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Indium doped ZnO nanorods had been synthesized on p-GaN films by hydrothermal method at low temperature. The microstructure and morphology would be significantly affected by In doping. With increasing In doping concentration, the average diameter increased and the number of nanorods per area decreased. At the same time, the incorporation of In also affected the optical properties of ZnO nanorods. There was a slight red-shift of UV emission peak related to the combined effect of energy shift and Band-Gap-Renormalization effect. And the intensity of visible emission peak increased due to the increasing oxygen vacancies by In doping. What's more, In doping could shorten the band gap of ZnO. Finally, n-ZnO/p-GaN heterojunction Light-emitting diodes had better conductivity with the increase of In doping concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual network embedding is an NP-hard online problem, partially due to diversity effects during mapping. Mapping diversity is critical not only for single virtual network but also for a set of online virtual networks. Two common ways, using heuristic information or using extra constraints, are employed to reduce the problem of hardness. Both restrict diversity during mapping. A preferable technique is executing parallel scatter mapping in the solution space, which can promote mapping quality while maintaining diversity. This technique is challenging due to a nested paralleling. Using membrane computing, we designed a P system with active non-elementary membranes (PAME). With a specific membrane structure, PAME achieves nested paralleling via a dual-parallel mapping stage. The stage couples an inter-increment parallel with an intra-increment one, relying on non-elementary membrane self-division and elementary membrane bootstrap. Simulation experiments showed that PAME outperformed existing algorithms in long-term average revenue, acceptance ratio, and long-term revenue-to-cost ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of bisphenol A (BPA) on rice seedlings grown in a hydroponic system. The obtained results demonstrated that at lower concentration (up to 10 µM) BPA had some stimulatory effects on the growth of rice seedlings but at higher doses it significantly inhibited seedlings growth. The photosynthetic pigments were significantly decreased by high doses of BPA. Exposure to BPA caused increased membrane permeability in root cells and resulted in increased concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increased lipid peroxidation as revealed by thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay. In leaves, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity exhibited an increase at lower concentrations of BPA but was inhibited at the highest dose (200 µM) of BPA. At 100 µM of BPA, a significant increase in antioxidant activities in leaves was observed but at 200 µM this activity was inhibited. In roots, a significant decrease in enzymes activity was recorded at the highest concentration of BPA (200 µM); however, ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activities were significantly increased at the concentrations of 10 and 50 µM in comparison to the control. Moreover, the present results revealed that BPA severely affected cell organelles in rice seedlings. It can be concluded that the observed adverse effects in rice seedlings by BPA in the present study could be attributed to the oxidative stress caused by BPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GaN polycrystalline films were successfully grown on amorphous SiO 2 by metal–organic chemical vapour deposition to fabricate transferable devices using inorganic films. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy images show that by prolonging the annealing time, re-evaporation is enhanced, which reduced the uniformity of the nucleation layer and GaN films. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate that the decomposition rate of the nucleation layer increases when the annealing flow rate of NH 3 is 500 sccm, which makes the unstable plane and amorphous domains decompose rapidly, thereby improving the crystallinity of the GaN films. Photoluminescence spectra also indicate the presence of fewer defects when the annealing flow rate of NH 3 is 500 sccm. The excellent crystal structure of the GaN films grown under optimized conditions was revealed by transmission electron microscopy analysis. More importantly, the crystal structure and orientation of GaN grown on SiO 2 are the same as that of GaN grown on conventional sapphire substrate when a buffer layer is used. This work can aid in the development of transferable devices using GaN films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Abaecin is a major antimicrobial peptide, initially identified from the honeybee. In our effort to discover new antimicrobial peptides from the endoparasitoid wasp Pteromalus puparum, we identified an antibacterial cDNA clone that codes a fragment with high amino acid sequence similarity to abaecin. The proline-rich peptide (YVPPVQKPHPNGPKFPTFP, named PP30) was chemically synthesized and characterized in this study. Antimicrobial assays indicated that the cationic peptide was active against both Gram-negative and positive bacteria, but not active against fungi tested. No hemolytic activity was observed against human erythrocytes after 1h incubation at concentration of 125μM or below. The antibacterial activity of PP30 against Escherichia coli was attenuated in the presence of increasing concentrations of NaCl. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) examination of PP30-treated E. coli cells showed morphological changes in the cells and extensive damage to the cell membranes. The circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy studies indicated that PP30 formed random coil structures in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), 50% TFE and 25mM SDS solution. Expression analysis of the gene coding for the peptide indicated that its expression was upregulated upon bacterial infection, indicating that the gene may play a role in preventing potential infection by microorganisms during parasitization in Pieris rapae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Notoginsenoside R1 (NG-R1) exhibits a pharmacological activity against excessive inflammation. Here, we aimed to ascertain the anti-inflammatory role of NG-R1 in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) as well as the possible mechanism which is still under to be elucidated. In this study, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was applied to evoke extreme inflammation in ATDC5 cells. To investigate the anti-inflammatory property of NG-R1, ATDC5 cells were exposed to NG-R1 prior to LPS stimulation. microRNA-301a (miR-301a)-overexpressed ATDC5 cells were established which confirmed by qRT-PCR. Then, inflammatory lesions were indicated by cell viability, apoptosis and inflammatory factors, including interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway was determined by Western blotting assay. We found NG-R1 dramatically dampened the decrease of cell viability, facilitation of apoptosis and abundance of inflammatory factors induced by LPS. Additionally, NG-R1 pre-incubation impeded LPS-induced accumulation of miR-301a. However, the protective capacity of NG-R1 was impaired by miR-301a overexpression. Of note, LPS-caused phosphorylation of p65 and inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B alpha (IκBα) was repressed by NG-R1, while further enhanced in miR-301-transfected ATDC5 cells. NG-R1 relived LPS-elicited inflammatory damages via blocking NF-κB in a miR-301a-silenced manner. • Notoginsenoside R1 protects ATDC5 cells from inflammation-caused lesions; • Lipopolysaccharide-induced miR-301a is eliminated by notoginsenoside R1; • miR-301a-mediated blockade of NF-κB pathway is triggered by notoginsenoside R1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]