect benefits, not completely adopt the strategy with satisfaction as the center, but use the strategy of "not worse than others". This article uses the Perceived Irreplaceableness which is compared by the user as an important antecedent of continued use intention to replace Satisfaction. Perceived Irreplaceableness includes not only the active recognition which is brought by Perceived Usefulness, but also the passive acceptance that is felt by user through comparing the not- so-satisfied information services. Besides, this research adds the Perceived Satisfaction of Competitive Product in the model to express the competitive product performance. Through empirical analysis, the correctness of the theory is confirmed. The results shows that, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Irreplaceableness have significant positive effects on continued use intention, and Perceived Ease of Use plays a positive regulatory role between the relationship from Perceived Usefulness and Continued Use Intention; Besides, Perceived Satisfaction of Competitive Product negatively affect both Perceived Irreplaceableness and Continued Use Intention, but it doesn't have any influence on Perceived Usefulness of information service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertension is a major global health issue which elevates the risk of a large world population to chronic life-threatening diseases. The inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is an effective target to manage essential hypertension. In this study, the fermentation properties (titratable acidity, free amino nitrogen, and fermentation time) and ACE-inhibitory (ACEI) activity of fermented milks produced by 259 Lactobacillus helveticus strains previously isolated from traditional Chinese and Mongolian fermented foods were determined. Among them, 37 strains had an ACEI activity of over 50%. The concentrations of the antihypertensive peptides, Ile-Pro-Pro and Val-Pro-Pro, were further determined by ultra performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The change of ACEI activity of the fermented milks of 3 strains exhibiting the highest ACEI activity upon gastrointestinal protease treatment was assayed. Fermented milks produced by strain H9 (IMAU60208) had the highest in vitro ACEI activity (86.4 ± 1.5%), relatively short fermentation time (7.5 h), and detectable Val-Pro-Pro (2.409 ± 0.229 µM) and Ile-Pro-Pro (1.612 ± 0.114 µM) concentrations. Compared with the control, a single oral dose of H9-fermented milk significantly attenuated the systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) by 15 to 18 mmHg during the 6 to 12 h after treatment. The long-term daily H9-fermented milk intake over 7 wk exerted significant antihypertensive effect to SHR, but not normotensive rats, and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure were significantly lower, by 12 and 10 mmHg, respectively, compared with the control receiving saline. The feeding of H9-fermented milk to SHR resulted in a significantly higher weight gain at wk 7 compared with groups receiving saline, commercial yogurt, and captopril. Our study identified a novel probiotic L. helveticus strain originated from kurut sampled from Tibet (China), which is a valuable resource for future development of functional foods for hypertension management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first study on the bacterial and fungal community diversity in 17 tarag samples (naturally fermented dairy products) through a metagenomic approach involving high-throughput pyrosequencing. Our results revealed the presence of a total of 47 bacterial and 43 fungal genera in all tarag samples, in which Lactobacillus and Galactomyces were the predominant genera of bacteria and fungi, respectively. The number of some microbial genera, such as Lactococcus, Acetobacter, Saccharomyces, Trichosporon, and Kluyveromyces, among others, was found to vary between different samples. Altogether, our results showed that the microbial flora in different samples may be stratified by geographic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RGO-based aerogels with varied and controllable surface wettability were fabricated using different amino acids. Hydrophobic cys-RGO aerogels prepared by L-cysteine exhibited an outstanding adsorption toward oils and organic solvents, while hydrophilic lys-RGO aerogels obtained from L-lysine can be used as adsorbents for heavy metal ions in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mo2FeB2 based cermets were prepared by vacuum sintering at different temperatures and with different holding times. The phase transformation and microstructure evolution were studied by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). It was found that the hard phase Mo2FeB2 was produced in the compact at the stage of solid phase sintering by the reaction Mo and Fe2B, which exhibited an equiaxed morphology. An extremely rapid densification occurred in the temperature ranging from 1050°C to 1080°C, and almost full densification was obtained at the temperature of 1080°C without holding time. With an increase of liquid phase sintering temperature, the cermets exhibited a relatively homogenous microstructure, accompanied by an in situ growth of elongated Mo2FeB2 grains. Abnormally large and faceted Mo2FeB2 grains occurred during the isothermal hold at 1320°C. These abnormal grains usually coalesced with surrounding grains and grain boundaries were formed between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Economically, Leuconostoc lactis is one of the most important species in the genus Leuconostoc. It plays an important role in the food industry including the production of dextrans and bacteriocins. Currently, traditional molecular typing approaches for characterisation of this species at the isolate level are either unavailable or are not sufficiently reliable for practical use. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) is a robust and reliable method for characterising bacterial and fungal species at the molecular level. In this study, a novel MLST protocol was developed for 50 L. lactis isolates from Mongolia and China. Results Sequences from eight targeted genes (groEL, carB, recA, pheS, murC, pyrG, rpoB and uvrC) were obtained. Sequence analysis indicated 20 different sequence types (STs), with 13 of them being represented by a single isolate. Phylogenetic analysis based on the sequences of eight MLST loci indicated that the isolates belonged to two major groups, A (34 isolates) and B (16 isolates). Linkage disequilibrium analyses indicated that recombination occurred at a low frequency in L. lactis, indicating a clonal population structure. Split-decomposition analysis indicated that intraspecies recombination played a role in generating genotypic diversity amongst isolates. Conclusions Our results indicated that MLST is a valuable tool for typing L. lactis isolates that can be used for further monitoring of evolutionary changes and population genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note we establish some estimates, involving the Euler Beta function, of the integral fba (x-a)p(b-x)qf(x)dx for functions when a power of the absolute value is P-convex. An extension to functions of several variables is also obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluorescent N-phenyl-4-aminoquinazoline probes targeting the ATP-binding pocket of the ERBB family of receptor tyrosine kinases are reported. Extension of the aromatic quinazoline core with fluorophore "arms" through substitution at the 6-position of the quinazoline core with phenyl, styryl, and phenylbutadienyl moieties was predicted by means of TD-DFT calculations to produce probes with tunable photoexcitation energies and excited states possessing charge-transfer character. Optical spectroscopy identified several synthesized probes that are nonemissive in aqueous solutions and exhibit emission enhancements in solvents of low polarity, suggesting good performance as turn-on fluorophores. Ligand-induced ERBB2 phosphorylation assays demonstrate that despite chemical modification to the quinazoline core these probes still function as ERBB2 inhibitors in MCF7 cells. Two probes were found to exhibit ERBB2-induced fluorescence, demonstrating the utility of these probes as turn-on, fluoroescent kinase inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we establish some Simpson type inequalities for functions whose third derivatives in the absolute value are h-convex and (α, m)--convex, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, some Ostrowski type inequalities via Riemann-Liouville fractional integrals for h-convex functions, which are super-multiplicative or super-additive, are given. These results not only generalize those of [24, 25], but also provide new estimates on these types of Ostrowski inequalities for fractional integrals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have studied the periodicity of solutions of some nonlinear time-varying differential models by using the theory of reflecting functions. We have established a new relationship between the linear differential system and the Riccati equations and applied the obtained results to discuss the behavior of periodic solutions of the Riccati equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general decay and blow-up of solutions for a system of viscoelastic equations of Kirchhoff type with strong damping is considered. We first establish two blow-up results: one is for certain solutions with nonpositive initial energy as well as positive initial energy by exploiting the convexity technique, the other is for certain solutions with arbitrarily positive initial energy based on the method of Li and Tsai. Then, we give a decay result of global solutions by the perturbed energy method under a weaker assumption on the relaxation functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some new error inequalities for a Taylor-like formula are established. Sharp bounds are given when n is an odd and even integer, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of quadratic spatial solitons generated in periodically poled lithium tantalite in the femtosecond regime are investigated. By using only a fundamental frequency beam as the input to excite quadratic spatial solitons, single and spatially anisotropic multiple solitons are generated. Our experiments demonstrate that the number of solitons is dependent on the input power. In the experiment, beam narrowing occurs first, leading to single-soliton generation. The threshold for multiple solitons is around 1.5 mW. The number of solitons does not increase indefinitely with input power. Multiple soliton generation only occurs in the input power range of 1.5 to 6.3 mW. The number of solitons decreases to 1 when the input power is 6.3 mW. The temporal and spectral characteristics of the spatial solitons are measured by using the GRENOUILLE technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, endotoxin contamination was determined in treated water following each unit of a drinking water treatment plant (WTP) in Beijing, China and its source water (SW) from a long water diversion channel (Shijiazhuang–Beijing) originating from four reservoirs in Hebei province, China. The total-endotoxin activities in SW ranged from 21 to 41 EU/ml at five selected cross sections of the diversion channel. The total-endotoxin in raw water of the WTP ranged from 11 to 16 EU/ml due to dilution and pretreatment during water transportation from Tuancheng Lake to the WTP, and finished water of the WTP ranged from 4 to 10 EU/ml, showing a 49% decrease following the full-scale treatment process at the WTP. Compared with the 31% removal of free-endotoxin, the WTP removed up to 71% of bound-endotoxin in raw water. The traditional treatment processes (coagulation, sedimentation and filtration) in the WTP removed substantial amounts of total-endotoxin (up to 63%), while endotoxin activities increased after granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption and chlorination. The total-endotoxin in the actual water was composed of free-endotoxin and bound-endotoxin (endotoxin aggregates, bacteria-bound endotoxins and particle-attached endotoxins). The endotoxin aggregates, bacteria-bound endotoxins and particle-attached endotoxins co-exist as suspended particles in water, and only the bacteria-bound endotoxins were correlated with bacterial cells suspended in water. The particle distribution of endotoxin aggregates in ultrapure water was also tested and the results showed that the majority (64–89%) of endotoxin aggregates had diameters <2 μm. The endotoxin contamination and control in treated water following each unit of the WTP processes and its SW from reservoirs are discussed and compared with regard to bacterial cell counts and particle characteristics, which were dependent, to a certain extent, on different flow rates and turbulence of the water environments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Some new error inequalities for a Taylor-like formula are established. Sharp bounds are given when n is an odd and even integer, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we study a wave equation with nonlinear boundary damping and interior source term. We prove two blow-up results with nonnegative initial energy; thus we extend the blow-up results by Feng et al [5]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microbial ecology of distribution systems is complex and is influenced by a number of factors. This study assessed whether or not during drinking water treatments it is important to add a chemical disinfectant after ultraviolet (UV) disinfection in order to control the regrowth of microbes in distribution systems. Results showed that low UV doses did not impact assimilable organic carbon (AOC) significantly. No definite relationship between UV dose and steady-state biofilm heterotrophic (HPC) bacteria was evident. AOC and chlorine residual are two important factors affecting biofilm and suspended HPC growth in distribution systems. When the AOC concentration was 0, 5 and 10 µg AC/L (µg acetate-C/L), a chlorine residual was not necessary to keep the fluid HPC under 500 CFU/mL. When the AOC concentration reached between 100 and 200 µg AC/L, the regrowth of microbes in the model distribution system necessitated a chlorine residual of over 0.5 mg/L. At lower AOC levels (0, 10-20 µg AC/L), the AOC appeared to have a strong effect on controlling biofilm formation and suspended HPC concentration. In contrast, at higher AOC levels (50, 100 and 200 µg AC/L), a chlorine residual was indispensable when controlling the regrowth of HPC in the distribution systems. AOC and the required chlorine residual in these systems were interrelated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note we show that the assumption on the memory term g in Andrade [1] can be modified to be g'(t) ≤ -ξ(t)g(t), where ξ(t) satisfies ξ'(t) ≤ 0, ∫0+∞ ξ(t)dt = ∞. Then we show that rate of decay for the solution is similar to that of the memory term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless sensor networks, it is of great importance for fault diagnosis to ensure the gathering information accuracy and reduce energy additionally consumed by faulty nodes, for the deployment of a large number of sensor nodes in hostile environment. In this paper, we propose an energy-efficient data collection protocol which consists of clustering and multipath routing. Clustering based on fault diagnosis eliminates the possibility of cluster heads (CHs) acting by faulty nodes which reduce energy consumption and fault information transmission. Multipath routing provided by directed acyclic graph (DAG) increases system fault tolerance. Furthermore, clustering and multihop routing consider residual energy and routing cost, respectively; thus balanced energy consumption is achieved. Performance analysis shows that the message complexity disseminated in clustering and fault diagnosis is acceptable. Simulations demonstrate that the protocol has better energy efficiency compared with other related protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the first test of nanoscale-focusing Kirkpatrick-Baez (KB) mirrors in the nested configuration used at a hard X-ray synchrotron beamline. The authors state that the potential of the Montel focusing optics to reduce the focal pot size of achromatic optics is demonstrated by the nested KB prototype. They state that KB mirrors in the Montel arrangement are important for the non-dispersive nanofocusing of hard X-rays over a wide bandwidth.

In this paper we consider a system of two coupled viscoelastic equations with Dirichlet boundary condition which describes the interaction between two different fields arising in viscoelasticity. For certain class of relaxation functions and certain initial data, we prove that the decay rate of the solution energy is similar to that of relaxation functions which is not necessarily of exponential or polynomial type. This result improves earlier one of Messaoudi and Tatar (Appl. Anal. 87(3):247–263, ) and extends some existing results concerning the general decay for a single equation to the case of a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]