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Soil nailing has become a common method for improving slope stability due to its cost-effectiveness and easy installation. However, concerns have been arisen regarding the quality and integrity of soil nailing works. This study proposed a novel method for soil nail integrity assessment using an actively heated fiber-optic (AHFO) sensor. First, numerical simulations were conducted to determine the thermal conductivity profiles of soil nails with various defects, measured using AHFO. By establishing the relationship between defects and thermal conductivity profiles, the material and severity of soil nail defects can be estimated. It was found that the thermal conductivity profiles obtained by the AHFO sensor accurately correspond to defect locations, and the entrained material and severity of defects in the section can be identified for defects with a length exceeding 0.1 m. Physical model tests were performed to further validate the feasibility of the proposed quantitative soil nail integrity testing method. This paper also provides recommendations for heating parameters and testing processes to facilitate the implementation of this method by potential users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of reservoir types in deep carbonates has always been a great challenge due to complex logging responses caused by the heterogeneous scale and distribution of storage spaces. Traditional cross-plot analysis and empirical formula methods for identifying reservoir types using geophysical logging data have high uncertainty and low efficiency, which cannot accurately reflect the nonlinear relationship between reservoir types and logging data. Recently, the kernel Fisher discriminant analysis (KFD), a kernel-based machine learning technique, attracts attention in many fields because of its strong nonlinear processing ability. However, the overall performance of KFD model may be limited as a single kernel function cannot simultaneously extrapolate and interpolate well, especially for highly complex data cases. To address this issue, in this study, a mixed kernel Fisher discriminant analysis (MKFD) model was established and applied to identify reservoir types of the deep Sinian carbonates in central Sichuan Basin, China. The MKFD model was trained and tested with 453 datasets from 7 coring wells, utilizing GR, CAL, DEN, AC, CNL and RT logs as input variables. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) was adopted for hyper-parameter optimization of MKFD model. To evaluate the model performance, prediction results of MKFD were compared with those of basic-kernel based KFD, RF and SVM models. Subsequently, the built MKFD model was applied in a blind well test, and a variable importance analysis was conducted. The comparison and blind test results demonstrated that MKFD outperformed traditional KFD, RF and SVM in the identification of reservoir types, which provided higher accuracy and stronger generalization. The MKFD can therefore be a reliable method for identifying reservoir types of deep carbonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fulminant myocarditis is an acute diffuse inflammatory disease of myocardium. It is characterized by acute onset, rapid progress and high risk of death. Its pathogenesis involves excessive immune activation of the innate immune system and formation of inflammatory storm. According to China's practical experience, the adoption of the "life support-based comprehensive treatment regimen" (with mechanical circulation support and immunomodulation therapy as the core) can significantly improve the survival rate and long-term prognosis. Special emphasis is placed on very early identification,very early diagnosis,very early prediction and very early treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the behavior of a 38-m deep twin circular peanut-shaped cofferdam interconnected with a rectangular section for cut-and-cover tunnel construction using distributed fiber-optic sensors (DFOSs) based on optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). The distributed sensors revealed that temperature changes on the two sides of the diaphragm wall were different upon its exposure by excavation, while the measured strains were used to evaluate the wall deflection and bending moments. The high spatial resolution achieved by DFOS measurements revealed unique aspects of the wall response, which are difficult to obtain by conventional types of instrumentation. In particular, the strains along vertical and lateral directions of the wall panels were measured, the latter of which indicated eccentric compression in the concrete panels that arises from the distinctive peanut-shaped geometry. Developments of hoop forces and circumferential bending moments in the panels at various construction stages are discussed, with particular focus on the release of such during partial demolition of a temporary cross wall to facilitate the assembly and launching of tunnel boring machines. The mechanisms of stress developments and release were simulated using three-dimensional finite-element models that, together with the field measurements, enhance the understanding of the behavior of multicell cofferdams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid droplets (LDs) are important organelles conserved across eukaryotes with a fascinating biogenesis and consumption cycle. Recent intensive research has focused on uncovering the cellular biology of LDs, with emphasis on their degradation. Briefly, two major pathways for LD degradation have been recognized: (1) lipolysis, in which lipid degradation is catalyzed by lipases on the LD surface, and (2) lipophagy, in which LDs are degraded by autophagy. Both of these pathways require the collective actions of several lipolytic and proteolytic enzymes, some of which have been purified and analyzed for their in vitro activities. Furthermore, several genes encoding these proteins have been cloned and characterized. In seed plants, seed germination is initiated by the hydrolysis of stored lipids in LDs to provide energy and carbon equivalents for the germinating seedling. However, little is known about the mechanism regulating the LD mobilization. In this review, we focus on recent progress toward understanding how lipids are degraded and the specific pathways that coordinate LD mobilization in plants, aiming to provide an accurate and detailed outline of the process. This will set the stage for future studies of LD dynamics and help to utilize LDs to their full potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a quantale I , the unit interval endowed with a continuous triangular norm, we introduce the canonical, op-canonical and Kleisli extensions of the conical I -semifilter monad to I - Rel. It is proved that the op-canonical extension coincides with the Kleisli extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Garbage recycling and automatic sorting are efficient ways to address the paradox of rising municipal waste. Although traditional image classification methods can solve the rubbish image classification problem, they ignore the spatial relationship between features, which can easily lead to misclassification of the same object. In this paper, we propose the ResMsCapsule network, which is a trash picture categorization model based on the capsule network. By combining the residual network and multi-scale module, the ResMsCapsule network can improve the performance of the basic capsule network greatly. Extensive experiments using the publicly available dataset TrashNet show that the ResMsCapsule method has a simpler network structure and higher garbage classification accuracy. The classification accuracy of the ResMsCapsule network is 91.41%, and the number of parameters is only 40% of that of ResNet18, which is better than other image classification algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a dicotyledonous cereal that is rich in nutrients. This important crop has been shown to have significant tolerance to abiotic stresses such as salinization and drought. Understanding the underlying mechanism of stress response in quinoa would be a significant advantage for breeding crops with stress tolerance. Here, we treated the low-altitude quinoa cultivar CM499 with either NaCl (200 mM), Na2CO3/NaHCO3 (100 mM, pH 9.0) or PEG6000 (10%) to induce salinity, alkalinity and hypertonia, respectively, and analyzed the subsequent expression of genes and small RNAs via high-throughput sequencing. A list of known/novel genes were identified in quinoa, and the ones responding to different stresses were selected. The known/novel quinoa miRNAs were also identified, and the target genes of the stress response ones were predicted. Both the differently expressed genes and the targets of differently expressed miRNAs were found to be enriched for reactive oxygen species homeostasis, hormone signaling, cell wall synthesis, transcription factors and some other factors. Furthermore, we detected changes in reactive oxygen species accumulation, hormone (auxin and ethylene) responses and hemicellulose synthesis in quinoa seedlings treated with stresses, indicating their important roles in the response to saline, alkaline or hyperosmotic stresses in quinoa. Thus, our work provides useful information for understanding the mechanism of abiotic stress responses in quinoa, which would provide clues for improving breeding for quinoa and other crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Alternative splicing of pre‐mRNAs is crucial for plant growth and development. Serine/arginine‐rich (SR) proteins are a conserved family of RNA‐binding proteins that are critical for both constitutive and alternative splicing. However, how phosphorylation of SR proteins regulates gene transcription and alternative splicing during plant development is poorly understood.We found that the Arabidopsis thaliana L. SR protein‐specific kinase II family proteins (SRPKIIs) play an important role in plant development, including flowering. SRPKIIs regulate the phosphorylation status of a subset of specific SR proteins, including SR45 and SC35, which subsequently mediates their subcellular localization.A phospho‐dead SR45 mutant inhibits the assembly of the apoptosis‐and splicing‐associated protein complex and thereby upregulates the expression of FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) via epigenetic modification. The splicing efficiency of FLC introns was significantly increased in the shoot apex of the srpkii mutant. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that SRPKIIs regulate the alternative splicing of c. 400 genes, which largely overlap with those regulated by SR45 and SC35‐SCL family proteins.In summary, we found that Arabidopsis SRPKIIs specifically affect the phosphorylation status of a subset SR proteins and regulate the expression and alternative splicing of FLC to control flowering time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to fit a properly nonlinear classification model from conventional well logs to lithofacies is a key problem for machine learning methods. Kernel methods (e.g., KFD, SVM, MSVM) are effective attempts to solve this issue due to abilities of handling nonlinear features by kernel functions. Deep mining of log features indicating lithofacies still needs to be improved for kernel methods. Hence, this work employs deep neural networks to enhance the kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) method and proposes a deep kernel method (DKM) for lithofacies identification using well logs. DKM includes a feature extractor and a classifier. The feature extractor consists of a series of KPCA models arranged according to residual network structure. A gradient-free optimization method is introduced to automatically optimize parameters and structure in DKM, which can avoid complex tuning of parameters in models. To test the validation of the proposed DKM for lithofacies identification, an open-sourced dataset with seven conventional logs (GR, CAL, AC, DEN, CNL, LLD, and LLS) and lithofacies labels from the Daniudi Gas Field in China is used. There are eight lithofacies, namely clastic rocks (pebbly, coarse, medium, and fine sandstone, siltstone, mudstone), coal, and carbonate rocks. The comparisons between DKM and three commonly used kernel methods (KFD, SVM, MSVM) show that (1) DKM (85.7%) outperforms SVM (77%), KFD (79.5%), and MSVM (82.8%) in accuracy of lithofacies identification; (2) DKM is about twice faster than the multi-kernel method (MSVM) with good accuracy. The blind well test inWell D13 indicates that compared with the other three methods DKM improves about 24% in accuracy, 35% in precision, 41% in recall, and 40% in F1 score, respectively. In general, DKM is an effective method for complex lithofacies identification. This work also discussed the optimal structure and classifier for DKM. Experimental results show that (m1, m2, 0) is the optimal model structure and linear SVM is the optimal classifier. (m1, m2, 0) means there are m1 KPCAs, and then m2 residual units. A workflow to determine an optimal classifier in DKM for lithofacies identification is proposed, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid droplets (LDs) are ubiquitous, dynamic organelles found in almost all organisms, including animals, protists, plants and prokaryotes. The cell biology of LDs, especially biogenesis, has attracted increasing attention in recent decades because of their important role in cellular lipid metabolism and other newly identified processes. Emerging evidence suggests that LD biogenesis is a highly coordinated and stepwise process in animals and yeasts, occurring at specific sites of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) that are defined by both evolutionarily conserved and organism- and cell type-specific LD lipids and proteins. In plants, understanding of the mechanistic details of LD formation is elusive as many questions remain. In some ways LD biogenesis differs between plants and animals. Several homologous proteins involved in the regulation of animal LD formation in plants have been identified. We try to describe how these proteins are synthesized, transported to the ER and specifically targeted to LD, and how these proteins participate in the regulation of LD biogenesis. Here, we review current work on the molecular processes that control LD formation in plant cells and highlight the proteins that govern this process, hoping to provide useful clues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically, relationship between well logs and lithofacies is complex, which leads to low accuracy of lithofacies identification. Machine learning (ML) methods are often applied to identify lithofacies using logs labelled by rock cores. However, these methods have accuracy limits to some extent. To further improve their accuracies, practical and novel ensemble learning strategy and principles are proposed in this work, which allows geologists not familiar with ML to establish a good ML lithofacies identification model and help geologists familiar with ML further improve accuracy of lithofacies identification. The ensemble learning strategy combines ML methods as sub-classifiers to generate a comprehensive lithofacies identification model, which aims to reduce the variance errors in prediction. Each sub-classifier is trained by randomly sampled labelled data with random features. The novelty of this work lies in the ensemble principles making sub-classifiers just overfitting by algorithm parameter setting and subdataset sampling. The principles can help reduce the bias errors in the prediction. Two issues are discussed, videlicet (1) whether only a relatively simple single-classifier method can be as sub-classifiers and how to select proper ML methods as sub-classifiers; (2) whether different kinds of ML methods can be combined as sub-classifiers. If yes, how to determine a proper combination. In order to test the effectiveness of the ensemble strategy and principles for lithofacies identification, different kinds of machine learning algorithms are selected as sub-classifiers, including regular classifiers (LDA, NB, KNN, ID3 tree and CART), kernel method (SVM), and ensemble learning algorithms (RF, AdaBoost, XGBoost and LightGBM). In this work, the experiments used a published dataset of lithofacies from Daniudi gas field (DGF) in Ordes Basin, China. Based on a series of comparisons between ML algorithms and their corresponding ensemble models using the ensemble strategy and principles, conclusions are drawn: (1) not only decision tree but also other single-classifiers and ensemble-learning-classifiers can be used as subclassifiers of homogeneous ensemble learning and the ensemble can improve the accuracy of the original classifiers; (2) the ensemble principles for the introduced homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble strategy are effective in promoting ML in lithofacies identification; (3) in practice, heterogeneous ensemble is more suitable for building a more powerful lithofacies identification model, though it is complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are precursors for the synthesis of various lipids, such as triacylglycerols, sphingolipids, cuticular waxes, and suberin monomers, which play important roles in plant growth and stress responses. However, the underlying molecular mechanism regulating VLCFAs' biosynthesis in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) remains unclear. In this study, we identified and functionally characterized putative 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthases (KCSs) from quinoa. Among these KCS genes, CqKCS2B.1 showed high transcript levels in the root tissues and these were rapidly induced by salt stress. CqKCS2B.1 was localized to the endoplasmic reticulum. Overexpression of CqKCS2B.1 in Arabidopsis resulted in significantly longer primary roots and more lateral roots. Ectopic expression of CqKCS2B.1 in Arabidopsis promoted the accumulation of suberin monomers. The occurrence of VLCFAs with C22–C24 chain lengths in the overexpression lines suggested that CqKCS2B.1 plays an important role in the elongation of VLCFAs from C20 to C24. The transgenic lines of overexpressed CqKCS2B.1 showed increased salt tolerance, as indicated by an increased germination rate and improved plant growth and survival under salt stress. These findings highlight the significant role of CqKCS2B.1 in VLCFAs' production, thereby regulating suberin biosynthesis and responses to salt stress. CqKCS2B.1 could be utilized as a candidate gene locus to breed superior, stress-tolerant quinoa cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quinoa is a cold-resistant and nutrient-rich crop. To decipher the cold stress response of quinoa, the full-length transcriptomes of the cold-resistant quinoa variety CRQ64 and the cold-sensitive quinoa variety CSQ5 were compared. We identified 55,389 novel isoforms and 6432 novel genes in these transcriptomes. Under cold stress, CRQ64 had more differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially alternative splicing events compared to non-stress conditions than CSQ5. DEGs that were specifically present only in CRQ64 were significantly enriched in processes which contribute to osmoregulation and ROS homeostasis in plants, such as sucrose metabolism and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. More genes with differential alternative splicing under cold stress were enriched in peroxidase functions in CRQ64. In total, 5988 transcription factors and 2956 long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) were detected in this dataset. Many of these had altered expression patterns under cold stress compared to non-stress conditions. Our transcriptome results demonstrate that CRQ64 undergoes a wider stress response than CSQ5 under cold stress. Our results improved the annotation of the quinoa genome and provide new insight into the mechanisms of cold resistance in quinoa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first example of selective PdII‐catalyzed tertiary C−H activation of cyclobutylmethyl ketones using a transient directing group. An electron‐deficient 2‐pyridone ligand was identified as the optimal external ligand to enable tertiary C−H activation. A variety of cyclobutylmethyl ketones bearing quaternary carbon centers was readily accessed without preinstalling internal directing groups in up to 81 % yield and >95 : 5 regioisomeric ratios of tertiary C−H arylation to β‐methylene (β‐methyl) or γ‐C−H arylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the first example of selective PdII‐catalyzed tertiary C−H activation of cyclobutylmethyl ketones using a transient directing group. An electron‐deficient 2‐pyridone ligand was identified as the optimal external ligand to enable tertiary C−H activation. A variety of cyclobutylmethyl ketones bearing quaternary carbon centers was readily accessed without preinstalling internal directing groups in up to 81 % yield and >95 : 5 regioisomeric ratios of tertiary C−H arylation to β‐methylene (β‐methyl) or γ‐C−H arylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a novel approach to surface strain measurement for cylindrical rock specimens subjected to uniaxial compression using distributed fibre optic sensing technology. The capability and accuracy of this approach in measuring the full-field strain distribution of a rock specimen have been verified by a series of uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) tests on cylindrical specimens of aluminium alloy, sandstone, and granite. By analysing the experimental results, this new approach also has the potential of being utilized to detect the potential failure locations and sequence through strain localization zone variations and estimation of the development of crack opening displacement and rock fracturing characteristics during the loading and unloading process. Detailed installation procedures are provided for this study for assistance in the use of this new approach. The boundary issue of fibre measurements is identified, and solved by extending the bonding length of the measuring fibre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current neural networks are mostly built on the MP model, which usually formulates the neuron as executing an activation function on the real-valued weighted aggregation of signals received from other neurons. This letter proposes the flexible transmitter (FT) model, a novel bio-plausible neuron model with flexible synaptic plasticity. The FT model employs a pair of parameters to model the neurotransmitters between neurons and puts up a neuron-exclusive variable to record the regulated neurotrophin density. Thus, the FT model can be formulated as a two-variable, two-valued function, taking the commonly used MP neuron model as its particular case. This modeling manner makes the FT model biologically more realistic and capable of handling complicated data, even spatiotemporal data. To exhibit its power and potential, we present the flexible transmitter network (FTNet), which is built on the most common fully connected feedforward architecture taking the FT model as the basic building block. FTNet allows gradient calculation and can be implemented by an improved backpropagation algorithm in the complex-valued domain. Experiments on a broad range of tasks show that FTNet has power and potential in processing spatiotemporal data. This study provides an alternative basic building block in neural networks and exhibits the feasibility of developing artificial neural networks with neuronal plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Organ shape and size covariation (allometry) factors are essential concepts for the study of evolution and development. Although ample research has been conducted on organ shape and size, little research has considered the correlated variation of these two traits and quantitatively measured the variation in a common framework. The genetic basis of allometry variation in a single organ or among different organs is also relatively unknown. Results: A principal component analysis (PCA) of organ landmarks and outlines was conducted and used to quantitatively capture shape and size variation in leaves and petals of multiparent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) populations of Arabidopsis thaliana. The PCA indicated that size variation was a major component of allometry variation and revealed negatively correlated changes in leaf and petal size. After quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, five QTLs for the fourth leaf, 11 QTLs for the seventh leaf, and 12 QTLs for petal size and shape were identified. These QTLs were not identical to those previously identified, with the exception of the ER locus. The allometry model was also used to measure the leaf and petal allometry covariation to investigate the evolution and genetic coordination between homologous organs. In total, 12 QTLs were identified in association with the fourth leaf and petal allometry covariation, and eight QTLs were identified to be associated with the seventh leaf and petal allometry covariation. In these QTL confidence regions, there were important genes associated with cell proliferation and expansion with alleles unique to the maximal effects accession. In addition, the QTLs associated with life-history traits, such as days to bolting, stem length, and rosette leaf number, which were highly coordinated with climate change and local adaption, were QTL mapped and showed an overlap with leaf and petal allometry, which explained the genetic basis for their correlation. Conclusions: This study explored the genetic basis for leaf and petal allometry and their interaction, which may provide important information for investigating the correlated variation and evolution of organ shape and size in Arabidopsis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autophagy is an intracellular process that facilitates the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic materials by the vacuole or lysosome in eukaryotes. This conserved process is achieved through the coordination of different autophagy-related genes (ATGs). Autophagy is essential for recycling cytoplasmic material and eliminating damaged or dysfunctional cell constituents, such as proteins, aggregates or even entire organelles. Plant autophagy is necessary for maintaining cellular homeostasis under normal conditions and is upregulated during abiotic and biotic stress to prolong cell life. In this review, we present recent advances on our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of autophagy in plants and how autophagy contributes to plant development and plants' adaptation to the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction mechanism and evolved gases of larch bark were investigated using thermogravimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analysis at 10-50 K min−1. Larch bark pyrolysis starts at approximately 450 K. One peak and one shoulder at low heating rate were observed. This shoulder turns into another peak at higher heating rate. The average value of the final residue is approximately 24%. The average activation energy was estimated as 184.72 kJ mol−1 by the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method and 201.24 kJ mol−1 by the Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose method, and both have a discrepancy of 8.9%. The sixth or seventh reaction model is responsible for larch bark pyrolysis. The pyrolysis of larch bark produces H2O, CO2, CH4, CO, C=O and others, most of which are released in the temperature range of 500-800 K, except that CO2 has an additional peak value at around 1200 K. In addition, cellulose is the main component in larch bark, and its quantity is larger than that of hemicellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is generated in many metabolic processes. As a signaling molecule, H2O2 plays important roles in plant growth and development, as well as environmental stress response. In Arabidopsis, there are three catalase genes, CAT1, CAT2, and CAT3. The encoded catalases are predominately peroxisomal proteins and are critical for scavenging H2O2. Since CAT1 and CAT3 are linked on chromosome 1, it has been almost impossible to generate cat1/3 and cat1/2/3 mutants by traditional genetic tools. In this study, we constructed cat1/3 double mutants and cat1/2/3 triple mutants by CRISPR/Cas9 to investigate the role of catalases. The cat1/2/3 triple mutants displayed severe redox disturbance and growth defects under physiological conditions compared with wild‐type and the cat2/3 double mutants. Transcriptome analysis showed a more profound transcriptional response in the cat1/2/3 triple mutants compared to the cat2/3 mutants. These differentially expressed genes are involved in plant growth regulation as well as abiotic and biotic stress responses. In addition, expression of OXI1 (OXIDATIVE SIGNAL INDUCIBLE 1) and several MAPK cascade genes were changed dramatically in the catalase triple mutant, suggesting that H2O2 produced in peroxisomes could serve as a peroxisomal retrograde signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the influences of grinding particle size on the structure and electrical transport properties of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3−δcompound have been investigated. The compound was prepared by gel combustion process followed by grinding for different duration time. It was found that the lattice parameters, unit-cell volume, strain, oxygen deficiency, and temperature dependence of resistivityρ–Tincrease with decreasing particle size. Theρ–Tgrowth can be explained by the increasing contribution of the grain boundary effect, strain, and even oxygen deficiency. The electrical transport mechanism over the whole temperature range of 100–400 K was thoroughly described by applying the phase separation model around the phase transition temperatureTP. This model was subsequently employed to calculate theρ–Tat high temperature up to 1000 K. The result showed there was a second phase transition at a typical temperatureT*>TP, which could be attributed to the relaxation of small polarons to large ones. This relaxation occurred at lower temperatures when the particle size decreased. It might be due to the decrease in conduction bandwidth caused by the defects arisen during the grinding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Pseudohypericin (P-HY) and its congener hypericin are the major hydroxylated phenanthroperylenediones present in Hypericum species. Our previous study indicated that hypericin was able to function as a sonosensitizer. The potential use of P-HY as a sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy (SDT) requires further exploration. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of P-HY-SDT on THP-1 macrophages. Methods: THP-1 macrophages were incubated with P-HY, and cell viability was measured using a CCK-8 assay. Fluorescence microscopy assessed the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (∆Ψm) and mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening. Apoptotic and necrotic cell levels were measured by the flow cytometry analysis. Western blots were employed to assay BAX, Cytochrome C expression and apoptosis-related proteins. Results: P-HY-SDT induced THP-1 macrophage apoptosis. The levels of ROS were significantly increased in the SDT group, resulting in both mPTP opening and ∆Ψm loss, which led to apoptosis. In addition, the translocation of BAX, release of Cytochrome C and the upregulated expression of apoptosis-related proteins after P-HY-SDT were observed, all of which were reversed by N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). Conclusion: P-HY-SDT induced THP-1 macrophage apoptosis through the mitochondria-caspase pathway via ROS generation, the translocation of BAX and the release of Cytochrome C to regulate the mPTP opening. © 2016 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe-based alloy coatings containing TiB-TiN-(h-BN) were synthesized in situ on Q235 steel substrates by a plasma cladding process using the powders of Fe901 alloy, Ti, and h-BN as raw materials. The effects of Ti/h-BN mass ratio on interfacial bonds between the coating and substrate along with the microstructures and microhardnesses of the coatings were investigated. The results show that the Ti/h-BN mass ratio is a vital factor in the formation of the coatings. Free h-BN can be introduced into the coatings by adding an excess amount of h-BN into the precursor. Decreases in the Ti/h-BN mass ratio improve the microstructural uniformity and compactness and enhance the interfacial bonds of the coatings. At a Ti/h-BN mass ratio of 10/20, the coating is free of cracks and micropores, and mainly consists of Fe-Cr, FeB, TiB, TiN, TiN, TiB, FeN, FeB, FeB, and h-BN phases. Its average microhardness in the zone between 0.1-2.8 mm from the coating surface is about Hv 551.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of an alumina-metal composite coating onto a carbon steel substrate by using a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis technique was demonstrated. The effects of the type and thickness of the pre-coated layer on the binding structure and surface quality of the coating were systematically investigated. The macrostructure, phase composition, and bonding interface between the coating and the substrate were investigated by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS). The diffraction patterns indicated that the coating essentially consisted of α-AlO, Fe(Cr), and FeO·AlO. With an increase in the thickness of the pre-coated working layer, the coating became more smooth and compact. The transition layer played an important role in enhancing the binding between the coating and the substrate. When the pre-coated working layer was 10 mm and the pre-coated transition layer was 1 mm, a compact structure and metallurgical bonding with the substrate were obtained. Thermal shock test results indicated that the ceramic coating exhibited good thermal shock resistance when the sample was rapidly quenched from 800°C to room temperature by plunging into water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two graphs are presented, one showing the curve of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in liquid and another depicting the effects of potassium ion nutrition and salt treatment on potassium ion content in leaves of Suaeda salsa seedlings.

SsHKT1;1, a HKT1 homologue, was isolated from the C[sub 3] halophyte Suaeda salsa L. and its ion transport properties were investigated in heterologous systems. The expression of SsHKT1;1 suppressed a K[sup +] transport-defective phenotype of the yeast strain CY162 (Δtrk1Δtrk2), suggesting the enhancement of K[sup +] uptake with SsHKT1;1. However, it did not suppress the salt-sensitive phenotype of the yeast strain G19 (Δena1-4), which lacks a major component of Na[sup +] efflux. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. plants overexpressing SsHKT1; 1 showed enhanced salt tolerance and increased shoot K[sup +] concentration, whereas no significant changes in shoot Na[sup +] concentration were observed. S. salsa was also used to investigate K[sup +] uptake properties under salinity. The K[sup +] transporters in the roots selectively mediated K[sup +] uptake irrespective of external Na[sup +] and their inhibitor did not affect Na[sup +] uptake at low K[sup +]. Thus, both molecular and physiological studies provide strong in vivo evidence that SsHKT1;1 mainly acts as a potassium transporter in heterologous expression systems and S. salsa, and that it is involved in salt tolerance by taking part in the maintenance of cytosolic cation homeostasis, particularly, in the maintenance of K[sup +] nutrition under salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydration layer plays a key role in the controlled drug release of gel-forming matrix tablets. For poorly water-soluble drugs, matrix erosion is considered as the rate limiting step for drug release. However, few investigations have reported on the quantification of the relative importance of swelling and erosion in the release of poorly soluble drugs, and three-dimensional (3D) structures of the hydration layer are poorly understood. Here, we employed synchrotron radiation X-ray computed microtomography with 9-μm resolution to investigate the hydration dynamics and to quantify the relative importance of swelling and erosion on felodipine release by a statistical model. The 3D structures of the hydration layer were revealed by the reconstructed 3D rendering of tablets. Twenty-three structural parameters related to the volume, the surface area (SA), and the specific surface area (SSA) for the hydration layer and the tablet core were calculated. Three dominating parameters, including SA and SSA of the hydration layer ( SA and SSA) and SA of the glassy core ( SA), were identified to establish the statistical model. The significance order of independent variables was SA > SSA > SA, which quantitatively indicated that the release of felodipine was dominated by a combination of erosion and swelling. The 3D reconstruction and structural parameter calculation methods in our study, which are not available from conventional methods, are efficient tools to quantify the relative importance of swelling and erosion in the controlled release of poorly soluble drugs from a structural point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlO-metal composite coatings with different reactants and diluents were fabricated on mild steel plate with nonpressure combustion synthesis process. The coatings were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectrometry, respectively. Thermal shock tests were carried out to determine the bond strength of the coating with the steel substrate. The results indicate that the coating is composed of α-AlO, α-(Fe-Cr) and AlSiO as the main phases. It is found that the coating with the diluents of AlO-SiO and transition layer of AlO-Cr presents the highest hardness of 2270 HV0.2 and the lowest porosity of 3.93 %. Owing to a metallurgical bond of the coating-to-substrate, the coating exhibits a good thermal shock resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To calculate the fractal dimension values of felodipine osmotic pump tablets during drug dissolution and to characterize the mechanism of the controlled drug release kinetics through three-dimensional fractal data. Methods Three-dimensional fractal values of volume ( D f,volume) and surface ( D f,surface) of the tablet core were calculated based on the box counting method. Key findings During the process of release of felodipine, both D f,volume and D f,surface were within the range of 2-3 and then changed markedly after a period of 3.0 h release, corresponding to extensive changes in entire shape, interior porous channels and surface structure of the tablet core. The curve of D f,volume mirrored that for tablet volume, however the curve of D f,surface was quite different from that of the surface area. Results showed that values of D f,surface correlated well with the drug release rate. D f,surface was found to be an efficient fractal parameter that could be used to characterize the complex changes to the tablet core that take place during drug release. Conclusions The fractal dimension can be used as a quantitative indicator reflecting the drug release performance and be regarded as a key indicator for the quality control of oral controlled drug delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the rapid development of nanomaterials and nanotechnology, it is still desirable to develop novel nanoparticle-based techniques which are cost-effective, timesaving, and environment-friendly, and with ease of operation and procedural simplicity, for assay of target analytes. In the work discussed in this paper, the dye fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was conjugated to 1,6-hexanediamine (HDA)-capped iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (FITC-HDA FeO MNPs), and the product was characterized. HDA ligands on the surface of FeO MNPs can bind 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) to form TNT anions by acid-base pairing interaction. Formation of TNT anions, and captured TNT substantially affect the emission of FITC on the surface of the FeO MNPs, resulting in quenching of the fluorescence at 519 nm. A novel FITC-HDA FeO MNPs-based probe featuring chemosensing and magnetic separation has therefore been constructed. i.e. FITC-HDA FeO MNPs had a highly selective fluorescence response and enabled magnetic separation of TNT from other nitroaromatic compounds by quenching of the emission of FITC and capture of TNT in aqueous solution. Very good linearity was observed for TNT concentrations in the range 0.05-1.5 μmol L, with a detection limit of 37.2 nmol L and RSD of 4.7 % ( n = 7). Approximately 12 % of the total amount of TNT was captured. The proposed methods are well-suited to trace detection and capture of TNT in aqueous solution. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cDNA ( SsCAX1) encoding a tonoplast-localised Ca/H exchanger was isolated from a C halophyte Suaeda salsa (L.). To clarify the role of SsCAX1 in plant salt tolerance, Arabidopsis plants expressing SsCAX1 were treated with NaCl. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants displayed decreased salt tolerance. Although Na content was close to wild-type plants, transgenic plants accumulated more Ca and retained less K in leaves than the wild-type plants in salinity. Furthermore, transgenic lines held higher leaf membrane leakage than wild-type lines under NaCl treatment. In addition, transgenic plants showed a 23% increase in vacuolar H-ATPase activity compared with wild-type plants in normal condition. But the leaf V-H-ATPase activity had subtle changes in transgenic plants, while significantly increased in wild-type plants under saline condition. These results suggested that regulated expression of Ca/H antiport was critical for maintenance of cation homeostasis and activity of V-H-ATPase under saline condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have isolated the cDNA of Ca/H antiporter which was designated as Suaeda salsa cation exchanger 1 (SsCAX1) from the C halophyte S. salsa L. To ascertain the location of SsCAX1 in the cell, a peptide-specific antibody to SsCAX1 was prepared, and Western blotting analysis showed that it reacted only with a 48.8-kDa protein from S. salsa vacuolar membrane. Furthermore, SsCAX1 could resume yeast vacuolar Ca transport mutants growth in high Ca concentration (200 mM) culture medium. Northern blotting analysis showed that SsCAX1 expression was mainly found in the leaves and stems and slightly in the roots of S. salsa seedlings. Moreover, SsCAX1 expression levels and the protein amounts were significantly upregulated by CaCl and NaCl treatment, respectively. In addition, the upregulation of the expression levels of V-H-ATPase subunit c coordinated with the expression levels of the Ca/H antiporter under salinity. These results suggested that SsCAX1 from halophyte S. salsa might be a Ca transporter at tonoplast and plays a key role in maintaining cytosolic Ca homeostasis under saline condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the effects of propofol treatments at different time points on acute lung injury and on the expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and the downstream target of TGF-β1, Smad 2, in the lung tissues in the endotoxic rats. Seventy-six Wistar rats were randomly assigned to five groups: control group (saline only), endotoxemic group [lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 8 mg kg−1, i.v.], and three propofol-treated groups. For the propofol-treated groups, propofol (5 mg kg−1, i.v. bolus) was administered either 1 h before LPS, simultaneously with LPS, and 1 h after LPS, and all were followed by infusion of 10 mg kg−1 h−1 of propofol for 5 h after LPS. Lung tissues were sampled to measure myeloperoxidase activity and expression of TGF-β1 and Smad2 and to assess pulmonary microvascular permeability and histopathological changes. The hemodynamics, arterial blood gases, 5 h survival rate, pulmonary microvascular permeability, and acute lung injury scores were significantly better, and expression of TGF-β1 and Smad2 and myeloperoxidase activity in lung tissues was significantly lower in the pretreatment and simultaneous treatment groups compared to the endotoxemic group. However, there were no significant differences in all observed variables between the endotoxemic and postreatment groups. Except for TGF-β1 expression in lung tissues, the other observed variables were also not significantly different between the pretreatment and simultaneous treatment groups. In the endotoxic rat model, pretreatment and simultaneous treatment with propofol provided protection against acute lung injury by inhibiting the TGF-β1-Smad2 dependent pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PNAS-4, a novel pro-apoptotic gene activated during the early response to DNA damage, can inhibit proliferation via apoptosis when overexpressed in some tumor cells. The objectives of this study were to determine whether PNAS-4 could enhance apoptosis induced by cisplatin besides its induction of apoptosis, and to evaluate the usefulness of combined treatment with mouse PNAS-4 ( mPNAS-4) gene therapy and low-dose cisplatin chemotherapy in the inhibition of tumor growth in colon carcinoma (CT26) and Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) murine models. In this study, the in vitro growth-inhibitory and pro-apoptotic effects of PNAS-4 and/or cisplatin on CT26, LL/2, and SKOV3 cancer cells were assessed by MTT assay, flow cytometric analysis, DNA fragmentation, and morphological analysis, respectively. The in vivo antitumor activity of combined treatment with mPNAS-4 gene therapy and low-dose cisplatin were evaluated in the inhibition of tumor growth in colon carcinoma (CT26) and Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) murine models. Tumor volume and survival time were observed. Induction of apoptosis was also assessed in tumor tissues. In vitro, PNAS-4 inhibited proliferation of colon carcinoma (CT26), Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) and human ovarian cancer (SKOV3) cell lines via apoptosis, and significantly enhanced the apoptosis of CT26, LL/2, and SKOV3 cells induced by cisplatin. In vivo systemic administration of expression plasmid encoding mPNAS-4 (pcDNA3.1-mPS) and cisplatin, significantly decreased tumor growth through increased tumor cell apoptosis compared to treatment with mPNAS-4 or cisplatin alone. Our data suggests that the combined treatment with mPNAS-4 plus cisplatin may augment the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, and that the augmented antitumor activity in vivo may result from the increased induction of apoptosis. The present study may provide a novel way to augment the antitumor efficacy of cytotoxic chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the time series of GPS station coordinate in the intemational Earth reference frame (ITRF), we evaluate annual micro-behavior of strain field in Chinese mainland with the triangle method. The results show that the annual micro-behavior of strain field is divided into two parts by the north-south earthquake belt in the research region. The prevailing direction of compressive principal strain field is nearly consistent in the western region. From west to east, the direction varies from NS to NE. It is in accordance with the direction of the modern compressive principal strain field. This suggests that geologic deformation in western region was mainly caused by that India tectonic plate pushes the research region northward and the Siberia plate pushes it southward relatively. It is an inheritance of new tectonic motion. The prevailing direction of the compressive principal strain field does not exist in the eastern region. The annual biggest shear strain is different greatly in every grid-cell. The values varies from 4.13×10−8 to 7.0×10−10. By and large the annual biggest shear strain in the western region is bigger than that in the eastern region. And so is the variation between any two consecutive biggest annual shear strains in the same grid-cell. The annual surface dilatation show that in most grid-cells of the research region the surface dilatation is in compressibility, and the variation between any two consecutive annual surface dilatation in the same grid-cell is small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, observation data in 25 GPS reference stations of China have been analyzed by calculating GPS position coordinate time-series with GIPSY. Result shows there is an obvious trend variation in such time-series. The trend variations of time series along the longitude and latitude coordinate reflect the motion of each position in the global-plate, in which the trend variation in the vertical direction reveals some large-scale construction information or reflects the local movement around the positions. The analysis also shows that such time-series have a variation cycle of nearly 1.02 a, but the reason still remains to be further studied. At the end of this paper, response of the time-series of M S=8.1 Kunlunshan earthquake was analyzed, and the seismogenic process of M S=8.1 Kunlunshan earthquake, according to the time proceeding and the feature of anomaly, was divided into 3 phases—changes in blocks with forces, strain accumulation, quick accumulation and slow release of energy. At the initial stage of seismogenic process of M S=8.1 earthquake and at the imminent earthquake, coseismic process as well as during the post earthquake recovery, anomaly in vertical direction is always in a majority. The anomalous movement in vertical direction at the initial stage resulted in a blocking between faults, while at the middle stage of seismogenic process, the differential movement between blocks are in a majority, which is the major reason causing energy accumulating at the blocking stage of faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microalgae produce a variety of high-value products. Enhancing product contents in microalgal cells is one of the efficient ways to decrease production costs. Improved germplasm and heterotrophic cultivation may enhance microalgae biomass and lipid content. In this study, we investigated the effect of three types of laser irradiation and heterotrophic cultivation on lipid productivity, lipid content, and biomass of two Chlorella strains (i.e., FACHB 9 and FACHB 31). Results showed that the highest biomasses of 4.81 g/L (15.03-fold) and 4.66 g/L (7.32-fold) were obtained in the third generation of FACHB 9 and FACHB 31 induced by a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser for 8 min and 12 min, respectively. The highest lipid contents were 525.6 mg/g (1.67-fold) dry weight (DW) and 780.0 mg/g DW (2.20-fold) in the third and the first generations of FACHB 9 and FACHB 31 induced by Nd:YAG for 8 min and by a helium–neon (He–Ne) laser for 4 min, respectively. The highest lipid productivities of 69.82 ± 3.29 mg/L/d (19.7-fold) and 30.71 ± 3.77 mg/L/d (3.1-fold) were obtained in FACHB 9 and FACHB 31 treated by a semiconductor (SC) laser for 4 min and by a He–Ne laser for 12 min, respectively. Our study suggested that laser mutagenesis is a potential method for screening economically important oleaginous microalgae strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The parabolic equation is an efficient numerical solution for electromagnetic wave propagation. In order to address the difficulties in predicting electromagnetic wave propagation in the maritime environment caused by atmospheric dust and rough sea surfaces, and the shortcomings of the existing research that cannot fully reflect the rough characteristics of sea surfaces, the authors have modelled electromagnetic wave propagation in the maritime environment, including in the presence of atmospheric dust. In this study the authors present a parabolic equation modeling method for calculating the electromagnetic wave propagation over rough sea surfaces. Firstly, the rough sea surface is generated by building a double summation model of three-dimensional random sea surface. Then, combined with the piecewise linear shift transformation method of the parabolic equation model, the parabolic equation random sea surface model is constructed, and the electromagnetic wave propagation characteristics in a rough sea environment are analyzed. Finally, a large number of results are compared with the Miler-Brown model and shadow effect model in rough sea environments, which verifies that the random sea surface model can better characterize the influence of rough sea surfaces on electromagnetic wave propagation. The model can be used to improve the reliability of marine microwave communication links and the detection performance of ship-borne radar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]