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Informed by ABET accreditation criteria and broader societal needs, ethics has been emphasized as important for engineering professionals. Engineering students are thus exposed to professional ethics and related concerns throughout their college experiences both within and beyond the formal engineering curriculum, but little is known about what learning experiences and lessons engineering students view as most memorable and salient as they approach graduation. Therefore, this paper answers the following research questions: RQ1) What types of experiences do senior engineering students report as salient learning experiences for their ethical and moral formation as they approach graduation? and RQ2) What do students learn from the most commonly discussed types of experiences? To address these questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with senior engineering students (n=33) and performed inductive thematic analysis on the resulting transcripts. Among various types of experiences that students reported as influencing their ethical and moral perspectives, this paper highlights work experiences, formal education, and family environment as the most frequently mentioned. Our results suggest that work experiences were especially significant for students’ learning of engineering ethics in a professional context, followed by academic experiences as a source of both professional/ethical and more general moral lessons. Many students also described family and friends as influential, especially as related to their general perceptions of morality. Based on these findings, a variety of educational implications are discussed.

Aging-related energy homeostasis significantly affects normal heart function and disease development. The relationship between the gut microbiota and host energy metabolism has been well established. However, the influence of an aged microbiota on energy metabolism in the heart remains unclear.

In this study, we developed a two-photon fluorescent probe for detection of peroxynitrite (ONOO–) near the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. This naphthalimide-based probe contains a boronic acid reactive group and an ifenprodil-like tail, which serves as an NMDA receptor targeting unit. The probe displays high sensitivity and selectivity, along with a fast response time in aqueous solution. More importantly, the probe can be employed along with two-photon fluorescence microscopy to detect endogenous ONOO–near NMDA receptors in neuronal cells as well as in hippocampal tissues. The results suggest that the probe has the potential of serving as a useful imaging tool for studying ONOO–related diseases in the nervous system.

Accumulating evidence suggests that alterations in gut microbiota composition and diversity are associated with liver cirrhosis. But whether gut microbiota promotes or hampers the genesis and development of liver cirrhosis remains vague.

Mitochondria is a decisive organelle of cells that produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the process of oxidative phosphorylation of the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. The electron transport chain system of mitochondria embodies multiple enzyme supercomplexes including complex I to V which located in the inner membrane. Although the simple enzyme activity of some as-isolated complex has been studied so far, the steady-state kinetic analysis of each complex within the form of mitochondrial supercomplex has not been studied in depth. To this end, kinetic parameters of mitochondrial complex I–IV were determined using steady-kinetic analysis using corresponding substrates of them. Catalytic activity and binding affinity between substrates and enzymes were obtained by fitting the data to the Michaelis–Menten equation. Acquired kinetic parameters represented distinctive values depending on the complexes that can be interpreted by the characteristics of the enzymes including the distinction of substrates or the ratio of the enzyme itself under the supercomplex form. The indirect kcatof the mitochondrial enzymes were varied from 0.0609 to 0.334 s−1in order of complex III, II, I, and IV and Kmof substrates were also diverse from 5.1 μM to 12.14 mM. This is the first attempt to get exact kinetic values that should provide profound information to evaluate the mitochondrial function practically in advance.

The site-selective modification of quinolines and their analogs has emerged as a pivotal topic in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Herein, we describe the rhodium(III)-catalyzed C8-alkylation of quinoline N-oxides with maleimides as alkylating agents, resulting in the formation of bioactive succinimide-containing quinoline derivatives. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions with complete functional group tolerance.

A new isohopane triterpenoid (1) and two known triterpenoids (2-3) were isolated from the roots of Rubia akane(Rubiaceae). The molecular formula C30H46O4of 1was determined by HRESIMS. Detailed NMR spectroscopic data analysis suggested that compound 1is a new isohopane triterpenoid with a ketone moiety at C-16. Based on the key NOE correlations of H-3/H-5 and H-21/H3-28, compound 1was determined as 3β-hydroxy-16-oxo-21β-isohop-22(29)-en-24-oic acid. The anticoagulant activities of new isohopane 1were evaluated by monitoring activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), prothrombin time (PT), and the activities of thrombin (Factor IIa, FIIa) and activated factor X (FXa). The effects of 1on expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) were evaluated in tumor necrosis factor-α activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Treatment with 1(200 μM) resulted in the prolongation of aPTT and PT and the inhibition of relative thrombin (28%) and FXa (29%) activities. In addition, 1inhibited thrombin-catalyzed fibrin polymerization (18% inhibition at 100 μM) and platelet aggregation (21.8% inhibition at 100 μM). Compound 1also elicited anticoagulant effects in mice in a dose-dependent manner ranging from 18.8 to 94.0 μg/mouse. In addition, treatment with 1resulted in significant reduction of the PAI-1 to t-PA ratio (25% decreased). Collectively, the new isohopane triterpenoid 1possesses antithrombotic activities and offers a basis for the development of a new anticoagulant agent.