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• We aimed to determine the association between percentage body fat and incident fractures, separately for men and women. • We included 14,129 participants from the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Cohort Study. • In women, a lower percentage body fat was associated with a higher risk of any fracture and specifically of hip fracture. • In men, the risk of any fracture did not change with percentage body fat, while the risk of hospitalisation for a hip fracture increased with percentage body fat. • These findings add to the important evidence base regarding the risk of a serious and prevalent adverse outcome. This cohort study aimed to determine the association between body fat percentage (BF%), incident fractures and calcaneal broadband ultrasound attenuation (BUA). Participants were drawn from the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Cohort Study (median follow-up = 16.4 years). Cox models analysed the relationship between BF% and incident fractures (all and hip). Linear and restricted cubic spline (RCS) regressions modelled the relationship between BF% and BUA. 14,129 participants (56.2 % women) were included. There were 1283 and 537 incident all and hip fractures respectively. The participants had a mean (standard deviation) age of 61.5 (9.0) years for women and 62.9 (9.0) years for men. Amongst men, BF% was not associated with incident all fractures. While BF% < 23 % (median) was not associated with hip fractures, BF% > 23 % was associated with increased risk of hip fractures by up to 50 % (hazard ratio (95 % confidence interval) = 1.49 (1.06–2.12)). In women, BF% < 39 % (median) was associated with up to 32 % higher risk of all fractures (1.32 (1.13–1.44)), while BF% > 35 % was not associated with this outcome. Higher BF% was associated with lower risk of incident hip fractures in women. Higher BF% was associated with higher BUA amongst women. Higher BF% up to ~23 % was associated with higher BUA amongst men. Higher BF% is associated with lower risk of fractures in women. While there was no association between BF% and all fractures in men, increasing BF% >23 % was associated with higher risk of hip fractures in men. This appears to be independent of estimated bone mineral density. Fracture prevention efforts need to consider wider physical, clinical, and environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular networking strategy-based prioritization of the isolation of the rarely studied soft coral Sinularia tumulosa yielded 14 sesquiterpenes. These isolated constituents consisted of nine different types of carbon frameworks, namely asteriscane, humulane, capillosane, seco-asteriscane, guaiane, dumortane, cadinane, farnesane, and benzofarnesane. Among them, situmulosaols A–C (1 , 3 and 4) were previously undescribed ones, whose structures with absolute configurations were established by the combination of extensive spectral data analyses, quantum mechanical-nuclear magnetic resonance and time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism calculations, the Snatzke's method, and the modified Mosher's method. Notably, situmulosaol C (4) was the second member of capillosane-type sesquiterpenes. The plausible biogenetic relationships of these skeletally different sesquiterpenes were proposed. All sesquiterpenoids were evaluated for their antibacterial, cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects. The bioassay results showed compound 14 exhibited significant antibacterial activities against a variety of fish and human pathogenic bacteria with MIC 90 values ranging from 3.6 to 33.8 μg/mL. Moreover, moderate cytotoxic effects against HEL cells for components 13 and 14 and moderate inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in RAW264.7 cells for substance 13 were also observed. [Display omitted] • 14 sesquiterpenes were isolated from Sinularia tumulosa applying molecular networking. • These isolates possessed nine different carbon frameworks. • Situmulosaol C (4) was the second member of capillosane-type sesquiterpenes. • Absolute configurations were assigned by QM-NMR, TDDFT ECD, ICD, and Mosher's method. • Compound 14 showed significant antibacterial and moderate cytotoxic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metamaterials with the capability to control wave propagation in fluid or solid mediums have attracted plenty of fundamental scientific and engineering research in recent decades. This paper proposes a novel metamaterial, named Quasi-periodic sonic black hole (Q-SBH), to achieve both acoustic bandgap and elastic bandgap. The Q-SHB consists of two functional units: outer soft shells and inner stiff rings. The stiff rings with decaying inner radii are connected by soft shells, and the distances between rings take linear variation. The Q-SBH reserves the slow-sound effect of sonic black hole and the non-uniformly distributed rings serve as mistuning vibration absorbers. On the basis of these characteristics, broadband low-frequency acoustic and elastic bandgaps are generated simultaneously. We demonstrate the attenuation performance of the Q-SBH by theoretical, numerical and experimental methods. Parametric analysis and multi-objective optimization of the structure are carried out. The results demonstrate the great potential of the proposed Q-SBH in a broad range of physical fields requiring both air-borne noise reduction and structural vibration suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, deep learning approaches have shown remarkable advancements in Multivariate Time Series Classification (MTSC) tasks. However, the existing approaches primarily focus on capturing the long-term correlations of time series or identifying local key sequence fragments, inevitably neglecting the synergistic properties between global and local components. Additionally, most representation learning methods for MTSC rely on self-supervised learning, which limits their ability to fully exploit label information. Hence, this paper proposes a novel approach termed Dual-Stream Encoder and Dual-Level Contrastive Learning Network (DSDCLNet), which integrates a Dual-Stream Encoder (DSE) and Dual-level Contrastive Learning (DCL). First, to extract multiscale local-global features from multivariate time series data, we employ a DSE architecture comprising an Attention-Gated Recurrent Unit (AGRU) and a Dual-layer Multiscale Convolutional Neural Network (DMSCNN). Specifically, DMSCNN consists of a series of multi-scale convolutional layers and a max pooling layer. Second, to maximize the utilization of label information, a new loss function is designed, which combines classification loss, instance-level contrastive loss, and temporal-level contrastive loss. Finally, experiments are conducted on the UEA datasets and the results demonstrate that DSDCLNet achieves the highest average accuracy of 0.77, outperforming traditional approaches, deep learning approaches, and self-supervised approaches on 30, 23, and 27 datasets, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Estuarine geomorphic units exhibit varying response mechanisms to river floods. • The fine-grained sediment of tidal flat logarithmically correlated with peak flow. • Dams modified the quantitative relationship of sedimentary record to river floods. Interpretation of sedimentary records is a crucial method for studying paleo-floods. However, the response intensity of sedimentary records to floods may be altered by reservoir storage. Therefore, depicting flood intensity in sedimentary records and alterations in the response relationship is the primary challenge in paleo-flood reconstruction. This study used the Yalu River catchment–estuary–coast as the research area and quantitatively reconstructed the response relationship between sediment grain size composition and flood intensity. This was conducted through a combination of forward simulation of the HYDROTREND hydrological model and reconstruction of sedimentary records, as well as evaluating the impact of reservoir regulation on the quantitative relationship. The findings showed that the lower Yalu River channel and tidal flat were both efficient at preserving flood records. However, there were significant differences in the response of different geomorphic units to floods. The river channel showed a significant increase in the coarse-sensitive component, whereas the tidal flat exhibited a substantial increase in the fine-sensitive component. Further study showed that there was a significant logarithmic relationship between the content of the fine-sensitive fraction and flood intensity. The sensitivity of the fine-sensitive fraction towards small floods was much higher than that toward extreme floods. In addition, reservoir construction caused a significant shift in the relationship between flood intensity and flood-related sensitive sediment fractions. Consequently, the reconstructed flood intensities of the pre-dam construction showed diverse levels of magnification based on the quantitative relationship between the sedimentary record and flood intensity of the post-dam. Meanwhile, this shift led to an increase in flood intensity corresponding to the critical value of the flood record that could be detected: from floods with a return period exceeding two years before dam construction to floods with a return period exceeding five years after dam construction. This study has quantitatively reconstructed the relationship between sediment grain size fractions and flood intensity and assessed the impact of reservoir construction on the quantitative relationship. It has also provided new ideas for more accurate reconstruction of paleo-flood intensity changes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hospital environment has been implicated in the enrichment and exchange of pathogens and antibiotic resistance, but its potential in shaping the symbiotic microbial community of hospital staff is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the alteration of the gut microbiome in medical workers compared to non-medical controls. A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and other departments of a centre in north-eastern China. Faecal samples of 175 healthy medical workers—short-term (1–3 months) workers (n = 80) and long-term (>1 year) workers (n = 95)—and 80 healthy non-medical controls were analysed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The hospital environmental samples (n = 9) were also analysed. The gut microbiomes of medical workers exhibited marked deviations in diversity and alteration in microbial composition and function. Short-term workers showed significantly higher abundances of taxa such as Lactobacillus , Butyrivibrio , Clostridiaceae, Clostridium , Ruminococcus , Dialister , Bifidobacterium , Odoribacter , and Desulfovibrio and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Blautia than the controls. Long-term workers showed higher abundances of taxa such as Dialister , Veillonella , Clostridiaceae , Clostridium , Bilophila , Desulfovibrio , Pseudomonas , and Akkermansia and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Coprococcus than the controls. The medical workers' department (ICU versus non-ICU) and position (resident doctor versus nursing staff) also impacted their gut microbiome. Compared with the non-ICU workers, workers in the ICU showed a significant increase in the abundances of Dialister , Enterobacteriaceae, Phascolarctobacterium , Pseudomonas , Veillonella , and Streptococcus and a marked depletion of Faecalibacterium , Blautia , and Coprococcus. In contrast with the nursing staff, the resident doctors showed a significant increase in Erysipelotrichaceae and Clostridium and a decrease in Bacteroides , Blautia , and Ruminococcus in the gut microbiome. Moreover, we found that the microbiota of hospital environments potentially correlated with the workers' gut microbiota. Our findings demonstrated structural changes in the gut microbial community of medical workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of dietary conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) supplementation on lipid metabolism in laying hens was investigated. A total of 360 eighteen-wk-old Hy-Line Brown layers were randomly divided into 4 groups that consisted of 6 replicates with 15 birds each. Birds were fed basal diets with 0, 1%, 2%, and 4% CLA addition. The experiment lasted for 56 D after a 7-D adaptation period. Results showed that dietary CLA addition linearly reduced (P < 0.05) abdominal fat percentage but linearly increased (P < 0.05) relative liver weight of layers on day 56. A linear reduction (P < 0.05) in serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level and a linear elevation (P < 0.05) in the ratio of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level to LDL-C level of layers on both days 28 and 56 were observed with dietary CLA addition, which also linearly decreased (P < 0.05) cholesterol content in the liver of layers on day 56 as well as in eggs on both days 28 and 56. Besides, there were linear reductions (P < 0.05) in the gene expression and contents of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) and cholesterol 7 alpha hydroxylase 1 (CYP7A1), along with a linear increase (P < 0.05) in the gene expression and content of hepatic low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) in layers responded to dietary CLA addition. In conclusion, dietary CLA supplementation decreased the accumulation of lipids including abdominal fat and cholesterol in the liver and egg of laying hens, probably by upregulating hepatic LDLR expression and downregulating hepatic HMGR and CYP7A1 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, Eu-doped La 3 Si 8 N 11 O 4 phosphors with different doping concentrations are fabricated by solid state reaction method. A broad and asymmetric emission band that covers the wavelength range of 425–550 nm is observed. X-ray diffraction Rietveld refinement and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analyses reveal the co-existence of both trivalent and divalent states of Eu. By coating the phosphor particles with an ultrathin carbon layer using CVD technique, followed by an annealing in N 2 at 1600 °C, the trivalent ions Eu3+ are reduced to Eu2+, resulting in a significant enhancement of quantum efficiency, both internal and external, and absorption efficiency. The application of the La 3 Si 8 N 11 O 4 :Eu in white light-emitting diodes is tested by coating the phosphor onto a near-UV LED chip in combination with the red-, green- and blue-emitting phosphors ([Ca, Sr]AlSiN 3 :Eu, ®-Sialon:Eu and BaMgAl 10 O 17 :Eu, respectively). It is demonstrated that the presence of the La 3 Si 8 N 11 O 4 :Eu phosphor significantly enhances the color rendering index of the device, showing its great potential for wLEDs applications. • The microstructure evolution of La 3 Si 8 N 11 O 4 : Eu phosphor was clarified in detail. • Both trivalent and divalent states of Eu exist in La 3 Si 8 N 11 O 4 : Eu. • Eu3+ was reduced to Eu2+ by carbon coating and annealing. • The highest quantum efficiency was achieved in the treated phosphors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zirconium Boride is widely used as thermal protection materials. However, the characteristics of poor oxidation resistance of ZrB 2 at high temperatures limits its applications. In order to improve the anti-oxidation performance of ZrB 2 , a novel method of doping LaF 3 is adopted in present study. In the synthesis process of ZrB 2 via carbothermal reduction method, LaF 3 was introduced to the initial materials. Motivated by the slightly higher formation temperature of ZrB 2 than the melting point of LaF 3 , a liquid glass phase composed of F and La was deposited on the surface of ZrB 2 , which naturally brought in oxygen starvation and contributed to improved oxidation resistance performance. The crystal lattice parameters and the anti-oxidation ability of ZrB 2 are closely dependent on the added LaF 3 content, which can ascribe to La3+/Zr2+ substitution and the amount of glass phase on the surface of ZrB 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel 3D lattice structure combining the load bearing capability and broadband vibration suppression. • The acoustic black hole functional unit to realize the omnidirectional vibration bandgap in the low frequency domain. • Experimental validation of high stiffness-density ratio and ultra-wide vibration attenuation band. • Multi-optimization for superior static and dynamic properties. Multifunctional 3D lattice structures with unconventional mechanical properties offer unique material properties and broad applications in complex engineering environments. This paper proposes a novel 3D lightweight lattice structure based on the acoustic black hole (ABH) to achieve high load-bearing capability and vibration suppression in the low-frequency domain. In the microunit of the lattice structure, three ABH struts arranged in the X, Y, and Z directions are connected by a center stud and then assembled into a simple cubic lattice (SC) by a body-centered cubic (BCC) support. The proposed SC-BCC-ABH lattice structure is analyzed through simulation and experiments to investigate its static stiffness and vibration bandgaps. The results show that the Gibson-Ashby coefficient of SC-BCC-ABH is higher than that of typical lattice structures, indicating that superior stiffness is achieved. For vibration suppression, the proposed lattice structure generates a wide pseudo bandgap with a relative bandwidth of 0.81, which can be further increased to 1.17 by optimizing the structural parameters. The formation mechanism of the board bandgap is closely related to the ABH effect and the coupled vibration between ABH and SC parts. Parametric analysis and optimization procedures are carried out to obtain better static and dynamic performance. The SC-BCC-ABH lattice structure shows great application potential in micro-vibration isolation and impact protection for high-precision devices. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Silicon-derived silica-bonded SiC membrane supports were fabricated by oxidizing the SiC-Si compacts at 1250–1400 °C in air. The effects of initial Si content and sintering temperature on the porosity, pore size, permeability, and mechanical strength of the SiC membrane supports were investigated. The addition of Si into SiC powder compact increased the silica content and flexural strength, but decreased porosity, pore size, and permeability. The strength of silica-bonded SiC membrane supports showed excellent chemical durability (5% and 8% strength degradation after exposure to acidic and alkaline solutions for 63 days, respectively). The excellent chemical durability of silica-bonded SiC membrane supports was attributed to the absence of alkali and alkaline earth elements in its bonding phase. Typical porosity, pore size, permeability, and flexural strength of Si-derived silica-bonded SiC membrane supports (sintered with 30 wt% Si at 1350 °C) are 40%, 1.3 µm, 4.7 × 10–14 m2, and 62 MPa, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Three new probes, named, [Cu(L1) 2 ]Cl 2 ( C1 ), [Cu(L2) 2 ]Cl 2 ( C2 ) and [Cu(L3) 2 ]Cl 2 ( C3 ) were synthesized and well characterized. The probes C1 , C2 and C3 were successfully achieved for the efficient detection of PO 4 3− as turn-on fluorescence chemosensors in DMSO/H 2 O (v : v = 2:8, Tris-HCl pH = 7.20). The limit of detection (LOD) of probes C1 , C2 or C3 for PO 4 3− could be as low as 0.029 μM, 0.048 μM, 0.079 μM, respectively, which were effectively applied for the determination of the PO 4 3− concentration in environmental water of swimming pool. What's more, the binding constant between probes C1 , C2 , C3 and PO 4 3− are estimated to be 3.11 × 107 M−1 (R2 = 0.9992), 1.84 × 107 M−1 (R2 = 0.9956), 1.93 × 107 M−1 (R2 = 0.9976), respectively. The proposed mechanism for the "on-off-on" fluorescence response was confirmed by ESI-MS and fluorescence spectrum. Moreover, the membrane-permeable probe C1 was successfully demonstrated in monitoring of PO 4 3− in cultured HepG2 cells. Graphical Abstract Three new copper complexes were synthesized successfully achieved for the efficient detection of PO 4 3− as turn-on fluorescence chemosensors in DMSO/H 2 O (v : v = 2:8, Tris-HCl pH = 7.20) with the limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.029 μM, 0.048 μM, 0.079 μM, respectively. Unlabelled Image Highlights • Three new probes were synthesized and highly selective towards PO 4 3− in aqueous solution. • Three probes exhibited instant / reversible and excellent specificity towards PO 4 3−. • Three probes could monitor intracellular PO 4 3− levels. • The detection mechanism indicated that PO 4 3− induces a fluorescence enhancement by the replacement of Cu2+ from probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ADAM metallopeptidase with thrombospondin type 1 motif (ADAMTS) are secreted, multi-domain matrix-related zinc endopeptidases that play a role in organogenesis, assembly and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM), cancer and inflammation. Genome-wide identification and analysis of the bovine ADAMTS gene family has not yet been carried out. In this study, 19 ADAMTS family genes were identified in Bos taurus by genome-wide bioinformatics analysis, and they were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the Bos taurus ADAMTS are divided into eight subfamilies, with highly consistent gene structures and motifs within the same subfamily. Collinearity analysis showed that the Bos taurus ADAMTS gene family is homologous to other bovine subfamily species, and many ADAMTS genes may be derived from tandem replication and segmental replication. In addition, based on the analysis of RNA-seq data, we found the expression pattern of ADAMTS gene in different tissues. Meanwhile, we also analyzed the expression profile of ADAMTS gene in the inflammatory response of bovine mammary epithelial cells (BMECs) stimulated by LPS by qRT-PCR. The results can provide ideas for understanding the evolutionary relationship and expression pattern of ADAMTS gene in Bovidae, and clarify the theoretical basis of the function of ADAMTS in inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Zigzag channels with bending angle 30° are studied experimentally. • Empirical correlations are proposed for friction factor and Nusselt number. • Fanning factor in this study is about 7–10 times that in straight channels. • Nusselt number in this study is about twice that in straight channels. Zigzag-channel printed circuit heat exchangers have a wide range of application prospects in Gen-IV nuclear systems related to supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycles. Experimental data and empirical correlations are the basis for the design of zigzag-channel printed circuit heat exchangers. In this study, experimental investigation on flow and heat transfer of supercritical carbon dioxide in zigzag channels is carried out. The dimensions of the tested zigzag channels are as follows, the channel diameter 1.95 mm, the bending angle 30°, the longitudinal pitch 7.24 mm, as well as the radius of the curvature at the bending corner 0.5 mm. The Reynolds number and Prandtl number of supercritical carbon dioxide in the experimental study range between 3201 and 43258 and 1.1–6.0, respectively. Based on the obtained local Fanning friction factors and local Nusselt numbers, the effect of zigzag angle on flow and heat transfer are analyzed. And new flow and heat transfer correlations for the tested zigzag channel are proposed. The predicted values by the new developed correlations agree with the experimental data well. Comparisons between the new developed correlations and the existing correlations developed for printed circuit heat exchangers are conducted. Heat transfer enhancement obviously occurs when comparing with straight channels. Result shows that the heat transfer coefficient in the tested zigzag channels is about twice that predicted by Dittus-Boelter correlation (under cooling condition). The Fanning friction factor in the tested zigzag channel is about seven to ten times that in straight channels within the scope of investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hierarchical vaterite spherulites, synthesized by a simple injection-precipitation method at room temperature, were applied for the simultaneous removal of heavy metal Cd(II) and dye Congo red (CR) from aqueous solution. Batch experiments reveal that the maximum removal capacities of as-prepared vaterite spherulites to Cd(II) and CR are 984.5 and 89.0 mg/g, respectively, showing excellent removal performance for Cd(II) and CR. Furthermore, in the binary Cd(II)-CR system, the removal capacity of vaterite to Cd(II) is significantly enhanced at lower CR concentration (<100 mg/L), but inhibited at higher CR concentration (>100 mg/L). In contrast, the concurrent Cd(II) shows negligible effect on the CR removal. The simultaneous removal mechanism was investigated by FESEM, EDX, XRD, FT-IR and XPS techniques. The simultaneous removal of Cd(II) and CR in the binary system is shown to be a multistep process, involving the preferential adsorption of dye CR, stabilization of CR to vaterite, coordination of the adsorbed CR molecules with Cd(II), and transformation of vaterite into otavite. Given the facile and green synthesis procedure, and effective removal of Cd(II) and CR in the binary system, the obtained vaterite spherulites have considerable practical interest in integrative treatment of wastewater contaminated by heavy metals and dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase separation temperature estimations, based on Hansen solubility parameters for poly(ethersulfone) (PES)/solvent/non-solvent systems, were carried out to study the control of phase separation temperature in a reverse thermally induced phase separation (RTIPS) process. Four membrane-forming systems were studied, namely PES/N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc)/diethylene glycol (DEG), PES/DMAc/polyethylene glycol 200 (PEG200), PES/DMAc/PEG300 and PES/DMAc/PEG400. The effects of PES molecular weights, PES concentrations, PEG molecular weights and ratios of non-solvent/solvent on phase separation temperature are investigated, and the theoretical Hansen solubility parameter calculation is used to establish a prediction equation for phase separation temperature. A linear relationship between the experimental data and the difference in the solubility parameters between PES and the mixed solvent was observed. When the membrane-forming temperature was higher than the cloud point, membranes with a bi-continuous structure were acquired and showed a higher pure water permeation flux than that of membranes prepared with the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. The pure water permeation flux and the mean pore size of membranes prepared with the RTIPS process decreased in line with an increase of PES molecular weight. When the membrane formation mechanism was the RTIPS process, the mechanical properties were better than those of the corresponding membranes prepared with the NIPS process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A numerical analysis of the buoyancy effect on heat transfer to carbon dioxide flow at supercritical pressures in a vertical heated tube has been carried out using the FLUENT computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool with the shear-stress-transport low Reynolds number eddy viscosity turbulence model. It covered the 1200-mm heated section and included 500-mm unheated section upstream for flow development. Wall temperatures calculated from the analysis were compared against those obtained from the experiments. Although the analysis overestimated the experimental wall temperatures, it captured appropriately the general trends of the experimental results. Based on the examinations of the calculated flow and turbulence fields, the effect of buoyancy on heat transfer has been quantified. Results showed that there are two obvious characteristics of the velocity gradient profile influenced by severe buoyancy effect, i.e., (1) zero-velocity-gradient region may come into being; (2) the slope of the velocity gradient profile near the wall may become very large. When the zero-velocity-gradient region comes into the rim of viscous sub-layer, turbulent production and diffusion will be damped, finally deteriorated heat transfer occurs. Enhancement heat transfer may happen at the post-deteriorated heat transfer section because of the large slope of the mean velocity gradient profile, and the possible mechanism was introduced. A striking phenomenon has been found, i.e., enhancement heat transfer might also happen when the buoyancy parameter is lower the value corresponding to heat transfer recovery. This phenomenon relates to the difficulty of heat transfer data correlation near the pseudo-critical point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of convective heat transfer coefficients for supercritical fluids (including CO 2 ) is still an unsolved problem, owning to the rapid variation of thermal physical properties in pseudo-critical zone. A new approach has been introduced to predict heat transfer in tubes at the vicinity of the pseudo-critical point using the predictive-corrective method (SHTP-PCM). It is based on two dimensionless numbers, which reflect quantitatively the strength of buoyancy and flow-acceleration effects, Bu and Ac , and a set of convective heat transfer correlations for supercritical CO 2 , which were derived from forced convective heat-transfer data of CO 2 flow. An assessment of this new approach showed an improvement in prediction accuracy (i.e., the average bias and the standard deviation) of heat transfer. The percentage of predicted inner wall temperatures within error range of ±10% increased by about 16% and 5% for upward flow and downward flow, respectively. What’s more, high prediction scatter points from existing correlations were relieved greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Segmentation of the femur from the hip joint in computed tomography (CT) is an important preliminary step in hip surgery planning and simulation. However, this is a time-consuming and challenging task due to the weak boundary, the varying topology of the hip joint, and the extremely narrow or blurred space between the femoral head and the acetabulum. To address these problems, this study proposed a semi-automatic segmentation framework based on harmonic fields for accurate segmentation. Methods: The proposed method comprises three steps. First, with high-level information provided by the user, shape information provided by neighboring slices as well as the statistical information in the mask, a region selection method is proposed to effectively locate joint space for the harmonic field. Second, incorporated with an improved gradient, the harmonic field is used to adaptively extract a curve as the barrier that separates the femoral head from the acetabulum accurately. Third, a divide and conquer segmentation strategy based on the harmonic barrier is used to combine the femoral head part and body part as the final segmentation result. Results: We have tested 40 hips with considerately narrow or disappeared joint spaces. The experimental results are evaluated based on Jaccard, Dice, directional cut discrepancy (DCD) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and we achieve the higher Jaccard of 84.02%, Dice of 85.96%, area under curve (AUC) of 89.3%, and the lower error with DCD of 0.52mm. The effective ratio of our method is 79.1% even for cases with severe malformation. The results show that our method performs best in terms of effectiveness and accuracy on the whole data set. Conclusions: The proposed method is efficient to segment femurs with narrow joint space. The accurate segmentation results can assist the physicians for osteoarthritis diagnosis in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new attempt to prepare polyethersulfone (PES)-Titania (TiO 2 ) organic-inorganic hollow fiber hybrid membranes were investigated by sol-gel process assisted reverse thermally induced phase separation (RTIPS) method. The membrane formation mechanism underwent NIPS (coagulation temperature lower than cloud point) or RTIPS (coagulation temperature higher than cloud point) process. Properties of hollow fiber hybrid membranes, which varied with TiO 2 sol addition and coagulation temperature, were investigated by SEM, EDX, AFM, TGA, XPS and contact angle. SEM results showed that the dense skin layer was produced in the hybrid membranes via NIPS process, while porous skin layer and sponge-like structures emerged in the hybrid membranes via RTIPS process. As a result, pure water flux, BSA rejection, mechanical properties of hybrid membranes by RTIPS were higher than that via NIPS. EDX mapping spectra proved that the dispersion uniformity of TiO 2 particles through sol-gel process on the top surface of 1 wt% TiO 2 embedded PES membrane, which prepared in 60 °C coagulation bath. XPS data revealed the element distribution in the hybrid membranes. AFM and TGA revealed increased surface roughness and thermal stability of the hybrid membranes by the addition of TiO 2 sol, respectively. The organic-inorganic hybrid membranes prepared with 1 wt% TiO 2 sol content by RTIPS method exhibited decent performance, which reached maximum pure water flux of 1046 L/(m 2 h) and BSA rejection of 75%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hegenshan ophiolite in the Solonker-Hegenshan belt is the largest ophiolite in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). Despite its significance in constraining regional tectonic evolution, the emplacement time of the Hegenshan ophiolite is still under debate. In this study, we provide new detrital zircon ages of the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that unconformably overlie the Wusinihei ophiolite (northeastern part of the Hegenshan ophiolite) to constrain the lower limit emplacement time of the Hegenshan ophiolite. The zircon ages obtained from the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks range from 298 ± 8 to 363 ± 7 Ma, and show bimodal distribution at 300–320 Ma (peak at 308 Ma) and 320–360 Ma (peak at 330 Ma). The age group of 300–320 Ma coincides with the age range of the volcanic rocks of the Late Paleozoic Gegenaobao Formation. The age group of 320–360 Ma with a peak at 330 Ma may be linked to local mafic–ultramafic rocks of the Hegenshan ophiolite. Accordingly, we suggest that the emplacement time of the Hegenshan ophiolite should have occurred earlier than the deposition of the Gegenaobao Formation, most likely during the time between 308 and 330 Ma, instead of the Silurian, Devonian or Mesozoic as previously considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mean electron transfer number ( n ) of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is controlled by nitrogen doping for the air electrodes of Zn-air batteries and electrochemical organic degradation. Melamine and pyrrole are employed as the nitrogen sources for fabricating N-doped rGO (N-rGO) by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis (MAHS). The n value of the ORR is determined by the rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) voltammetry and is successfully controlled from 2.34 to 3.93 by preparation variables. The N-doped structures are examined by the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) analysis. The morphology and the defect degree of N-rGOs are characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. N-rGOs with high and low n values are employed as the air electrode catalysts of zinc-air batteries and in-situ hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) generation, respectively. The highest discharge cell voltage of 1.235 V for a Zn-air battery is obtained at 2 mA cm −2 meanwhile the current efficiency of H 2 O 2 generation in 1-h electrolysis at 0 V (vs. RHE) reaches 43%. The electrocatalytic degradation of orange G (OG), analyzed by UV-VIS absorption spectra, reveals a high decoloration degree from the relative absorbance of 0.38 for the azo π-conjugation structure of OG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Broadband gap in low frequency is obtained by the novel locally resonant metastructure. • Calculation and verification methods include Gaussian expansion method, finite element method and experiment. • The property of lightweight with resonable stiffness. • Practical engineering applications in vibration attenuation in broad and low frequency. Metastructure has been discovered as a new and effective means of vibration suppression in recent studies. Based on the basic principle of the locally resonant (LR) metastructure, a novel two-dimensional LR metastruture is proposed in this paper. The host plate is punched out several concentric holes and filled with soft materials, with the resonator installed in the center. The band structure of an infinite structure is calculated by using Gaussian expansion method as well as the finite element method. To further evaluate the vibration attenuation performance, the vibration transmission of a finite plate is obtained by both numerical and experimental methods. Formation mechanism of band gaps (BGs) is revealed by analyzing eigenmodes at boundary frequencies. The significance of the novel design is clarified from the mechanism level, about the characteristics of generating broad band gaps in low frequencies. The influence of both geometric parameters and material damping properties on BGs are discussed, including examples of a non-periodic plate and a periodic damped plate. Because of its features and simple design, it can be expected to be widely applied in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel N -benzylarylamide saderivatives were designed and synthesized, and their antiproliferative activities were explored. Some of 51 target compounds exhibited potent inhibitory activities against MGC-803, HCT-116 and KYSE450 cells with IC 50 values in two-digit nanomolar. Compound I-33 (MY-875) displayed the most potent antiproliferative activities against MGC-803, HCT-116 and KYSE450 cells (IC 50 = 0.027, 0.055 and 0.067 μM, respectively) and possessed IC 50 values ranging from 0.025 to 0.094 μM against other 11 cancer cell lines. Further mechanism studies indicated that compound I-33 (MY-875) inhibited tubulin polymerization (IC 50 = 0.92 μM) by targeting the colchicine bingding site of tubulin. Compound I-33 (MY-875) disrupted the construction of the microtubule networks and affected the mitosis in MGC-803 and SGC-7901 cells. In addition, although it acted as a colchicine binding site inhibitor, compound I-33 (MY-875) also activated the Hippo pathway to promote the phosphorylation status of MST and LATS, resulting in the YAP degradation in MGC-803 and SGC-7901 cells. Due to the degradation of YAP, the expression levels of TAZ and Axl decreased. Because of the dual actions on colchicine binding site and Hippo pathway, compound I-33 (MY-875) dose-dependently inhibited cell colony formatting ability, arrested cells at the G2/M phase and induced cells apoptosis in MGC-803 and SGC-7901 cells. Moreover, compound I-33 (MY-875) could regulate the levels of cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory proteins in MGC-803 and SGC-7901 cells. Furthermore, molecular docking analysis suggested that the hydrogen bond and hydrophobic interactions made compound I-33 (MY-875) well bind into the colchicine binding site of tubulin. Collectively, compound I-33 (MY-875) is a novel anti-gastric cancer agent and deserves to be further investigated for cancer therapy by targeting the colchicine binding site of tubulin and activating the Hippo pathway. [Display omitted] • Novel N -benzylarylamide derivatives were prepared. • Compound 875 displayed excellent antiproliferative activity. • Compound 875 inhibited tubulin polymerization by binding to the colchicine site. • Compound 875 activated the Hippo pathway. • Compound 875 induced cell cycle arrest and cells apoptosis in gastric cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activation of the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM-2) regulates myeloid cell function in vitro. However, the failure to detect TREM-2 protein expression in vivo has hampered studies on immunological and other physiological TREM-2 functions. This study demonstrates that TREM-2 is expressed by human mesenchymal stem cells (h-MSCs) and responds to the toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Knockdown of TREM-2 in h-MSCs using a small interfering RNA (siRNA) reduced the expression levels of TLR2, TLR4, and TLR6, inhibited osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic differentiation under specific induction conditions, and enhanced LPS-evoked inflammatory cytokine production. Thus, activation of TREM-2 may restrain h-MSC immune activation and promote differentiation for tissue repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imaging non-uniformity of infrared focal plane array (IRFPA) behaves as fixed-pattern noise superimposed on the image, which affects the imaging quality of infrared system seriously. In scene-based non-uniformity correction methods, the drawbacks of ghosting artifacts and image blurring affect the sensitivity of the IRFPA imaging system seriously and decrease the image quality visibly. This paper proposes an improved neural network non-uniformity correction method with adaptive learning rate. On the one hand, using guided filter, the proposed algorithm decreases the effect of ghosting artifacts. On the other hand, due to the inappropriate learning rate is the main reason of image blurring, the proposed algorithm utilizes an adaptive learning rate with a temporal domain factor to eliminate the effect of image blurring. In short, the proposed algorithm combines the merits of the guided filter and the adaptive learning rate. Several real and simulated infrared image sequences are utilized to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experiment results indicate that the proposed algorithm can not only reduce the non-uniformity with less ghosting artifacts but also overcome the problems of image blurring in static areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical oxidation of glucose is the guarantee to realize nonenzymatic sensing of glucose, but greatly hindered by the slow kinetics of its oxidation process. Herein, various nanomaterials were designed as catalysts to accelerate glucose oxidation reaction. However, how to effectively build an excellent platform for promoting the glucose oxidation is still a great challenge. In our work, 1D CaMoO 4 and NiMoO 4 nanofibres with same morphologies and sub-microstructures were fabricated by electrospinning technique in the first time, and explored to modify the detection electrodes of nonenzymatic glucose sensors. The electrochemical results indicated that the NiMoO 4 based sensor exhibited a good catalytic activity toward glucose including the low response potential (0.5 V), high sensitivity(193.8 μA mM −1 cm −2 ) with a linear response region of 0.01–8 mM, low detection limit (4.6 μM) and fast response time (2 s), all of which are superior to the corresponding values of CaMoO 4 nanofibres and even higher than those of most reported NiO and Co 3 O 4 catalysts, which is due to the NiMoO 4 nanofibres are not only advantageous to electron transfer, but can mediated the electrocatalytic reaction of glucose. This work should provide a new pathway for the design of advanced glucose catalysts for nonenzymatic sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoporous calcite with different architectures is successfully prepared via a facile microwave-assisted polyol process, followed by a calcination treatment. The precursor, obtained by microwave-assisted method in EG solvent without any other organic additives, is a composite of aragonite–calcium acetate hydrate. The morphology and contexture of the precursor could be easily adjusted by the different addition of urea. After calcination, the as-synthesized precursor can be transformed into pure calcite with intact morphology and architecture. The BET surface area and total pore volume are 22.70 m 2 /g and 0.044 cm 3 /g for the flower-like calcite, and 39.97 m 2 /g and 0.115 cm 3 /g for the hierarchically layered calcite, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this investigation is to construct a high quality complete dentate mandible model with detailed biological structures, and assign mandibular bone with inherent orthotropic material characteristics. Three different types of scan data are used to elaborate detailed mandibular structures, including the cortical and cancellous bone, tooth enamel, dentin, periodontal ligament, temporal fossa, TMJ articular disk, temporal cartilage, and condylar cartilage. In addition, an extended orthotropic material assignment methodology based on harmonic fields is used to handle the alveolar ridge region of dentate mandible, to generate compatible orthotropic axes fields. The influence of orthotropic material on the biomechanical behavior of complete dentate mandible is analyzed compared with commonly used isotropic model. The result revealed that the orthotropic model would induce higher stress values and more well-distributed stress pattern than the isotropic model, especially for the cancellous bone. And the orthotropic model would induce lower volumetric strain values than the isotropic model on the cortical bone. It was concluded that elastic orthotropy had a significant effect on the simulated stress value and distribution pattern, as well as the volumetric strain, and demonstrated the mechanical optimality of the mandible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure-driven membranes-based desalination provides an effective and promising strategy to deal with the worldwide fresh water crisis. However, some drawbacks are still restricting their wider applications. Therefore, it still remains a great challenge to explore the novel technologies to develop new types of pressure-driven desalination membranes and to improve the properties of the present ones. Layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly technology, which can produce charged thin films on molecular levels by adsorbing oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and/or other nano-species via different interactions, provides a tunable and facile method to tailor separation membranes with desired properties. Moreover, LBL assembly has shown great potential for exploring multifunctional pressure-driven desalination membranes including reverse osmosis (RO) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes. This review aims to give a comprehensive discussion and comment on the state-of-the-art developments of LBL assembled technology applied on the pressure-driven desalination membranes, mainly focusing on RO and FO membranes. It is sincerely expected that this review can provide a scientific view and give some fundamental clues for acquiring new methodologies for the exploration of pressure-driven desalination membranes with preferable performances based on LBL assembly technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estrogen deficiency is involved in the development of depression. However, the mechanism underlying estrogen modulates depression-like behavior remains largely unknown. Inflammation and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) have been shown to play pivotal roles in various depression models. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether estrogen deficiency-induced depression-like behavior is associated with inflammation and IDO activation in brain. The results showed that ovariectomy resulted in depression-like behavior in female rats and caused a decrease in 5-HT content and an increase in levels of IDO, IFN-γ, IL-6, toll like receptor (TLR)-4 and phosphorylated NF-κB (p65 subunit) in hippocampus but not in prefrontal cortex (PFC). 17β-Estradiol (E 2 ) treatment ameliorated depression-like behavior and restored above neurochemical alternations in hippocampus in ovariectomized rats. Partial correlation analysis showed that the levels of phosphorylated p65, IFN-γ and IL-6 in hippocampus correlated to serum E 2 level. Our study suggests that estrogen inhibits inflammation and activates of IDO and maintains 5-HT level in hippocampus, thereby ameliorating depression-like behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five new phorbol esters, (four phorbol diesters, 1 – 4 , and one 4-deoxy-4α-phorbol diester, 5 ), as well as four known phorbol esters analogues ( 6 – 9 ) were isolated and identified from the branches and leaves of Croton tiglium . Their structures were elucidated mainly by extensive NMR spectroscopic, and mass spectrometric analysis. Among them, compound ( 1 ) was the first example of a naturally occurring phorbol ester with the 20-aldehyde group. Compounds 2 – 5 , and 7 – 9 showed potent cytotoxicity against the K562, A549, DU145, H1975, MCF-7, U937, SGC-7901, HL60, Hela, and MOLT-4 cell lines, with IC 50 values ranging from 1.0 to 43 μM, while none of the compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects on normal human cell lines 293T and LX-2, respectively. In addition, compound 3 exhibited moderate COX-1 and COX-2 inhibition, with IC 50 values of 0.14 and 8.5 μM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a low cost and simple method to prepare a paper-based supercapacitor in this study. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were dispersed with a pectin solution under an ultrasonic homogenizer. Carbon nanotube suspension was prepared using a centrifuge to eliminate impurities. The dispersed MWCNTs suspension was dropped and dried onto the shallow surface of commercial copy paper. A paper-based conductive paper was formed as the electrodes. The electrical conductivity and dispersed morphology of the paper-based conductive paper were examined by four probes, atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The solid-state electrolyte was prepared by casting a solution of phosphoric acid and polyvinyl alcohol onto a glass plate. The paper-based supercapacitor was constructed with one solid-state electrolyte inserted between two electrodes, which were assembled into a sandwich structure by hot press. The specific capacitance and cycle-life stability of the paper-based supercapacitor was investigated by cyclic voltammetry analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Spatial distributions of biogenic sulfur compounds including dimethylsulfide (DMS), dissolved and particulate dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSPd and DMSPp) were investigated in the South Yellow Sea (SYS) and the East China Sea (ECS) in July 2011. The concentrations of DMS and DMSPp were significantly correlated with the levels of chlorophyll a in the surface water. Simultaneously, relatively high ratio values of DMSP/chlorophyll a and DMS/chlorophyll a occurred in the areas where the phytoplankton community was dominated by dinoflagellates. The DMSPp and chlorophyll a size-fractionation showed that larger nanoplankton (5–20μm) was the most important producer of DMSPp in the study area. The vertical profiles of DMS and DMSP were characterized by a maximum at the upper layer and the bottom concentrations were also relatively higher compared with the overlying layer of the bottom. In addition, a positive linear correlation was observed between dissolved dimethylsulfoxide (DMSOd) and DMS concentrations in the surface waters. The sea-to-air fluxes of DMS in the study area were estimated to be from 0.03 to 102.35μmolm−2 d−1 with a mean of 16.73μmolm−2 d−1 and the contribution of biogenic non-sea-salt SO4 2− (nss-SO4 2−) to the measured total nss-SO4 2− in the atmospheric aerosol over the study area varied from 1.42% to 30.98%, with an average of 8.2%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background Higher intakes of cruciferous vegetables or their constituents have been shown to lower inflammation in animal studies. However, evidence for this anti-inflammatory effect of cruciferous vegetable consumption in humans is scarce. Objective/Design In this cross-sectional analysis, we evaluated associations of vegetable intake with a panel of inflammatory and oxidative stress markers among 1,005 middle-aged Chinese women. Dietary intake of foods was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. Results Multivariable-adjusted circulating concentrations of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interlukin-1β (IL-1β), and IL-6 were lower among women with higher intakes of cruciferous vegetables. The differences in concentrations of inflammatory biomarkers between extreme quintiles of cruciferous vegetable intake were 12.66% for TNF-α (Ptrend=0.01), 18.18% for IL-1β (Ptrendd=0.02), and 24.68% for IL-β (Ptrend=0.02). A similar, but less apparent, inverse association was found for intakes of all vegetables combined but not for noncruciferous vegetables. Levels of the urinary oxidative stress markers F2-isoprostanes and their major metabolite, 2,3-dinor-5,6-dihydro-15-F2t-IsoP, were not associated with intakes of cruciferous vegetables or all vegetables combined. Conclusions This study suggests that the previously observed health benefits of cruciferous vegetable consumption may be partly associated with the anti-inflammatory effects of these vegetables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In teleosts, the pseudobranch is hemibranchial, with a gill-like structure located near the first gill. We hypothesized that the pseudobranch of the milkfish might exhibit osmoregulatory ability similar to that of the gills. In this study, the obtained Na+, K+-ATPase (NKA) activity and protein abundance profiles showed that these parameters were higher in the pseudobranchs of the seawater (SW)- than the freshwater (FW)-acclimated milkfish, opposite the situation in the gills. The pseudobranch of the milkfish contained two types of NKA-immunoreactive cells, chloride cells (CCs) and pseudobranch-type cells (PSCs). To further clarify the roles of CCs and PSCs in the pseudobranch, we investigated the distributions of two ion transporters: the Na+, K+, 2Cl− cotransporter (NKCC) and the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). NKCC on the basolateral membrane and CFTR on the apical membrane were found only in pseudobranchial CCs of SW-acclimated individuals. Taken together, the results distinguished NKA-IR CCs and PSCs in the pseudobranch of milkfish using antibodies against NKCC and CFTR as markers. In addition, increases in the numbers and sizes of CCs as well as in NKA expression observed upon salinity challenge indicated the potential roles of pseudobranchs in hypo-osmoregulation in this euryhaline teleost. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Mixed alloy Cu–In–Ga precursors were deposited from Cu–Ga alloy and Indium targets by the DC magnetron co-sputtering method. There were four crystallization phases, In, CuIn2, Cu11In9 and Cu3Ga, identified in the precursor after deposition. A large grain-size CIGS film was achieved by controlling the annealing period for selenization and utilizing a two-stage selenization process for secondary crystallization during rapid thermal annealing process. As the annealing temperature increased, the phase transitions moved toward the Cu-rich inter-metallic phases. In addition, the phase transition, stoichiometric ratio and surface-morphology were modified by Ar-ion plasma etching process of the precursors. The results show that after the ion etching process, the precursors can be transferred into a single Cu11In9 crystallization phase and the number of crevices increased due to the soft texture of indium on the surface of the precursors. Finally, CIGS films with good crystalline properties were achieved after a suitable selenization process of only 1-stage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two sandwich-like frameworks with Ag(I) and mixed ligands, [Ag3(bpp)3(ctc)·16H2O]n (1) and [Ag3(bpe)3(btc)·12H2O]n (2) (where bpp=1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)propane, H3ctc=1,3,5-cyclohexanetricarboxylic acid, bpe=1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane, and H3btc=1,2,4-benzenetricarboxylic acid), have been synthesized and structurally characterized. Fully deprotonated tricarboxylate ctc3− in 1 or btc3− in 2, serves as anionic template driving more water molecules to aggregate into different morphologies of polymeric clusters. In 1, the hydrogen-bonding association of sixteen lattice water molecules leads to the formation of 2D layered water, which is composed of three kinds of units including planar (H2O)4, ladder-like (H2O)8 and windmill-shaped (H2O)20 cluster. One novel 1D double-comb-like water aggregate constructed from alternating (H2O)22 cluster and water dimmer exists in 2. The present observations suggest that anionic templates with more carboxylate groups have high tendency of being hydrated and make polymeric clusters possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The PE100 class high-density polyethylene pipes that are intended for transmission and distribution of natural gases were aged under the 24-month natural weathering test with actual sunlight exposure. • It was determined that, with the increase of the ageing time and the sunlight exposure intensity, the mechanical and the chemical properties were decreased as expected. • By Fourier transform infrared microscope, the oxidation degradation mechanism was identified, and the depth of oxidation was quantitatively determined to be less than 50 μm from the surface. • The oxidation degradation mechanism is based on the free radical theory, which is mainly related to the chain scission and oxidation of the amorphous region, and the gradual movement of the interzonal region towards the crystalline region. High-density polyethylene pipes are prevailing in transportation of combustible natural gases, so their reliability deserves special attention. Amongst the diverse ageing effects that are usually taken into account, including internal pressure, chemicals, temperature and vibration etc., the effect of sunlight exposure has been seldom concerned because the natural weathering test takes a really long time. Though the Xenon arc lamp is always used to simulate the ultraviolet environment, the natural weathering test is still the optimum to evaluate the performances degradation of materials to simulate the actual service conditions. In this paper, such a natural weathering test with sunlight exposure time up to 24 months was performed on the PE100 class high-density polyethylene pipes. The mechanical and the chemical properties before and after the test were measured to evaluate the extent and trend of degradation, and particularly the Fourier transform infrared microscope was utilized to quantitatively investigate the oxidation degradation mechanism in the microscopic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The influence of the cluttered background is reduced via the convolution feature of dual waveband imagery effectively. • The anti-interference performance of the tracking algorithm is improved by a target detection model. • Experimental results insist that the multi-source information leads to improve the performance of tracking methods. For infrared small target detection and tracking, the challenge mainly contains dim targets, cluttered background, and infrared decoys. In the face of the above difficulties, traditional tracking algorithms focus on utilizing information of a single waveband is difficult to achieve good performance. In this paper, a tracking algorithm, which combines the Kernelized Correlation Filter (KCF) with a detection model, is presented to cope with these challenges on dual waveband imagery. Firstly, the Side Window Box Filter (SWBF) is utilized to suppress the background edge in the wide-band image, which contains much more detail than that in narrow-band image. Therefore, several filters are obtained in the first wide-band image processed by the SWBF. Subsequently, fused features for the KCF algorithm can be computed via convolution operation. In order to solve the migration problem referring to decoys, a detection model based on multi-frame association and image correlation is introduced to refind the target. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the presented algorithm outperforms several relative algorithms in the accuracy and robustness. Besides, the multi-source information leads to improve the performance of tracking methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chronic stress is involved in development of depression and causes immune alterations. Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) plays a pivotal role in mediating the depression-like behaviors in response to immune activation. Physical exercise has been shown to reduce the stress impairment and ameliorate depressive symptoms. The objectives of present study were to confirm that chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induces depression-like behavior and inflammatory responses within the brain, and then investigate whether swimming exercise alleviates the depression-like behaviors induced by CUMS through proinflammatory cytokine-induced alteration of IDO in brain. It has been found that CUMS exposure induced depression-like behavior, increased serum corticosterone (CORT) level, decreased 5-HT level, increased IFN-γ and TNF-α levels and elevated IDO activity in prefrontal cortex. Moreover, the level of 5-HT was inversely correlated with IDO level. Regular swimming exercise ameliorated depressive symptoms induced by CUMS. The exercise reduced serum CORT level, increased 5-HT level as well as decreased levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α and IDO in prefrontal cortex in CUMS rats. These findings suggested that CUMS activate HPA axis and induce immune activation, which may stimulate IDO activity, leading to the reduction of 5-HT level in brain, thereby resulting in depression. Swimming exercise may inhibit activation of inflammation/IDO pathways induced by CUMS, thereby ameliorating depression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Although it is well known that human bone tissues have obvious orthotropic material properties, most works in the physical modeling field adopted oversimplified isotropic or approximated transversely isotropic elasticity due to the simplicity. This paper presents a convenient methodology based on harmonic fields, to construct volumetric finite element mesh integrated with complete orthotropic material. The basic idea is taking advantage of the fact that the longitudinal axis direction indicated by the shape configuration of most bone tissues is compatible with the trajectory of the maximum material stiffness. First, surface harmonic fields of the longitudinal axis direction for individual bone models were generated, whose scalar distribution pattern tends to conform very well to the object shape. The scalar iso-contours were extracted and sampled adaptively to construct volumetric meshes of high quality. Following, the surface harmonic fields were expanded over the whole volumetric domain to create longitudinal and radial volumetric harmonic fields, from which the gradient vector fields were calculated and employed as the orthotropic principal axes vector fields. Contrastive finite element analyses demonstrated that elastic orthotropy has significant effect on simulating stresses and strains, including the value as well as distribution pattern, which underlines the relevance of our orthotropic modeling scheme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) has been shown to modulate dendritic development in hippocampus. Mitotic kinesin-like protein 1 (MKLP1) plays key roles in dendritic differentiation. In the present study, we examined the effects of CRH on MKLP1 expression in cultured hippocampal neurons and determine subsequent signaling pathways involved. CRH dose-dependently increased MKLP1 mRNA and protein expression. This effect can be reversed by CRHR1 antagonist but not by CRHR2 antagonist. CRHR1 knockdown impaired this effect of CRH. CRH stimulated GTP-bound Gαs protein and phosphorylated phospholipase C (PLC)-β3 expression, which were blocked by CRHR1 antagonist. Transfection of GP antagonist-2A, an inhibitory peptide of Gαq protein, blocked CRH-induced phosphorylated PLC-β3 expression. PLC and PKC inhibitors completely blocked whereas adenylyl cyclase (AC) and PKA inhibitors did not affect CRH-induced MKLP1 expression. Our results indicate that CRH act on CRHR1 to induce MKLP1 expression via PLC/PKC signaling pathway. CRH may regulate MKLP1 expression, thereby modulating dendritic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this study, nano spheres of different diameters ( d =200nm, 300nm, and 400nm) were applied in nano-sphere lithography with dry etching to construct nano-cylinder structures on the surface of crystalline silicon wafers. The structure was then bombarded by a Kaufman-type directive ion source to shape and modify the surface topography as pillar-like or cone-like structures. Finally, an AR-coating layer was deposited on the surface of the nano-cylinder structure. When the size of the nano-cylinder structure approached the wavelength of light, Mie scattering analysis was utilized to describe the optical properties formed by the structures. The results showed that the haze parameters could reach 87.8% in the visible region and 91.1% in the infra-red region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel 2D cobalt(II) coordination polymer comprising left- and right-handed helical chains, {[H2bpp][Co2(bpp)2(Hbtec)2(H2O)4]·(H2O)5}n (1) (bpp=1,3-bis(4-pyridyl)-propane and H4btec=1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate), was prepared under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction method. Complex 1 provides suitable hydrophilic channel in which lattice water molecules accumulate, forming a (H2O)5 helicate, stabilized by anchoring to the host structure through hydrogen-bonding interactions involving alternating water molecules and the carboxylate oxygen atoms of Hbtec3− ligands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents an intuitive nose surgery planning and simulation system, using 3D laser scan image and lateral X-ray image, to provide high quality prediction of the postoperative appearance, and design the patient specific prosthesis model automatically. After initial registration, the internal surface of soft tissue at the nose region was generated by the statistical data for soft tissue thickness adapted by the individual thickness information from the X-ray image. Then, the sketch contour of the 3D scan data on the lateral X-ray image was modified manually or adjusted automatically according to some aesthetic statistical data, to drive the simulation in real time by the state-of-the-art Laplacian surface deformation method. When satisfied with the 3D postoperative appearance, the deformation was mapped to the internal surface of soft tissue, and the change before and after simulation was utilized to generate the patient specific prosthesis model automatically. The surgeons who used the system confirmed that this planning system is attractive and has potential for daily clinical practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Autophagy plays diverse roles in Ras-related tumorigenesis. H-rasval12 induces autophagy through multiple signaling pathways including Raf-1/ERK pathway, and various ERK downstream molecules of autophagy have been reported. In this study, Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa-interacting protein 3 (BNIP3) is identified as a downstream transducer of the Ras/Raf/ERK signaling pathway to induce autophagy. BNIP3 was upregulated by H-rasval12 at the transcriptional level to compete with Beclin 1 for binding with Bcl-2. H-rasval12-induced autophagy suppresses cell proliferation demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo by expression of ectopic BNIP3, Atg5, or interference RNA of BNIP3 (siBNIP3) and Atg5 (shAtg5) using mouse NIH3T3 and embryo fibroblast cells. H-rasval12 induces different autophagic responses depending on the duration of Ras overexpression. After a short time (48 hours) of Ras overexpression, autophagy inhibits cell proliferation. In contrast, a longer time (2 weeks) of Ras overexpression, cell proliferation was enhanced by autophagy. Furthermore, overexpression of mutant Ras, BNIP3, and LC3-II was detected in bladder cancer T24 cells and the tumor parts of 75% of bladder cancer specimens indicating a positive correlation between autophagy and tumorigenesis. Taken together, our mouse model demonstrates a balance between BNIP3-mediated autophagy and H-rasval12-induced tumor formation and reveals that H-rasval12 induces autophagy in a BNIP3-dependent manner, and the threshold of autophagy plays a decisive role in H-rasval12-induced tumorigenesis. Our findings combined with others' reports suggest a new therapeutic strategy against Ras-related tumorigenesis by negative or positive regulation of autophagic activity, which is determined by the level of autophagy and tumor progression stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hexahedral mesh has obvious mechanical advantages over tetrahedral mesh, but it is no trivial task to generate hexahedral mesh for complex object shapes such as individual faces. This paper presents a novel method to generate patient-specific hexahedral meshes of facial soft tissue models, based on a volumetric cross-parameterization mapping from a standard hexahedral mesh to the individual model. The volumetric parameterization is constructed based on triple of the volumetric harmonic fields, which are adapted to be as close to mutually orthogonal as possible, to achieve some quasi-conformal effect. In addition, some piecewise constraints on the harmonic fields are added to ensure anatomical feature correspondence. Experimental results show that our approach works efficiently for facial soft tissue modeling, avoids element flipping and preserves mesh element angles to a significant extent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A sandwich-structured composite blank containing a high chromium cast iron (HCCI) and low carbon steel (LCS) claddings was successfully fabricated by casting and hot rolling, and then a series of quenching and tempering treatments were employed. The evolution of microstructures and microhardness of as-cast, hot-rolled and heat-treated specimens were investigated. The microstructures of hot-rolled HCCI are refined and significant variations of carbides are observed. A perfect metallurgical bonding between HCCI and LCS is revealed by the continuous distributions of alloy elements. The microhardness of hot-rolled HCCI after quenching and tempering is found to be close to that of as-cast one. The hardness of HCCI can reach up to HV 750 or above after oil quenching. The hardness of HCCI reduced to HV 600–750 after tempering due to the tempering of martensite. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a novel inhomogeneous volumetric mesh deformation approach by gradient field manipulation, and uses it for maxillofacial surgery simulation. The study is inspired by the state-of-the-art surface deformation techniques based on differential representations. Working in the volumetric domain instead of on only the surface can preserve the volumetric details much better, avoid local self-intersections, and achieve better deformation propagation because of the internal mesh connections. By integrating the mesh cell material stiffness parameter into our new discrete volumetric Laplacian operator, it is very convenient to incorporate inhomogeneous materials into the deformation framework. In addition, the system matrix for solving the volumetric harmonic field to handle the local transformation problem is the same used for Poisson reconstruction equation, thus it requires solving essentially only one global linear system. The system is easy to use, and can accept explicit rotational constraints, or only translational constraints to drive the deformation. One typical maxillofacial surgery case was simulated by the new methodology with inhomogeneous material estimated directly from CT data, and compared to the commonly used finite element method (FEM) approach. The results demonstrated that the deformation methodology achieved good accuracy, as well as interactive performance. Therefore, the usage of our volumetric mesh deformation approach is relevant and suitable for daily clinical practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]