Search

Introduction The Housing Solutions Lab (the "Lab"), launched in 2021 at NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, works with [...]

In order to obtain high temperature protective coatings with low diffusivity, high entropy (HEA) as well as high entropy oxide (HEO) diffusion barriers were deposited between the NiCrAlY coating and the substrate by magnetron sputtering. These two coatings were subjected to constant temperature oxidation tests at 1050 °C. These results show that the two coatings containing diffusion barriers have better high-temperature oxidation properties compared to the NiCrAlY coating. Both HEA and HEO diffusion barriers have the desired performance in hindering the diffusion of elements between the coating and the substrate. The evolution of these two diffusion barriers and the mechanism of diffusion resistance during the oxidation process have been investigated.

Polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs) have emerged as an attractive category of materials for their water processability and some similarities to natural biopolymers. Herein, we employ the intrinsic hydroplasticity of PEC materials to enable the generation of porous structures with the aid of gas foaming. Such foamable materials are fabricated by simply mixing polycation, polyanion, and a UV-initiated chemical foaming agent in an aqueous solution, followed by molding into thin films. The gas foaming of the PEC films can be achieved upon exposure to UV illumination under water, where the films are plasticized and the gaseous products from the photolysis of foaming agents afford the formation, expanding, and merging of numerous bubbles. The porosity and morphology of the resulting porous films can be customized by tuning film composition, foaming conditions, and especially the degree of plasticizing effect, illustrating the high flexibility of this hydroplastic foaming method. Due to the rapid initiation of gas foaming, the present method enables the formation of porous structures via an instant one-step process, much more efficient than those existing strategies for porous PEC materials. More importantly, such a pore-forming mechanism might be extended to other hydroplastic materials (e.g., biopolymers) and help to yield hydroplasticity-based processing strategies.

Microbial extracellular electron transfer (EET) is the basis for many microbial processes involved in element geochemical recycling, bioenergy harvesting, and bioremediation, including the technique for remediating U(VI)-contaminated environments. However, the low EET rate hinders its full potential from being fulfilled. The main challenge for engineering microbial EET is the difficulty in optimizing cell resource allocation for EET investment and basic metabolism and the optimal coordination of the different EET pathways. Here, we report a novel combinatorial optimization strategy with a physiologically adapted regulatory platform. Through exploring the physiologically adapted regulatory elements, a 271.97-fold strength range, autonomous, and dynamic regulatory platform was established for Shewanella oneidensis, a prominent electrochemically active bacterium. Both direct and mediated EET pathways are modularly reconfigured and tuned at various intensities with the regulatory platform, which were further assembled combinatorically. The optimal combinations exhibit up to 16.12-, 4.51-, and 8.40-fold improvements over the control in the maximum current density (1009.2 mA/m2) of microbial electrolysis cells and the voltage output (413.8 mV) and power density (229.1 mW/m2) of microbial fuel cells. In addition, the optimal strains exhibited up to 6.53-fold improvement in the radionuclide U(VI) removal efficiency. This work provides an effective and feasible approach to boost microbial EET performance for environmental applications.

Various micropollutants (MPs) that exist in surface water and treated wastewater have been continuously arousing concern because of their harmful ecological and health effects. Sunlight-induced photodegradation of MPs in water is a natural transformation pathway that has been critically reviewed in this work. According to observable photodegradation rates in ultrapure water, MPs were divided into fast, medium and slow groups where half-lives are less than 1 day, 1–10 days and more than 10 days, respectively. The phototransformation fates in diverse water matrices, including nitrate, iron, halides and inorganic ions, were summarized. In sunlit environmental water containing dissolved organic matter (DOM) and NO3−, MP photodegradation was likely accelerated. Iron, halides and inorganic ions show both acceleration and inhibition effects on MP photolysis. The main mechanism of phototransformation was revealed to involve radical species, mostly hydroxyl radicals, attacking MPs. For MP photoproducts, sunlight could increase or decrease the toxicity of the product compared to that of the parent MP. There is a risk that MP phototransformation products may still be toxic. Therefore, focusing on the integrated toxicity of solutions, including parent molecules and photoproducts, is more important in future study.

Establishing a fast and effective extraction method for herbs is beneficial for the determination of their main compounds and estimating their quality. In this study, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were optimized to simultaneously extract three main types of phenolic acids, i.e., regaloside B, regaloside C, and regaloside E, and polysaccharides from the bulbs of Lilium lancifoliumThunb. Based on the optimized extraction conditions, i.e., an extraction temperature of 50 °C, an extraction time of 40 min, a solid–liquid ratio of 1 : 25, and a ratio of water in the DES of 20%, the extracted amounts of regaloside B, regaloside C, and regaloside E reached 0.31 ± 0.06 mg g−1, 0.29 ± 0.03 mg g−1, and 3.04 ± 0.38 mg g−1, respectively. The extraction efficiencies were higher than those obtained using conventional organic solvents. Next, the polysaccharide levels were measured and compared with those obtained using a conventional hot water extraction method, and equivalent extraction efficiencies were obtained with the conventional hot water extraction method. This study provides a new application of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) for simultaneously extracting phenolic acids and polysaccharides from the bulbs of L. lancifoliumThunb. Considering the biodegradability and pharmaceutical acceptability, DESs as a class of green solvents could have wide applications in the extraction of natural products.

AbstractThe present study was conducted to investigate the effects of heat stress on microbial community in the duodenum of yellow-feather broiler chickens based on 16S rRNA sequencing. A total of 40 female Chinese indigenous yellow-feather broilers (56-day-old, average initial body weight of 840.75 ± 20.79 g) were randomly allocated to two groups, including the normal treatment group (NT group, 21.3 ± 1.2 °C, 24 h/day) and the heat stress group (HS group, 32.5 ± 1.4 °C, 10 h/day), and the relative humidity (RH) of both two groups was maintained at 65 ± 5%. The experiment conforms to a completely randomised trial design. Broilers in both of two groups were fed basal diet, each group consisted of five replicates, and four broilers in each replicate. The feeding trail lasted 4 weeks. The results showed that although the broilers in the HS group had lower abundance-based coverage estimators (ACE) and Chao1 richness estimator (Chao1) index of duodenal microbial, there were no significant differences in duodenal microbial alpha diversity index between NT and HS groups, including ACE, Chao1, Shannon and Simpson index (p > .05). Regarding the microbial composition and abundance, at the phylum level, heat stress exposure significantly decreased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetesin duodenum compared with NT group (p < .05). At the genus level, compared with the NT group, heat stress exposure significantly reduced the relative abundance of Cupriavidus, Leptothrix, Janthinobacterium, Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Desulfovibrio, Oscillospiraand Doreain the duodenum (p < .05). In conclusion, heat stress affected the duodenal microbial community in indigenous yellow-feather broilers.HighlightsHeat stress had adverse effects on duodenal microbial composition of Chinese indigenous yellow-feather broilers.Strategies that improve the duodenal microbial balance may promote the gut health and reduce the economic losses caused by heat stress in broiler production.

ABSTRACTThe clinicopathological value of microRNA-141-3p (miR-141-3p) and its prospective target genes in endometrial carcinoma (EC) remains unclear. The present study determined the expression level of miR-141-3p in EC via quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). RT-qPCR showed a markedly higher expression level of miR-141-3p in EC tissues than in non-EC endometrium tissues (P< 0.0001). The microarray and miRNA-seq data revealed upregulation of miR-141-3p. Integrated analysis based on 675 cases of EC and 63 controls gave a standardized mean difference of 1.737, confirmed the upregulation of miR-141-3p. The Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that a higher expression of miR-141-3p positively corelated with a poorer prognosis. Combining the predicted targets and downregulated genes in EC, we obtained 271 target genes for miR-141-3p in EC. Two potential targets, PPP1R12A and PPP1R12B, were downregulated at both the mRNA and protein levels. This study indicates that the overexpression of miR-141-3p may play an important part in the carcinogenesis of EC. The overexpression of miR-141-3p may be a risk factor for the prognosis of patients with EC.

Developing aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-based hydrogels that exhibit fluorescence enhancement as to thermal properties is an interesting and challenging task. In this work, we employed the fluorophore 2′-hydroxychalcone (HC), fluorescence properties of which are easily influenced by the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) effects, to develop a novel type of temperature-sensitive polymers, hydroxychalcone-based polymers (HCPs). By controlling the temperature-dependent water microenvironments in HCPs, the intramolecular hydrogen bonds between water and HCPs can be regulated, thereby influencing the TICT process and leading to thermo-induced fluorescence enhancement, which shows a contrary tendency compared to typical AIEgens that always exhibit fluorescence attenuation as the thermal energy accelerates the molecular motion. Following the decoration with triphenylphosphine, the resulting polymer P-HCP assembled into nanohydrogels and served as a fluorescent probe for intracellular mitochondrial temperature sensing.

Purpose This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of a direct aspiration first-pass technique (ADAPT) and stent retriever thrombectomy (SRT) technique in embolism-related acute basilar artery occlusion (EMB-ABAO).Methods We collected data from patients with EMB-ABAO in multiple stroke centers from January 2017 to February 2024. We defined two groups of enrolled patients, the ADAPT group and the SRT group. The primary outcome was the first attempt recanalization (FAR) rate. Secondary outcomes were the puncture to recanalization (PTR) time and the 90-day favorable functional outcome. The safety outcome was 90-day all-cause mortality rate.Results A total of 406 patients were screened for endovascular treatment (EVT) of ABAO ischemic stroke, and 108 patients were identified with EMB-ABAO stroke. Among these, 96 patients were included in the final analysis. Among them, 58 (60.42%) were in the ADAPT group, and 38 (39.58%) were in the SRT group. Compared with the SRT group, the ADAPT group achieved FAR more frequently (60.34% versus 39.47%; p = 0.045) and a higher 90-day favorable functional outcome rate (44.83% versus 36.84%; p = 0.438). The median PTR time of the ADAPT group was significantly shorter than that of the SRT group (42 versus 105 min; p < 0.001).Conclusion In cases where EMB-ABAO is suspected, ADAPT was superior to SRT in terms of FAR rate and PTR time, but the 90-day mRS scores had no statistical significance. Given the reduced time to recanalization with ADAPT, an initial attempt at recanalization with ADAPT may be necessary before stent retriever. However, due to the study limitations, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary and require further study.

Background The comprehensive expression level and potential molecular role of Cyclin A2 (CCNA2) in uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma (UCEC) remains undiscovered.Methods UCEC and normal endometrium tissues from in-house and public databases were collected for investigating protein and messenger RNA expression of CCNA2. The transcription factors of CCNA2 were identified by the Cistrome database. The prognostic significance of CCNA2 in UCEC was evaluated through univariate and multivariate Cox regression as well as Kaplan–Meier curve analysis. Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis was performed to explore cell types in UCEC, and the AUCell algorithm was used to investigate the activity of CCNA2 in different cell types.Results A total of 32 in-house UCEC and 30 normal endometrial tissues as well as 720 UCEC and 165 control samples from public databases were eligible and collected. Integrated calculation showed that the CCNA2 expression was up-regulated in the UCEC tissues (SMD = 2.43, 95% confidence interval 2.23∼2.64). E2F1 and FOXM1 were identified as transcription factors due to the presence of binding peaks on transcription site of CCNA2. CCNA2 predicted worse prognosis in UCEC. However, CCNA2 was not an independent prognostic factor in UCEC. The scRNA-seq analysis disclosed five cell types: B cells, T cells, monocytes, natural killer cells, and epithelial cells in UCEC. The expression of CCNA2 was mainly located in B cells and T cells. Moreover, CCNA2 was active in T cells and B cells using the AUCell algorithm.Conclusion CCNA2 was up-regulated and mainly located in T cells and B cells in UCEC. Overexpression of CCNA2 predicted unfavorable prognosis of UCEC.

This study aimed to verify the effects of berberine (BBR) on the fat metabolism proteins involved in the sirtuin 3 (SIRT3)/adenosine 5’-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) pathway in the liver tissues of rats with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Forty-eight rats were randomly divided into the normal control (NC) group, HFD group or BBR group, with 16 rats in each group. After 8 and 16 weeks of treatment, serum and liver samples were collected. Subsequently, body parameters, biochemical parameters and liver pathology were examined. The expression levels of proteins involved in the SIRT3/AMPK/ACC pathway in the liver were detected by Western blotting. After 8 and 16 weeks of a HFD, the successful establishment of rat models with different degrees of NAFLD was confirmed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Oil Red O staining. NAFLD rat models exhibited obesity and hyperlipidemia, and the protein expression levels of SIRT3, p-AMPK, p-ACC, and CPT-1A in the liver were significantly decreased compared to those in the NC group. The concurrent administration of BBR with the HFD effectively improved serum and liver lipid profiles and ameliorated liver injury. Furthermore, the protein expression levels of SIRT3, p-AMPK, p-ACC, and CPT-1A in the liver were significantly increased in the BBR group as compared with those in the HFD group. In conclusion, our data suggest that the mechanism by which BBR ameliorates HFD-induced hepatic steatosis may be related to the activation of the SIRT3/AMPK/ACC pathway in the liver.

ABSTRACTThe pathogenesis of Bombyx moricytoplasmic polyhedrosis virus (BmCPV) infection is unclear, although accumulating evidence indicates that circular RNAs (circRNAs), which act as competing endogenous RNAs or positive regulators, play important roles in regulating gene expression in eukaryotes and, thus, may play a role in BmCPV infections. To explore the expression and biological functions of circRNAs in the silkworm midgut following BmCPV infection, silkworm circRNA expression profiles of normal midgut tissue (control) and BmCPV-infected midgut tissue (test) were determined using high-through sequencing. A total of 9,753 and 7,475circRNAs were detected from the control and test samples, respectively. The two samples shared 6,085 circRNAs, while 646 and 737 circRNAs were expressed specifically in the control and test samples, respectively. A total of 3,638 circRNAs were shown to be differentially expressed, and 400 circRNAs were substantially differentially expressed with a fold-change ≥ 2.0 (p< 0.05 and a false discover rate < 0.05), of which 294 were up-regulated and 106 were down-regulated following infection. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses were conducted to determine the principal functions of the substantially differentially regulated genes. circRNA-miRNA interaction networks were constructed based on a correlation analysis between the differentially expressed circRNAs and the nature of their microRNA (miRNA) binding sites. The network inferred that 13 miRNAs interacting with 193 circRNAs were among the 300 most abundant relationships. bmo-miR-3389-5p, bmo-miR-745-3p, and bmo-miR-3262 were related to 30, 34, and 34 circRNAs, respectively. circRNA_8115, circRNA_9444, circRNA_4553, circRNA_0827, and circRNA_6649 contained six, five, four, four, and four miRNA binding sites, respectively. We further found that alternative circularization of circRNAs is a common feature in silkworms and that the junction sites of many silkworm circRNAs are flanked by canonical GT/AG splicing signals. Our study is the first to show the circRNA response to virus infection. Thus, it provides a novel perspective on circRNA-miRNA interactions during BmCPV pathogenesis, and it lays the foundation for future research of the potential roles of circRNAs in BmCPV pathogenesis.

The need to image objects through light-scattering materials is common in a range of applications. Different methods have been investigated to acquire the image of the object when diffusers are presented. In this paper, we demonstrate the object reconstruction with single-shot imaging based on the correlography principle and phase retrieval algorithm with coherent illumination. We prove the possibility of reconstructing positive and negative objects in both transmission and reflection modes with collimated and scattered light. Formulas for calculating the size of the object from the reconstructed image are presented. We also prove that the object can be retrieved from a small section of the raw speckle image. These interesting features will have broad potential applications in many areas (such as biomedicine, security and sensing).

The trade-off between yield and environmental effects caused by nitrogen fertilizer application is an important issue in wheat production. A reduction in fertile florets is one of the main reasons for decreased yield under low nitrogen application rate. Brassinosteroids (BRs) have been found to play a role in nitrogen-induced rice spikelet degeneration. However, whether BRs play a role in wheat floret development and the mechanisms involved are not clear. Therefore, different nitrogen gradient experiment and exogenous spraying experiment were conducted to investigate the role and mechanism of BRs in wheat floret development under low nitrogen stress. The results showed that as the nitrogen application decreased, the endogenous BRs content of spikes decreased, photosynthesis weakened, and total carbon, soluble sugar and starch of spikes decreased, leading to a reduction in the number of fertile florets. Under low nitrogen stress, exogenous spraying of 24-epibrassinolide promoted photosynthesis, stimulated stem fructan hydrolysis and the utilization and storage of sucrose in spikes, directing more carbohydrates to the spikes and increasing the number of fertile florets. In conclusion, BRs mediate the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on wheat floret development, and under low nitrogen stress, foliar spraying of 24-epibrassinolide promotes the flow of carbohydrates from the stem to the spikes, alleviating wheat floret degeneration.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe psychiatric disease that has critically affected life quality for millions of people. Chronic stress is gradually recognized as a primary pathogenesis risk factor of MDD. Despite the remarkable progress in mechanism research, the pathogenesis mechanism of MDD is still not well understood. Therefore, we conducted a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) detection of 25 major metabolites of tryptophanic, GABAergic, and catecholaminergic pathways in the prefontal cortex (PFC) of mice in chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). The depressed mice exhibit significant reduction of glutamate in the GABAergic pathway and an increase of L-DOPA and vanillylmandelic acid in catecholaminergic pathways. The data of real-time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting analysis revealed an altered level of glutamatergic circuitry. The metabolomic and molecular data reveal that the glutamatergic disorder in mice shed lights to reveal a mechanism on depression-like and stress resilient phenotype.

CEPcell death markers. Programmed cell death (PCD) is essential for proper plant growth and development. Plant-specific papain-type KDEL-tailed cysteine endopeptidases (KDEL-CysEPs or CEPs) have been shown to be involved in PCD during vegetative development as executors for the last step in the process. The Arabidopsisgenome encodes three KDEL-CysEPs: AtCEP1, AtCEP2and AtCEP3. With the help of fluorescent fusion reporter lines, we report here a detailed expression analysis of KDEL-CysEP (pro)proteins during reproductive processes, including flower organ and germline development, fertilization and seed development. AtCEP1 is highly expressed in different reproductive tissues including nucellus cells of mature ovule and the connecting edge of anther and filament. After fertilization, AtCEP1 marks integument cell layers of the seeds coat as well as suspensor and columella cells of the developing embryo. Promoter activity of AtCEP2is detected in the style of immature and mature pistils, in other floral organs including anther, sepal and petal. AtCEP2 mainly localizes to parenchyma cells next to xylem vessels. Although there is no experimental evidence to demonstrate that KDEL-CysEPs are involved in PCD during fertilization, the expression pattern of AtCEPs, which were previously shown to represent cell death markers during vegetative development, opens up new avenues to investigate PCD in plant reproduction.

Fuzheng Jiedu granule exhibits a number of health benefits and it is thought that the mechanisms involved in these effects are due to the modulation of immunity. In this article, we studied the effect of Fuzheng Jiedu granule on immunological function and the expression of immune-related cytokines in immune-suppressed mice. 72 mice were randomly divided into six groups, with 12 in each group. The control groups included an untreated group, a negative control group (Cyclophosphamide) and a positive control group (Astragaluspolysaccharide). There were three treated groups, which were given different doses of Fuzheng Jiedu granule: a low dose (100 mg kg–1), a medium dose (400 mg kg–1) and a high dose (600 mg kg–1). With the exception of the untreated control animals, each group received an intraperitoneal injection of Cyclophosphamide (100 mg kg–1) for 3 days to establish the immune-suppressed model. Mice were then treated for 19 consecutive days and, 24 h after the last treatment, blood was taken for the eyeballs and serum separation was performed. Analysis was made of the levels of related cytokines (IgA, IgG, IgM, IL-6, IFN-γ, C3, C4 and TNF-α), the transformation of lymphocytes and the immune organ indexes. The results showed that Fuzheng Jiedu granule can improve the levels of cytokines, the rate of proliferation of lymphocytes and the immune organ indexes of immune-suppressed mice.

Hydrophobic association hydrogels(HA-gels) with high mechanical strength were prepared by free radical micellar copolymerization in aqueous solutions of acrylamide(AM), anion surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) and a small amount of hydrophobic monomer octylphenol polyoxyethylene(7) acrylate(OP-7-AC). We found that the molar ratio of SDS to OP-7-AC has a great effect on the tensile strength and other mechanical property parameters. The best ratio point R′ was determined. On the basis of Mooney theory and statistical theory, the critical tensile ratios and critical tensile strengths of the hydrogels were obtained, elastic parameters C1and C2were calculated viauniaxial tensile equation and structural parameters, such as the effective network chain density and the averaged molecular weight of the chain between cross-linking points of all the hydrogels were evaluated. The results indicate that the variation of mechanical property parameters depends on the number of effective cross-linking points and the match degree of long and short chains.

In this paper, voltage fluctuation and stability analysis of critical buses was performed using multiple indexes to power system with wind farm connected. Considering the intermittency and randomness of wind speed, this paper constructed three voltage fluctuation indexes according to the characteristic of voltage random distribution. Bus voltage stability index was also calculated with the help of PV and QV curves in the paper. The simulation analysis performed in the DIgSILENT/PowerFactory basing on three machines nine nodes system with double-fed wind farm was carried out to reveal the impacts of wind generation uncertainty on voltage fluctuation and stability.

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins play important roles in enhancing the resistance of plants to adverse stresses and promoting seeds development and maturation. The OsEm gene in rice is one of LEA protein-encoding genes, however, physical and chemical properties, phylogenetic relationship and protein-protein interaction network of it are still unknown. Here, the full length cDNA of OsEm was cloned using nested RT-PCR, the sequencing result was then computational analyzed using bioinformatics approaches. The results showed that OsEm encoded a high hydrophilic protein with small molecule weight, it is mainly composed of alpha helix, extended strand, beta turn, random coil and contains a conserved region with 20 amino acid residues. Phylogenetic analysis showed that OsEM protein has the nearest phylogenetic relationship to BiEM1, but has the distant phylogenetic relationship to BnEM6. Results of protein-protein interaction network showed the expression of OsEm gene was regulated by complexes of VP1/BZ8 or VP1/TRAB1. This work is helpful to further define the function of OsEm gene and provide useful information for improving the adverse stress tolerance of plants in the future.

MEP (Mechanical,Electrical,Plumping) includes vast amount of equipment types and pipelines in the integrated design, leading the coordination of MEP design optimization a major challenge for complex buildings. This document explains the technical processes and characteristics of the three-dimensional MEP design optimization based on BIM(Building Information Modeling), connected with the case of the integrated pipeline optimization design practice of a hospital building. Though establishing the BIM model of four-space underground pipeline network system in a hospital outpatient building, we carried out MEP collision checking, obtaining three-dimensional spatial information 102 collision points. Combined with manual screening we finally identified 67 valid point of conflict, for the construction of secondary pipeline network optimization design. In particular, the suggestion on the promotion and application of BIM-based building MEP design to municipal pipeline network in the future is proposed.

The success of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) greatly depends on the structure, dynamics and activities of microbial community. Heterotrophic bacteria as the major members play various roles. The heterotrophic bacterial community structure in threestaged biofilters was studied using four different media. 228 isolates belonging to 77species were obtained and affiliated to Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. Gammaproteobacteria was the predominant group. The concurrence was found between potential pathogens (Vibrio and Shewanella) and probiotics (Bacillus and Pseudomonas). On the basis of community diversity index, we could infer that differences existed between stages, and the diversity index increased along the biofilters. A comprehensive understanding of microbial community in RAS will be in favor of utilization of microbial resources and optimizing the culture systems' operation.

An accurate and precise method for the determination of tulathromycin in swine plasma was developed and validated. Plasma samples were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry detection (HPLC-MS/MS) using electrospray ionization (ESI). Tulathromycin was extracted from plasma by precipitation with acetonitrile and separated using a Phenomenex Luna 5 μm C18 column (150 mm×2.0 mm) at a flow rate of 0.25 mL min−1. Solvent A consisted of 0.002 mol L−1ammonium acetate and formic acid (999:1, v/v), and solvent B was acetonitrile. The mass spectrometer was operated in the selected-ion mode with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization to monitor the respective MH+ions, namely, m/z577.3 for tulathromycin and m/z679.3 for the internal standard roxithromycin. The calibration curves were linear in a dynamic range of 2.0-500 ng mL−1on the column. The accuracy was ranged from 95.25 to 109.75%, and the precision was ranged from 2.81 to 7.72%. The recoveries measured at 3 concentration levels (20, 250, and 500 ng mL−1) were higher than 98%. The method described above is efficient, and has the required accuracy and precision for rapid determination of tulathromycin in plasma. The method was applied to study the pharmacokinetics of tulathromycin in swine, and tulathromycin demonstrated a rapid absorption, wide distribution, and slow elimination after intramuscular administration.

In order to prolong continuous working time of one transmission line inspection robot, a power supply system with induction charging unit for this inspection robot is introduced in this paper. Special current transformer by which the robot could get power from power line is designed according to the magnetic field condition around the transmission line. Besides, charging circuit for Li-battery pack is also introduced. A fly-back circuit is applied in the circuit to provide precisely accessible input power for charging battery packs. Experimental results show that the power supply system could have good performance on extending the continuous working period of the transmission line inspection robot.

In order to solve the problem of traffic jams, this paper presents a solution about traffic signals area control system based on ZigBee wireless sensor network. The basic idea is to connect the area's traffic lights through ZigBee wireless sensor network according to the traffic flow during a time period where the system located. The command center coordinates and controls the length of the green signal, period and the time of the green signal on all roads through the ZigBee wireless sensor network, so that the motor vehicles which move from corresponding two-way intersections could get through with less red signal. The solution adopts TI's CC2430 RF transceiver chip and analog front-end chip CC2591 and some external circuits to design the hardware circuit of sensor nodes and the central control nodes. Then designs the applications about sensor nodes, central control nodes and management software of control center, which based on the ZigBee protocol stack. Test results show that the performance of the system, such as stability, response speed, could meet the actual demand. It can obviously improve the highway capacity.

Danjiangkou reservoir is the water resource area of the mid-line project of south to north water division. Zooplanktons are monitored at thirteen ecological stations in Danjiangkou reservoir and its typical branch rivers in August 2010 in order to establish the scientific foundation of the databank of the long-term ecological research and the layout of ecological project of the water resource. The water samples are collected using standard methods. Saprobic system is used to evaluate the trophic status of the water resource area of the min-line project. The samples contained 154 species (varieties), 110 genera of zooplankton, of which rotifea is the most, accounting for 35%, followed by copepods, protozoa and cladoceran. There are 6 species (varieties) saprobic indicators, of which ß-mesosaporbic indicators account for 66.7%. No hyper-mesotrophic indicators of zooplankton occurred in the water samples. Therefore, Danjiangkou reservoir is under ß-mesosaporbic status and suitable for the requirement of the water quality of the mid-line project.

The subject of the paper is to study the effect of the different river habitat on biological diversity of microalgae in order to reveal the status of algae indicators in the evaluation of river ecosystem health. The study is conducted to compare planktonic algae and epilithic algae in Shendinghe rive (SR) and Qihe river (QR) of Danjiangkou reservoir in August 2010. The trophic status is evaluated by saprobic system. There are 193 species (varieties) belonging to 98 genera and 7 phylums of planktonic algae and 61 species (varieties) belonging to 36 genera and 3 phylums of epilithic algae in the samples of SR. There exist 165 species (varieties) belonging to 82 genera and 7 phylums of planktonic algae and 48 species (varieties) belonging to 10 genera and 4 phylums of epilithic algae in the samples of QR. 15 genera instructions 21 species (varieties) of saprobic indicators are identified in the monitored rivers. The number of oligonucleotide indicators in QR is higher than that in SR, and the number of eutrophication indicators in QR is lower than that in SR. The water quality of QR is Biologically superior to that of SR.

The real times Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) analysis which corresponds to the charge and discharge process was reported in order to evaluate the relationships between impedance and potential for new high specific energy electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLC). Also the Niquist plots were presented and the impedance of the EDLC was discussed in terms of complex capacitance. It was found that the high frequency impedance changed with its potential in charging or discharging process, the medium frequency impedance Rct belonged to the resistance of ions diffusion into micro pore or the inner of electrode material decreased with increasing charge voltage and had a certain capacitance of about 1F.

Accurate and rapid detection of nucleic acid plays a vital role in the clinical treatment of tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis(M.TB). However, false-negative and false-positive results caused by base mismatches could affect the detection accuracy. Inspired by the unique property of CRISPR/Cas9, we proposed a new MSPQC M.TBsensor based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system, which can distinguish single-base mismatches in 10 bases from the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) region. In the proposed sensor, single-stranded DNA on Au interdigital electrodes was used as a capture probe for the target and an initiator for hybridization chain reaction (HCR). HCR was used to generate long double-stranded DNA (dsDNA), which could span the Au interdigital electrodes. CRISPR/Cas9 was used as recognition components to recognize capture/target dsDNA. When the target existed, the capture probe hybridized with the target to form dsDNA, which could be recognized and cut by CRISPR/Cas9. Thus, the DNA connection between electrodes was cut off and resulted in the MSPQC response. When no target existed, the capture probe remained single-stranded and could not be recognized and cut by CRISPR/Cas9. Therefore, DNA connection between electrodes was reserved. Moreover, silver staining technology was utilized to improve the sensitivity of detection. M.TBwas detected by the proposed sensor using specific sequence fragments of 16S rRNA of M.TBas the target. The detection time was down to 2.3 h. The limit of detection (LOD) was 30 CFU/mL.

This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of dietary algae-derived polysaccharides (ADP) from Enteromorpha proliferaagainst heat stress (HS)-induced bursa of Fabricius injure in broilers, and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective effect. A total of 144 8-week-old male yellow-feathered broilers were randomly allocated into 3 treatments of 6 replicates each (8 broilers per replicate): thermoneutral zone group (TN, fed basal diet); heat stress group (HS, fed basal diet); heat stress + ADP group (HSA, basal diet supplemented with 1,000 mg/kg ADP). Broilers in TN group were raised at 23.6 ± 1.8°C during the whole study. Broilers in HS and HSA groups were exposed to 33.2 ± 1.5°C for 10 h/day. The experimental period lasted for four weeks. The results showed that HS and dietary ADP had no significant effects on bursa of Fabricius index (P> 0.05). HS exposure increased the apoptosis rate of bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05), and the apoptosis rate was reduced by dietary ADP (P< 0.05). Besides, broilers in HS and HSA groups had a lower glutathione-S transferase (GST) activity and total anti-oxidation capacity (T-AOC), whereas had a higher malondialdehyde (MDA) levels of bursa of Fabricius than those in TN group (P< 0.05). HS exposure elevated the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, and IL-6, while decreased the concentration of interferon-γ (INF-γ) and IL-2 (P< 0.05), and dietary inclusion of ADP reduced the IL-1β level and increased the IL-2 level of bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05). Compared with TN group, broilers in HS and HSA groups had lower relative mRNA expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2),heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)and GSTT1in bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05).Additionally, HS exposure down-regulated the mRNA expression of inhibitor kappa B alpha (IκBα), IFN-γ, and IL-2, while up-regulated the mRNA expression of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6in bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05). However, dietary inclusion of ADP up-regulated the mRNA expression of IκBαand down-regulated the mRNA expression of NF-κB p65, TNF-α,and IL-6in bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05). Furthermore, HS exposure increased the relative protein expression levels of total and nuclear NF-κB p65 (P< 0.05), but dietary ADP supplementation reduced the relative protein expression levels of total and nuclear NF-κB p65 in bursa of Fabricius (P< 0.05). Collectively, dietary ADP ameliorated the impairment of histology, cell apoptosis and immune balance in bursa of Fabricius of heat stressed broilers, which is involved in modulation of NF-κB signaling pathway.

Wastewater ozonation forms various toxic byproducts, such as aldehydes, bromate, and organic bromine. However, there is currently no clear understanding of the overall toxicity changes in ozonated wastewater because pretreatment with solid phase extraction cannot retain inorganic bromate and volatile aldehydes, yet contributions of known ozonation byproducts to toxicity are unknown. Moreover, compared with bromate, organic bromine did not receive widespread attention. This study evaluated the toxicity of ozonated wastewater by taking aldehydes, bromate, and organic bromine into consideration. In the absence of bromide, formaldehyde contributed 96–97% cytotoxicity and 92–95% genotoxicity to HepG2 cells among the detected known byproducts, while acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, and glyoxal had little toxicity. Both formaldehyde and dibromoacetonitrile drove toxicity among the known byproducts when bromide was present. Toxicity assays in HepG2 cells showed that when secondary effluents contained no bromide, the cytotoxicity of the nonvolatile organic fraction (NVOF) was reduced by 56–70%, and genotoxicity was completely removed after ozonation. However, the formed aldehydes (volatile organic fraction, VOF) led to increased overall toxicity. In the presence of bromide, compared with the secondary effluent, ozonation increased the cytotoxicity of the NVOFBrfrom 3.4–4.0 mg phenol/L to 10.3–13.9 mg phenol/L, possibly due to the formation of organic bromine. In addition, considering the toxicity of VOFBr(VOF in the presence of bromide, including aldehydes, tribromomethane, etc.), the overall cytotoxicity and genotoxicity became much higher than those of the secondary effluent. Although bromate had a limited impact on cytotoxicity and genotoxicity, it caused an increase in oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. Therefore, when taking full account of nonvolatile, volatile, and inorganic fractions, ozonation generally increases the toxicity of wastewater.

Chlorination, the most widely used disinfection process for water treatment, is unfortunately always accompanied with the formation of hazardous disinfection byproducts (DBPs). Various organic matter species, like natural organic matter (NOM) and amino acids, can serve as precursors of DBPs during chlorination but it is not clear what types of organic matter have higher potential risks. Although regulation of DBPs such as trihalomethanes has received much attention, further investigation of the DBPs driving toxicity is required. This study aimed to identify the important precursors of chlorination by measuring DBP formation from NOM and amino acids, and to determine the main DBPs driving toxicity using a theoretical toxicity evaluation of contributions to the cytotoxicity index (CTI) and genotoxicity index (GTI). The results showed that NOM mainly formed carbonaceous DBPs (C-DBPs), such as trichloromethane, while amino acids mainly formed nitrogenous DBPs (N-DBPs), such as dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN). Among the DBPs, DCAN had the largest contribution to the toxicity index and might be the main driver of toxicity. Among the precursors, aspartic acid and asparagine gave the highest DCAN concentration (200 g/L) and the highest CTI and GTI. Therefore, aspartic acid and asparagine are important precursors for toxicity and their concentrations should be reduced as much as possible before chlorination to minimize the formation of DBPs. During chlorination of NOM, tryptophan, and asparagine solutions with different chlorine doses and reaction times, changes in the CTI and GTI were consistent with changes in the DCAN concentration.

Sampling theorems for the two-dimensional linear canonical transform (LCT) in polar coordinates deserve special attention in medical imaging such as computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging due to the superiority of solving the traditional non-bandlimited images processing problems. Two types of interpolation formulae that interpolate in both radius and azimuth the angularly periodic and highest frequency limited functions with different bandwidth constraints, the LCT and the linear canonical Hankel transform (LCHT), are derived. The first interpolation formula is essentially equivalent to the latest one for bandlimited functions in the LCT domain while enjoys more concise and general mathematical derivations. Thanks to the consistency of the LCHT's order for bandlimited functions in the LCHT domain, the second interpolation formula outperforms the first one in computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]