Search

The acoustic velocities of three series of alkali-rich hydrous silicate glasses were determined at ambient conditions using ultrasonic interferometry. The sound velocities and calculated elastic properties are nearly linear functions of dissolved water content. The water content derivatives of both compressional [d(VP)/d(XH2O)] and shear wave velocity [d(VS)/d(XH2O)] decrease with increasing Na2O content, which suggests that increasing sodium content might weaken the effect of water on acoustic velocities. For each glass series, the shear modulus decreases with increasing water content, whereas the adiabatic bulk modulus (KS) varies little with water content. By comparing our results of KS to previously published data on hydrous alkalic (rhyolite, phonolite, and trachyte) glasses, we speculate that H2O may have a negligible effect on the compressibility of alkalic glasses/melts. The measured densities of each series of glasses were converted to molar volumes and extrapolated to the hypothetical pure water component to derive the partial molar volume of water (VH2O). The resulting VH2O at room pressure and temperature was found to be independent of composition for the three series of glasses, with a value of 10.4 ± 0.5 cm3/mol, whereas the partial molar bulk modulus (KS) of water is composition-dependent, suggesting that VH2O may depend on composition at elevated pressures. Furthermore, the Poisson’s ratio (ν) increases linearly with increasing water content for all three composition series. Therefore, the similar behavior of Al-free and Al-bearing glasses implies that water depolymerizes melts in both systems. The decrease of water content derivative of the Poisson’s ratio [d(ν)/d(XH2O)] with increasing Al/(Al+Si) indicates that water interaction with Al-O bonds to produce Al-OH depolymerizes peralkaline silicate melts less effectively than with Si-O bonds to form Si-OH. Hence, we speculate that water prefers to interact with Si-O bonds rather than Al-O bonds in peralkaline silicate systems. The dissolution mechanisms of water between peraluminous and peralkaline melts might be different, which merits further research.

Background: Cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) is the most common type of cervical spondylosis, which mainly presents as radioactive neuralgia. Neuralgia is closely related to gliocyte in the central nervous system. Therefore, to investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of LAA (astrocyte inhibitor) electro-acupuncture on neuralgia in rats with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy based on the neuron-gliocyte-chemokine signaling pathway. Material & Methods: The models of rats with neuralgia in cervical spondylotic radiculopathy were established and the intervention of electro-acupuncture and LAA were carried out. All rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (12 rats in each group). Control group, Model group, Sham operation group and Electro-acupuncture group. Results: The rats were bound to the plate in a prone position and treated with electro-acupuncture at Jiaji point, with dense wave frequency of 50 Hz and wave repacking frequency of 10 Hz, once a day, 20 min each time, for 14 consecutive days. The results found that the content of calcitonin gene-related peptides (CGRP), adenylate cyclase (AC), substances P in C6–C7 primary sensory neuron terminal of the spinal cord segment were significantly decreased in electro-acupuncture group compared with model group. Relative expression of RNA levels of protein kinase (PKC), Ca2+ channel protein (VGCC, CCL2 and CXC3L1) in electro-acupuncture group were significantly decreased compared with model group. Westernblot detected that the expression of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, TNF-α, NMDA and AMPA proteins in LAA+electro+acupuncture group were obvioulsy decreased. It indicates that neuralgia is closely related to gliocyte in the central nervous system, and also proves that LAA+electro acupuncture can effectively relieve neuralgia caused by cervical spondylosis.

Construction of ternary RuP2/Ti4P6O23@TiO2 photocatalysts for efficient photocatalytic biomass selective oxidation and water splitting.

Unlike conventional methods of pests control, introducing in an appropriate mathematical model can contribute a batter performance on pests control with higher efficiency while lest damage to ecosystem. To fill the research gap on plant root pest control, we propose a plant root pest management model with state pulse feedback control. Firstly, the stability of the equilibrium point of the model (1.3) is analyzed by using the linear approximate equation, given that the only positive equilibrium point of model (1.3) is globally asymptotically stable. Moreover, the existence and uniqueness of order 1 periodic solutions of model (1.3) are discussed in detail according to the geometric theory of semi-continuous dynamical systems, successor functions method and the qualitative theory of differential equations. Finally, with further analysis in different methods, the asymptotic stability of the order 1 periodic solution of model (1.3) is obtained by using Similar Poincare Criterion or interval set theorem. The results show that this model can effectively control the number of pests below the economic level of damage.

The present work reports a Hybrid Modular Floating Structure (HMFS) system with typical malfunction conditions. The effects of both fractured mooring lines and failed connectors on main hydrodynamic responses (mooring line tensions, module motions, connector loads and wave power production) of the HMFS system under typical sea conditions are comparatively investigated. The results indicate that the mooring tension distribution, certain module motions (surge, sway and yaw) and connector loads (Mz) are significantly influenced by mooring line fractures. The adjacent mooring line of the fractured line on the upstream side suffers the largest tension among the remaining mooring lines, and the case with two fractured mooring lines in the same group on the upstream side is the most dangerous among all cases of two-line failures in view of mooring line tensions, module motions and connector loads. Therefore, one emergency strategy with appropriate relaxation of a proper mooring line has been proposed and proved effective to reduce the risk of more progressive mooring line fractures. In addition, connector failures substantially affect certain module motions (heave and pitch), certain connector loads (Fz and My) and wave power production. The present work can be helpful and instructive for studies on malfunction conditions of modular floating structure (MFS) systems.

Qinming Cai,1,2,* Yongcheng Huang,1,* Li Zhou,1 Niya Hu,1 Yanling Liu,1 Fujia Guo,1 Qiong Liu,3 Xiaotian Huang,1,3 Yunyi Zhang,4 Lingbing Zeng1 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, School of Public Health, Nanchang University, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China; 2The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medicine, Nanchang University, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Microbiology, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou, 310051, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yunyi Zhang; Lingbing Zeng, Email yyzhang@cdc.zj.cn; lingbing_zeng@163.comObjective: We aimed to identify the possible virulence genes associated with Nocardia NC_YFY_NT001 isolated by ourselves and other Nocardia spp.Methods: The genome of Nocardia terpenica NC_YFY_NT001 was completed by using PacBio and Illumina platforms. A pan-genomic analysis was applied to selected complete Nocardia genomes.Results: Nocardia terpenica NC_YFY_NT001 can cause healthy mice death by tail intravenous injection. The genome of NT001 has one circular chromosome 8,850,000 bp and one circular plasmid 70,000 bp with ~68% GC content. The chromosome and plasmid encode 7914 and 80 proteins, respectively. Furthermore, a pan-genomic analysis showed a total of 45,825 gene clusters, then 304 core, 21,045 shell and 24,476 cloud gene clusters were classified using specific parameters. In addition, we found that catalases were more abundant in human isolates. Furthermore, we also found no significant differences in the MCE proteins between different strains from different sources. The pan-genomic analysis also showed that 67 genes could only be found in humoral isolates. ReX3 and DUF853 domain protein were found in all eight human isolates. The composition of unique genes in humoral isolate genomes indicated that the transcriptional regulators may be important when Nocardia invades the host, which allows them to survive in the new ecological system.Conclusion: In this study, we confirmed that NT001 could cause infected animal death, and identified many possible virulence factors for our future studies. This study also provides new insight for our further study on Nocardia virulence mechanisms.Keywords: Nocardia, virulence, pan-genome, infection

Given the extremely preeminent role of students’ learning engagement (LE) in their academic success, investigating the predictors of LE for EFL learners seems critical. Prior research has demonstrated that the external environmental factors (e.g., teacher support) and the internal motivational factors (e.g., self-efficacy, achievement goal orientation) were related to LE, yet the internal mechanism is still under-explored. Therefore, this study attempted to explore the associations between teacher support and LE and the possible underlying mechanism through which teacher support influences LE with individual motivational variables of self-efficacy and achievement goal orientation the mediators for EFL learners in China. A sample of 466 Chinese college EFL learners participated in the study. Results indicated that (1) both academic support and emotional support significantly predicted LE; (2) academic support predicted LE through the separate mediation of self-efficacy, mastery goals and performance-approach goals; whereas emotional support only predicted LE through mastery goals; (3) academic support, but not emotional support, predicted LE through the chain mediation of self-efficacy and mastery goals, self-efficacy and performance-approach goals. These results elucidated the mechanism of different teacher support on LE and provided some implications for promoting EFL learners’ engagement.

Background. Severe asthma (SA), a heterogeneous inflammatory disease characterized by immune cell infiltration, is particularly difficult to treat and manage. The airway epithelium is an important tissue in regulating innate and adaptive immunity, and targeting airway epithelial cell may contribute to improving the efficacy of asthma therapy. Methods. Bioinformatics methods were utilized to identify the hub genes and signaling pathways involved in SA. Experiments were performed to determine whether these hub genes and signaling pathways were affected by the differences in immune cell infiltration. Results. The weighted gene coexpression network analysis identified 14 coexpression modules, among which the blue and salmon modules exhibited the strongest associations with SA. The blue module was mainly enriched in actomyosin structure organization and was associated with regulating stem cell pluripotency signaling pathways. The salmon module was mainly involved in cornification, skin development, and glycosphingolipid biosynthesis-lacto and neolacto series. The protein-protein interaction network and module analysis identified 11 hub genes in the key modules. The CIBERSORTx algorithm revealed statistically significant differences in CD8+ T cells ( P = 0.013 ), T follicular helper cells ( P = 0.002 ), resting mast cells ( P = 0.004 ), and neutrophils ( P = 0.002 ) between patients with SA and mild-moderate asthma patients. Pearson’s correlation analysis identified 11 genes that were significantly associated with a variety of immune cells. We further predicted the utility of some potential drugs and validated our results in external datasets. Conclusion. Our results may help provide a better understanding of the relationship between the airway epithelial transcriptome and clinical data of SA. And this study will help to guide the development of SA-targeted molecular therapy.

The trade-off between the benefits of regular physical activity (PA) and the potentially detrimental effects of augmented exposure to air pollution in highly polluted regions remains unclear. This study aimed to examine whether ambient fine particulate matter (PMWe included 54,797 participants without hypertension at baseline in a nationwide cohort of the Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China (China-PAR) project. PA volume and intensity were assessed by questionnaire, and high-resolution (1 km ×1 km) PMDuring 413,516 person-years of follow-up, 12,100 incident hypertension cases were identified. PMPA was associated with a reduced risk of hypertension only among participants with low PM

The interaction between copper ions and amyloid peptide Aβ has been reported to be involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. Based on copper coordination biochemistry, we designed specific copper chelators [tetradentate monoquinolines (TDMQs)] in order to regulate copper homeostasis in the AD brain and inhibit the deleterious oxidative stress catalyzed by copper-Aβ complexes. We previously reported that TDMQ20, a highly selective copper chelator selected as a drug candidate, was able to extract copper from the Cu-Aβ

Ferroptosis is a recently discovered modulated cell death mechanism caused by the accumulation of iron-dependent lipid peroxides to toxic levels and plays an important role in tumor immunology and neurology. Recent studies have shown that ferroptosis may play a crucial role in bacterial infection pathogenesis, which may be useful in anti-infection therapies. However, how bacteria enter cells to induce ferroptosis after invading the host immune system remains largely unknown. In addition, the current studies only focus on the relationship between a single bacterial species or genus and host cell ferroptosis, and there is no systematic summary of its regulatory mechanism. Therefore, our review firstly sums up the role of ferroptosis in bacterial infection and its regulatory mechanism, and innovatively speculates on the function and potential mechanism of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in bacterial-induced ferroptosis, in order to provide possible novel directions and ideas for future anti-infection research. KEY POINTS: • Ferroptosis presents a novel mechanism for bacterial host interaction • EVs provide the potential mechanism for bacterial-induced ferroptosis • The relationship of EVs with ferroptosis provides possible directions for future treatment of bacterial infection.

How can talent training be implemented and enforced in course teaching, the smallest and most pervasive unit of human education, within the context of the construction of the New Liberal Arts? This paper describes and evaluates a curriculum development program that emphasizes the development of adaptability. In the curriculum creation link, this program seeks to make clear the major nodes of reform backdrop, value orientation, cultivation goals, and teaching design. It is stated that a blended teaching model will be a key tool for facilitating a future-focused, realizable, and effective curriculum development reform that is centered on the development of adaptive competences. The direction of effort for the course teaching for particular courses is toward further enhancing and operationalizing the curriculum construction in conjunction with the nature and characteristics of the course and the implementation focus and implementation strategy of the CoI theoretical framework.

While most studies of mechanical stimulation of cells are focused on two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) systems, it is rare to study the effects of cyclic stretching on cells under a quasi-3D microenvironment as a linkage between 2D and 3D. Herein, we report a new method to prepare an elastic membrane with topographic microstructures and integrate the membrane into a microfluidic chip. The fabrication difficulty lay not only in the preparation of microstructures but also in the alignment and bonding of the patterned membrane to other layers. To resolve the problem, we designed and assembled a fast aligner that is cost-effective and convenient to operate. To enable quasi-3D microenvironment of cells, we fabricated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microwell arrays (formed by micropillars of a few microns in diameter) with the microwell diameters close to the cell sizes. An appropriate plasma treatment was found to afford a coating-free approach to enable cell adhesion on PDMS. We examined three types of cells in 2D, quasi-3D, and 3D microenvironments; the cell adhesion results showed that quasi-3D cells behaved between 2D and 3D cells. We also constructed transgenic human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs); under cyclic stretching, the visualizable live hMSCs in microwells were found to orientate differently from in a 3D Matrigel matrix and migrate differently from on a 2D flat plate. This study not only provides valuable tools for microfabrication of a microfluidic device for cell studies, but also inspires further studies of the topological effects of biomaterials on cells.

Directed migration of cells through cell-surface interactions is a paramount prerequisite in biomaterial-induced tissue regeneration. However, whether and how the nanoscale spatial gradient of adhesion molecules on a material surface can induce directed migration of cells is not sufficiently known. Herein, we employed block copolymer micelle nanolithography to prepare gold nanoarrays with a nanospacing gradient, which were prepared by continuously changing the dipping velocity. Then, a self-assembly monolayer technique was applied to graft arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) peptides on the nanodots and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) on the glass background. Since RGD can trigger specific cell adhesion via conjugating with integrin (its receptor in the cell membrane) and PEG can resist protein adsorption and nonspecific cell adhesion, a nanopattern with cell-adhesion contrast and a gradient of RGD nanospacing was eventually prepared. In vitro cell behaviors were examined using endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) as a demonstration. We found that SMCs exhibited significant orientation and directed migration along the nanospacing gradient, while ECs exhibited only a weak spontaneously anisotropic migration. The gradient response was also dependent upon the RGD nanospacing ranges, namely, the start and end nanospacings under a given distance and gradient. The different responses of these two cell types to the RGD nanospacing gradient provide new insights for designing cell-selective nanomaterials potentially used in cell screening, wound healing, etc.

This in situ study aimed to evaluate the effects of the inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and cysteine cathepsins on dentin erosion.Ten volunteers participated in this study. Each volunteer wore an intraoral appliance containing 4 dentin specimens subjected to different treatments: deionized water as a control, 1 mM 1,10-phenanthroline (an MMP inhibitor), 50 µM E-64 (a cysteine cathepsin inhibitor), and 1 mM 1,10-phenanthroline + 50 µM E-64. The specimens were dipped in 5 ml of the respective solutions for 30 min at room temperature and then exposed to in vivo erosive challenges by rinsing with 150 ml of a cola drink (4 × 5 min/day) for 7 days. The substance loss of the specimens was measured by profilometry. The transverse sections of the specimens were examined using scanning electron microscopy. Thereafter, the demineralized organic matrix (DOM) of the specimens was removed using type I collagen enzyme and assessed by performing profilometry. The differences in substance loss and DOM thickness among the groups were analyzed by one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni's test at a level of P 0.05.Protease inhibitors significantly reduced substance loss in comparison to that of the control group (all P 0.05). A significantly thicker DOM was observed for the specimens treated with protease inhibitors than for the control specimens (all P 0.05). No significant differences in substance loss or DOM thickness were found among the MMP inhibitor, cysteine cathepsin inhibitor, and MMP + cysteine cathepsin inhibitor groups.The use of MMP and cysteine cathepsin inhibitors was shown to increase the acid resistance of human dentin, which may be due to the preservation of the DOM.The application of protease inhibitors could be considered an appropriate preventive strategy for dentin erosion.

Background: The H2O–Ar system has attracted significant interest in recent years because it is an important model to study inelastic scattering between atoms and triatomic molecules. A high-accuracy intermolecular potential energy surface (IPES) is the foundation for theoretical study on molecular collision dynamics for H2O–Ar. In addition, dipole moment surfaces (DMSs) are one of the prerequisites for spectral simulation. Objective: This study aimed to obtain a full-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface and dipole moment surfaces for the van der Waals complex H2O–Ar. Methods: In this study, ab initio energy points were computed at the frozen-core (FC) explicitly correlated coupled-cluster [FC-CCSD(T)-F12a] level, with the augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence quadruple-zeta basis set plus bond functions. The permutation invariant polynomial neural network (PIP-NN) approach is adopted to fit the IPES, while the DMSs are constructed at the MP2/AVTZ level and fitted by the NN approach. Results: With a root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 0.284 cm-1, the IPES can accurately describe the motion of the H2O–Ar complex between R = 4 and 20 a0 in the energy range up to 10000 cm-1. The fitting errors of all the data points are 6.192 and 6.509 mDebye for the X and Z components, respectively. The global minimum of -140.633 cm-1 has the plane geometry, while the dipole moment of H2O–Ar is 1.853 Debye at the equilibrium structure. Conclusion: In summary, we report a full-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface for H2O–Ar. The IPES precisely reproduces CCSD(T)-F12a electronic energies with a large basis set. The corresponding dipole moment surfaces have also been reported. In comparison with previous work, the employment of the high-level ab initio method will make our IPES more reliable. Several typical 2D contour plots of the IPES and DMSs are also shown. The argon atom has a weak effect on the dipole moment of the H2O–Ar complex. The FORTRAN codes to generate 6D potentials and dipole moments reported here are available on request from the authors.

Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDAC) have been shown to drive innate immune cell-mediated inflammation in the peripheral system, but their roles in cerebral inflammatory responses remain largely unknown. Here, we elucidate that HDAC7 is selectively elevated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged astrocytes both in vivo and in vitro. We identify that HDAC7 binds to the inhibitory kappa B kinase (IKK) to promote IKKα and IKKβ deacetylation and subsequent activation, leading to the activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Astrocyte-specific overexpression of HDAC7 results in NF-κB activation, pro-inflammatory gene upregulation and anxiety-like behaviors in mice, while downregulating HDAC7 reserves LPS-induced NF-κB activation and inflammatory responses. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of HDAC7 by a class IIa HDAC inhibitor attenuates LPS-induced NF-κB activation, inflammatory responses and anxiety-like behaviors both in vivo and in vitro. Together, our data reveal a novel mechanism of HDAC7 in astrocyte-mediated inflammation and suggest that targeting HDAC7 could be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of anxiety and other inflammation-related diseases.

Modeling and quantification of carbon (C) allocation through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC) has received increasing attention in recent years. Although advanced imaging and numerical methods have boosted our knowledge, we still lack an experimental and mechanistic understanding of C flux and its partitioning across the SPAC. Here we combined a 13C pulse labeling technique with modeling of C transport across the SPAC to describe the flow of newly assimilated C from shoots to roots, to soils and then respired back to the atmosphere. To do so, different plants - maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max (L.) merr. cv. sohae), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) - were exposed to a 13CO2 pulse for 2 hoursduring daytime. A CO2 Isotope Analyzer (CCIA-38d-EP, Los Gatos Research) was used to continuously monitor 13CO2 flux from the soils. Subsequently, after harvest the respective 13C contents of shoot and root biomass and of the soil was quantified.To model the C fluxes, we developed a simple multi-compartment domain, representing the SPAC. The SPAC was envisioned as four interconnected horizontal compartments namely atmosphere, shoots, roots, and soil compartment. The shoots and roots compartment were further simplified in three vertical compartments (phloem, storage, and structural pool). The C transport between these pools was represented by constant rates. These rates were inversely estimated by adjusting the model parameters to best reproduce the measured C flux and C contents in the various compartments. Our model described the allocation and transport of 13C within the shoots, roots, and soil well. The best-fitted coefficients of the model were reproducible among different replications of the same plant species. We also checked the sensitivity of our model to its parameters and observed a good sensitivity to most of the model parameters. In particular, our model was very sensitive to C loading and unloading in the phloem and also root exudation rates. The results of our study show that the combination of tracing 13C and modeling of 13C transport across SPAC is a promising tool to study C flux and its partitioning across SPAC.

BackgroundCardiac aging and ageing-related cardiovascular diseases remain increase medical and social burden. Discovering the molecular mechanisms associated with cardiac aging is expected to provide new perspectives for delaying aging and related disease treatment.MethodsThe samples in GEO database were divided into older group and younger group based on age. Age-associated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by limma package. Gene modules significantly associated with age were mined using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Protein-protein interaction networks (PPI) networks were developed using genes within modules, and topological analysis on the networks was performed to identify hub genes in cardiac aging. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the association among hub genes and immune and immune-related pathways. Molecular docking of hub genes and the anti-aging drug Sirolimus was performed to explore the potential role of hub genes in treating cardiac aging.ResultsWe found a generally negative correlation between age and immunity, with a significant negative correlation between age and b_cell_receptor_signaling_pathway, fc_gamma_r_mediated_phagocytosis, chemokine signaling pathway, t-cell receptor signaling pathway, toll_like_receptor_signaling_pathway, and jak_stat_signaling_pathway, respectively. Finally, 10 cardiac aging-related hub genes including LCP2, PTPRC, RAC2, CD48, CD68, CCR2, CCL2, IL10, CCL5 and IGF1 were identified. 10-hub genes were closely associated with age and immune-related pathways. There was a strong binding interaction between Sirolimus-CCR2. CCR2 may be a key target for Sirolimus in the treatment of cardiac aging.ConclusionThe 10 hub genes may be potential therapeutic targets for cardiac aging, and our study provided new ideas for the treatment of cardiac aging.