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Flavonoids possess diverse bioactivity and potential medicinal values. Glycosylation of flavonoids, coupling flavonoid aglycones and glycosyl groups in conjugated form, can change the biological activity of flavonoids, increase water solubility, reduce toxic and side effects, and improve specific targeting. Therefore, it is desirable to synthesize various flavonoid glycosides for further investigation on their medicinal values. Compared with chemical glycosylations, biotransformations catalyzed by uridine diphospho-glycosyltransferases provide an environmentally friendly way to construct glycosidic bonds without repetitive chemical synthetic steps of protection, activation, coupling, and deprotection. In this review, we will summarize the existing knowledge on the biotechnological glycosylation reactions either in vitro or in vivo for the synthesis of flavonoid O- and C-glycosides and other rare analogs.Key points• Flavonoid glycosides usually show improved properties compared with their flavonoid aglycones.• Chemical glycosylation requires repetitive synthetic steps and purifications.• Biotechnological glycosylation reactions either in vitro or in vivo were discussed.• Provides representative synthetic examples in detail.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a major glycosaminoglycan, a family of structurally complex, linear, anionic hetero-co-polysaccharides. HA is important in various anatomical structures including the eyes, joints, heart and myriad intricate tissues, and is currently widely used in the therapeutics and cosmetics areas. The synthesis of HA of well-defined and uniform chain lengths is of major interest for the development of safer and more reliable drugs and to gain a better understanding of its structure-activity relationships. However, HA has received less attention from the synthetic carbohydrate community compared with other members of the glycosaminoglycan family. In this review, we examine the remarkable progress that has been made in the chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of HA, providing a broad spectrum of options to access HA of well controlled chain lengths.

In recent years, molecular biology has proven to be a great asset in our understanding of mechanisms in genodermatoses. However, bench to bedside translation research lags far behind. Advances in lab-on-a-chip technologies enabled programmable, reconfigurable, and scalable manipulation of a variety of laboratory procedures. Sample preparation, microfluidic reactions, and continuous monitoring systems can be integrated on a small chip. These advantages have attracted attention in various fields of clinical application including diagnosis of inherited skin diseases. This review lists an overview of the underlying genes and mutations and describes prospective application of lab-on-a-chip technologies as solutions to challenges for point-of-care genodematoses diagnosis.

The need for manufacturing enterprises to explore the shortcomings of their workshop production performance has become aggrandized as the fierce competition in manufacturing industry. The traditional evaluation of the production performance focused on the contrast of different enterprises. However, the problems of the worse workshops or enterprises are still unknown. Many manufacturing enterprises not only want to find out the competitive position of their workshop, but also want to find out the problems in their workshop and then improve them to enhance the production performance. This study built a Fuzzy-Gray Correlation Degree (FGCD) evaluation model based on rough set to aid enterprise to detect the problems in workshops. The FGCD model provided a comprehensive evaluation indicators system to present the competitiveness of the workshop from different views. In order to present an objective and accurate model for manufacturing enterprises, a combined empowerment method based on rough set theory for indicators has been applied. Finally, the case was used to support the available of production performance diagnosis of workshop. The model can determine the condition of production performance from different indicators and diagnose the corresponding workshop problems in manufacturing process.

Quality insurance capability refers to the most important factor for quality evaluation of the production system of a certain product. Process capability index of product’s quality characteristics is the most common and effective index used to describe the product’s quality insurance capability. Mature systems have been established on and abroad on researches concerning single quality characteristics process evaluation. However, no unified authoritative theory has been confirmed today with regard to multi-quality characteristic process capability index. Under such circumstance, the paper proposed an improved process capability evaluation model based on multi-volatility multi-quality characteristics. The model adopted check computation based on cost, volatility and other characteristics. In the end, the paper made an example on the comprehensive process capability algorithm and operation with the process with which some diesel oil motor producer produces the connecting rod.

Variations in oxygen isotope ratios (δ18O) measured from modern precipitation and geologic archives provide a promising tool for understanding modern and past climate dynamics and tracking elevation changes over geologic time. In areas of extreme topography, such as the Tibetan Plateau, the interpretation of δ18O has proven challenging. This study investigates the climate controls on temporal (daily and 6 h intervals) and spatial variations in present-day precipitation δ18O (δ18Op) across the Tibetan Plateau using a 30 year record produced from the European Centre/Hamburg ECHAM5-wiso global atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). Results indicate spatial and temporal agreement between model-predicted δ18Op and observations. Large daily δ18Op variations of 25 to +5‰ occur over the Tibetan Plateau throughout the 30 simulation years, along with interannual δ18Op variations of ~2‰. Analysis of extreme daily δ18Op indicates that extreme low values coincide with extreme highs in precipitation amount. During the summer, monsoon vapor transport from the north and southwest of the plateau generally corresponds with high δ18Op, whereas vapor transport from the Indian Ocean corresponds with average to low δ18Op. Thus, vapor source variations are one important cause of the spatial-temporal differences in δ18Op. Comparison of GCM and Rayleigh Distillation Model (RDM)-predicted δ18Op indicates a modest agreement for the Himalaya region (averaged over 86°–94°E), confirming application of the simpler RDM approach for estimating δ18Op lapse rates across Himalaya.

Variations in oxygen isotope compositions (δ18O) provide insight into modern climate and past changes in climate and topography. In addition, in regions such as Tibet, geologic archives of isotope ratios record climate change driven by plateau uplift and therefore also provide information about the surface uplift history. A good understanding of modern-day controls on δ18O is crucial for interpreting geologic δ18O in this context. We use the ECHAM5-wiso global atmospheric general circulation model to calculate δ18O in precipitation (δ18Op) for the present-day climate. In the region of the Tibetan Plateau, spatial variations of monthly means of δ18Op are statistically related to spatial variations of 2 m air temperature and precipitation rate, as well as to topography. The size and location of investigated regions are varied in our study to capture regional differences in these relationships and the processes governing the modern δ18Op. In addition to correlation analyses, a cross-validated stepwise multiple regression is carried out using δ18Op as the predictand, and topography and atmospheric variables (temperature and precipitation amount) as predictors. The 2 m air temperature and topography yield the highest spatial correlation coefficients of >0.9 and < 0.9, respectively, throughout most of the year. Particularly high correlation coefficients are calculated for the region along the Himalayan orogeny and parts of western China. The predictors explain >90% of the δ18Op spatial variance in the same regions. The 2 m air temperature is the dominant predictor and contributes 93.6% to the total explained spatial variance on average. The results demonstrate that most of the δ18Op pattern on and around the Tibetan Plateau can be explained by variation in 2 m air temperature and altitude. Correlation of the dependent predictors indicate that in low-altitude regions where topography does not determine temperature variability, the high correlation of temperature and δ18Op may partially be explained by variations in precipitation rates.

Friction energy consumption support is an effective passive control technique with excellent promotion & application value for friction energy consumption reinforced concrete support system with low cost. Affiliate building of Service Commanding Center of Armed Police Frontier Corps is applied for friction energy consumption support in the project. There are 68 energy dissipaters for the project. In this paper, Installation techniques of energy dissipater and layout of energy consumption support have been introduced by aiming to energy consumption support characteristics. Structures of frame shear wall and energy consumption support frame have been also contrasted and analyzed to provide useful experience for other similar projects.

The traversal rate for the liquid medium near a point-of-care testing (POCT) device microfluidic channel edge is faster than that through the body of the channel, which makes the fluid front meniscus becomes concave rather than convex or flat. The concave front is unwished due to its influences on quantitative analysis accuracy and the possibility to generate air bubbles. Here, a unique method, named hydrophobic marking line, is demonstrated. This method used a soft pen with hydrophobic ink to draw two lines along the edges of the channel of a POCT device. Results have shown that the marking lines will eliminate the edge effects and generate convex liquid front. The curvature of the liquid front can be changed by adjusting the marking line width or ink solutions.

In this study an in vitro model of simulated blood vessel injury was used to study the effects of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) morphology and to detect vascular smooth muscle actin (SM α-actin) expression in the presence of adventitial fibroblasts. BMSCs from rats with DAPI-labeled nuclei were co-cultured with adventitial fibroblasts for 7 days, while BMSCs cultured alone served as controls. Cell morphology of BMSCs was assessed by laser confocal microscopy and SM α-actin or calponin expression in BMSCs was detected by immunofluorescence staining. The expression of SM α-actin mRNA was identified using RT-PCR. Cell ultrastructure was assessed by electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that BMSCs with DAPI-labeled nuclei were smaller compared with fibroblasts, and their nuclei emitted a blue fluorescence. Most BMSCs displayed a polygonal shape changing from their original long fusiform shape. BMSCs with blue nuclei and red cytoplasm (SM α-actin positive or calponin positive) were observed, and a substantial number of filaments were present in the cytoplasm as observed under electron microscopy. The number of these cells increased as a function of culture duration. However, SM α-actin expression was weak and calponin expression was not detected in the control group. This study provides important new information on the characterization of artherosclerosis pathogenesis and vascular restenosis after blood vessel injury. Our findings demonstrate that direct interactions with adventitial fibroblasts can induce vascular smooth muscle-like cell differentiation in BMSCs.

Enhanced ultraviolet-B (UV-B) is one of the most important abiotic stress factors that can influence almost every aspect of plant. Selenium (Se) can increase the tolerance of plants to stressful environment. The paper mainly reported the effects of enhanced UV-B, Se supply and their combination on agronomical characters of winter wheat under field conditions. Enhanced UV-B caused a marked decrease in chlorophyll content, plant height, spike length, weight per spike, grain yield and protein content, grain nitrogen (N) and iron (Fe) concentration, and increased hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline content, and grain zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) concentration under without supplemental Se supply. However, it also decreased plant height, spike length, weight per spike, grain yield and Fe concentration, and increased H2O2 content, grain potassium (K), Zn and Mn concentration under supplemental Se supply. On the other hand, Se supply induced an evident increase in chlorophyll content, spike length, weight per spike, grain yield, grain protein content, grain N, Fe, copper (Cu), and Se concentration under both UV-B levels. Moreover, significant UV-B×Se interaction was found on plant height, chlorophyll, MDA, H2O2 and proline content, and grain protein, N, K, Cu and Mn concentrations in wheat. The obtained results supported the hypothesis that Se supply increased the yield and improved the quality of winter wheat exposed to enhanced UV-B to some extent.

In plants, transpiration draws the water upward from the roots to the leaves. However, this flow can be blocked by air bubbles in the xylem conduits, which is called xylem embolism. In this research, we present the design of a biomimetic microfluidic pump/valve based on water transpiration and xylem embolism. This micropump/valve is mainly composed of three parts: the first is a silicon sheet with an array of slit-like micropores to mimic the stomata in a plant leaf; the second is a piece of agarose gel to mimic the mesophyll cells in the sub-cavities of a stoma; the third is a micro-heater which is used to mimic the xylem embolism and its self-repairing. The solution in the microchannels of a microfluidic chip can be driven by the biomimetic "leaf" composed of the silicon sheet and the agarose gel. The halting and flowing of the solution is controlled by the micro-heater. Results have shown that a steady flow rate of 1.12 µl/min can be obtained by using this micropump/valve. The time interval between the turning on/off of the micro-heater and the halt (or flow) of the fluid is only 2∼3 s. This micropump/valve can be used as a "plug and play" fluid-driven unit. It has the potential to be used in many application fields.