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Well-designed nocturnal light environment could boost performance on the cognitive tasks and promote sleep quality after light exposure. We optimized and fabricated a four-channel mixed white light with peak wavelengths of 429, 523, 591, and 621 nm. Comparing with common white light emitting diode (LED) (5798 K, 212.7 lx), the mixed white light has lower correlated color temperature (CCT) (2799 K), higher illuminance (356.2 lx), similar melanopic illuminance, and better color fidelity. We conducted experiments on 14 healthy young subjects (7 males and 7 females; age 18–25 years) to investigate the effects of nocturnal light environments on the cognitive performances and sleep quality. In consistent with the α-opic flux model, the mixed white light with higher illuminance shrinks the pupil size and has less melanopic flux, which results in more melatonin for subjects. More melatonin before sleep benefits the sleep quality by decreasing arousal times and improving sleep continuity. The higher illuminance light environment also promotes the inhibition ability and working memory. Moreover, it presents better color discrimination and less visual fatigue. Therefore, the lower CCT with higher illuminance nocturnal light environment effectively promotes both cognitive performances in the evening and the following sleep quality. [Display omitted] • The well-designed mixed white light benefits both cognition and sleep quality. • With similar melanopic illuminance, higher illuminance light leads to more melatonin. • After light exposure, the sleep quality improves with increasing sleep continuity. • The well-designed nocturnal light benefits color discrimination and visual fatigue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case of H7N9 influenza virus infection was first identified in China in 2013. This virus is considered to have high pandemic potential. Here we developed an H7N9 influenza vaccine containing an aluminium adjuvant and evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine. From October 2017 through August 2018 we conducted a randomized, double-blinded, single-centre phase I clinical trial in China among 360 participants aged ≥12 years. All participants received two doses of the vaccine (7.5, 15 or 30 μg haemagglutinin antigen) or placebo at an interval of 21 days. Adverse event data were collected for 30 days after vaccination. Serum samples were collected on days 0, 21 and 42 for the haemagglutinin inhibition (HI) antibody assay. A total of 347 participants (347/360, 96.4%) completed the study. The proportions of vaccine-related adverse events after one injection were 56.7% (34/60) in the 7.5-μg group, 86.7% (52/60) in the 15-μg group and 86.7% (52/60) in the 30-μg group. The proportions of adverse events after two injections were less than those reported after the first dose. None of the serious adverse events were related to the vaccine. After receiving two doses of the 7.5-μg vaccine, the proportion of participants achieving an HI titre of ≥40 was 98.2% (55/56, 95%CI 72.3~100.0%), with a geometric mean titre (GMT) of 192.6 (95%CI 162.9~227.8). The alum-adjuvanted H7N9 whole-virion inactivated vaccine was safe and strongly immunogenic in a population aged ≥12 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Microbial consortium was synthesized based on "functional complementarity". • Conversion rate of cellulose and hemicellulose were 19.64% and 10.88% by enzyme. • Two pathways (SEHFC and SEHFW) were used to produce feed protein. • The true protein content of CDGs increased by 48.35%-53.49% after SSF. • This study provided a potential pathway for the high-quality utilization of CDGs. Chinese distillers' grains (CDGs) have low fermentation efficiency due to the presence of lignocellulosic components, such as rice husk. In this study, a microbial consortium synthesized was used based on the "functional complementarity" principle to produce lignocellulolytic crude enzyme. The crude enzyme was used to hydrolyze CDGs. After enzymatic hydrolysis, lignocellulose was damaged to varying degrees and the crystallinity decreased. Subsequently, the feed protein was produced using yeast through two pathways. The results showed that the crude enzyme produced by the microbial consortium (comprising Trichoderma reesei , Aspergillus niger , and Penicillium) exhibited excellent enzymatic efficiency, yielding 27.88%, 19.64%, and 10.88% of reducing sugar, cellulose, and hemicellulose. The true protein content of CDGs increased by 53.49% and 48.35% through the first and second pathways, respectively. Notably, the second pathway demonstrated higher economic benefits to produce feed protein. This study provides a pathway for high-quality utilization of CDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence reveal that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participates in the epigenetic regulation of pathophysiological process. However, the deepgoing role of lncRNAs on meningioma is still unclear. In present study, we investigate the roles of lncRNA LINC00460 in meningeoma tissue and uncover its molecular mechanism. Results revealed that LINC00460 expression level was significantly up-regulated in meningeoma tissues and malignant meningeoma cell lines (IOMM-Lee, CH157-MN). Mechanically, loss-of-function assays showed that LINC00460 knockdown significantly suppressed the proliferation ability, increased the apoptosis and decreased the proteins (MMP-2, MMP-9, ZEB1) expression. Bioinformatics tools predicted that miR-539 both targeted with the 3’-UTR of LINC00460 and MMP-9 mRNA, which was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay and western blot analysis. In summary, our study reveals that LINC00460 promotes MMP-9 expression through targeting miR-539, acting as an oncogenic RNA in the meningeoma malignancy and accelerating the proliferation and metastasis of meningeoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Two microbial consortia showed different mechanisms relieving ammonia inhibition. • Syntrophic consortium (MC) improved the conversion of propionic and butyric acids. • Single microbial consortium (SS) mainly enhanced the hydrogenotrophic pathway. • Methanospirillum and Methanothermobacter contributed most at early stage. • Methanoculleus contributed most to relieve ammonia inhibition at the later stage. Ammonia inhibition is a challenging issue in the anaerobic digestion (AD) of nitrogen-rich substrates and hinders the energy recovery from organic wastes. Bioaugmentation is promising strategy to stabilize AD systems with high ammonia concentration. The composition of microbial consortia often determines their effectiveness in bioaugmentation. Up to now, the effect of various microbial consortia as biological additives on the AD systems is not fully understood. In this study, two microbial consortia (syntrophic microbial consortium, MC, and hydrogenotrophic methanogen consortium, SS) were obtained through two domestication methods, and were applied in a nitrogen-rich AD system. The results showed that the MC and SS treatments could restore AD performance within 21 days and 83 days, respectively. The recovery of digestion performance depended on the methanogenic archaea Methanospirillum, Methanothermobacter , and Methanoculleus in the early and later stages. Analysis of the 13C isotope indicated that both MC and SS enhanced the hydrogenotrophic pathway. The KEGG analysis showed that the MC not only promoted the key enzyme genes in the hydrogenotrophic pathway but also had a positive effect on the related enzyme genes of propionate and butyrate degradation, which was affected by the abundant short-chain fatty acids degrading bacteria, such as Syntrophomonas, Syntrophobacter , and Tissierella in the MC. After recovery of digestion performance, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in methane yield between the MS and SS treatments. Therefore, the best intervention period for bioaugmentation is when the digestion performance of the AD system is unstable. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking nanofibrous chitosan microspheres (NCM) were developed via thermal induction of chitosan molecular chain from alkaline/urea aqueous solution. The regeneration of NCM from chitosan was proved to be physical process. The morphology of NCM could be precisely controlled by adjusting the initial solution concentration and the reaction temperature. The NCM possessed desirable in vitro / vivo biocompatibility and biodegradability. The excellent cell adhesion capability of NCM facilitated the formation of large-sized 3D geometric constructs in vitro. The NCM promoted in vitro osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow stem cells (rMSCs). Finally, pre-differentiated rMSCs-NCM constructs obviously enhanced in vivo bone healing of rat calvarial defects. This work opened up a new avenue for the construction of chitosan microspheres with ECM-like nanofibrous structure, indicated the great potential of the NCM as micro-Noah's Ark for stem cells to anchor, proliferate, and pre-differentiate for tissue engineering. [Display omitted] • Chitosan microspheres with tunable ECM-mimicking nanofibers were successfully fabricated from alkaline/urea aqueous solution. • NCM demonstrated ideal biocompatibility, appropriate degradability, and excellent cell adhesion capability. • In vitro pre-differentiated cell-laden constructs obviously enhanced the in vivo bone healing of rat calvarial defects. • This work indicated the great potential of the NCM as cell micro-ark for tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Six diverse railway lines were inspected by the GPR, proving the GPR application feasibility for diverse railway line conditions. • Accuracy of the GPR-based fouling index is correlated with sieving-based fouling index. • By comparing the sensitivity of different indicators, the suitable GPR signal processing means is obtained. • Fouling composition is proved as a decisive factor for GPR-based fouling level evaluation, especially the iron ore. Ballast layer condition should be more regularly and accurately inspected to ensure safe train operation; however, traditional inspection methods cannot sufficiently fulfil this task. This paper presents a method of ground penetrating radar (GPR) application to reflect ballast layer fouling levels under diverse field conditions (annual gross passing load, cleaning and renewal year, fouling composition and transportation type). The results show that the GPR-based inspection method can assess the ballast layer fouling level with a 1–7% difference from the traditional sieving results. Fouling composition (especially metal materials) has a great effect on the GPR signals, thus affecting the inspection accuracy of ballast layer fouling level. Developing diverse GPR-based fouling indicators (by distinguishing different GPR signal features) can improve the GPR inspection applicability to the diverse field conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apoptosis is one of the major mechanisms of neuronal injury during ischemic-reperfusion (I/R). Mitochondrial division inhibitor (mdivi-1) is a selective inhibitor of mitochondrial fission protein Drp1. The previous experiments support that mdivi-1 reduce I/R injury in the heart model of rat, but the neuroprotective effect of the mdivi-1 is not yet clearly defined at the cellular levels in brain. In our present study, we estimated a brain model of I/R injury in vitro by subjecting oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) followed by reoxygenation to the cultured rat primary hippocampal cells, which aimed to find the neuroprotective mechanism of mdivi-1. The cell was pretreated with mdivi-1 for 40 minutes and then ischemia for 6 hours followed by reperfusion for 20 hours. The redox state, cell apoptosis, and expression of Drp1, Bcl-2, Bax, and cytochrome C proteins were measured. The data showed that administration of mdivi-1 at the doses of 50 μM significantly reduced oxidative stress, attenuated cell apoptosis, upregulated Bcl-2 expression, and downregulated Drp1, Bax, and cytochrome C expression. The results suggested that mdivi-1 protected brain from OGD reperfusion injury, which through suppressing the ROS initiated mitochondrial pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is reported that ischemic penumbra is a dynamic process, in which irreversible necrosis in the center of ischemia propagates to the neighboring tissue over time. Recent research has indicated that mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium channels (mitoKATP) opener diazoxide plays an important role in cerebral protection; however, the role of mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) in the effect of diazoxide on penumbra and infarct core remains unclear. Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: the Sham group, the ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) group, the diazoxide and ischemia-reperfusion (Dzx + I/R) group, the diazoxide and spermine and ischemia-reperfusion (Dzx + Sper + I/R) group, and the spermine and ischemia-reperfusion (Sper + I/R) group. The animals were exposed to 24-hour reperfusion after 2-hour ischemia. Diazoxide and spermine were administrated at 30 minutes or 10 minutes before the beginning of ischemia or reperfusion, respectively. After 24-hour reperfusion, animals were given neurologic performance tests and when overdosed with general anesthesia their brains were excised for infarct volume, apoptosis, and immunohistochemical. Results: Rats in the Dzx + I/R group displayed improved neurologic deficits, decreased infarct volume in cortex but not in subcortex, and apoptosis (evidenced by decreased terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end lebeling–positive percentage and the immunohistochemistry of cytochrome c) in cortex caused by ischemia/reperfusion. Rats in the Dzx + Sper + I/R group displayed worse neurologic deficits, larger infarct volume in cortex but not in subcortex, and more apoptosis both in penumbra and infarct core of cortex than those in the Dzx + I/R group. Conclusions: Results in our study suggested that diazoxide improved neurologic deficits, decreased infarct volume in cortex but not in subcortex, and apoptosis in cortex against ischemia/reperfusion injury is mediated by spermine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

BACKGROUND: Recent research has indicated that mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium channels play an important role in cerebral protection, which involves in attenuating the calcium of mitochondria. However, the effect of diazoxide on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion and the role of spermine, the agonist of mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), remain unknown. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the effect of MCU opener spermine on diazoxide against focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. METHODS: Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: the Sham group, the I/R group, the Dzx + I/R group, the Dzx + Sper + I/R group, and the Sper + I/R group. Rats were exposed to 2-hour ischemia and 24-hour reperfusion. Diazoxide were administrated 30 minutes before ischemia, and spermine were given 10 minutes before reperfusion. Rats in the Sham group did not experience the process of ischemia-reperfusion. After 24-hour reperfusion, rats were given neurological performance tests, overdosed with general anesthesia, and then their brains were excised for infarct volume, pathological changes, and biochemical evaluation and analysis. RESULTS: Rats in the Dzx + I/R group displayed improved neurological deficits and decreased infarct volume and oxidative stress (evidenced by decreased nitric oxide and malondialdehyde but increased antioxidant enzymes [eg, glutathione peroxide and superoxide dismutase]) caused by ischemia-reperfusion. The beneficial effects of diazoxide were significantly attenuated by spermine treatment. Rats in the Sper + I/R group displayed worse neurological deficits, larger infarct volume and more oxidative stress, and less antioxidant enzymes than those in the Dzx + I/R. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that diazoxide, which improved neurological deficits and decreased infarct volume and oxidative stress against ischemia-reperfusion injury, is mediated by spermine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mitochondrial division inhibitor (mdivi-1) is a derivative of quinazolinone that acts as a selective inhibitor of a mitochondrial fission protein Drp1. A previous study demonstrated that as a selective inhibitor of Drp1, mdivi-1 has a protective effect in an experimental model of heart ischemia/reperfusion injury. In this study, we investigated the protective effects of mdivi-1 on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury in a middle cerebral artery occlusion mouse model. We found that mdivi-1 (1.2mg/kg) significantly reduced cerebral damage induced by ischemia/reperfusion. This neuroprotective effect was dose-dependent. Mdivi-1 treatment blocked apoptotic cell death in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, and significantly decreased the expression of Drp1 and Cytochrome C. These results suggest that mdivi-1 exerts neuroprotective effects against nerve injury after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion, and the underlying mechanism may be through the prevention of Cytochrome C release and suppression of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tandem oxidative iodination and alkyne-azide cycloaddition reaction has provided one of the most widely used methods for preparation of 5-iodo-1,2,3-triazoles. However, stoichiometric copper salts are involved in this type of reaction in order to enhance the reaction effectiveness, which caused some problems related to toxic metal contaminations and less sustainability. In this paper, we described that a copper-catalyzed (10 mol%) tandem oxidative iodination and alkyne-azide cycloaddition could be completed in the presence of the newly-found glycine-type ligands with low-cost NaI as the iodine resource. In the novel reaction system, a wide range of terminal alkyne, organic azide and inexpensive iodide could react effectively in one pot to give structurally diverse 5-iodo-1,4-subsitutied 1,2,3-triazoles. Natural product derivatives and alkynyl pyridines that hardly react under traditional conditions could also be transferred smoothly to the target products for the first time. Image 1 • Catalytic amount of Cu(I) salt. • New Glycine-type ligand. • NaI as the low-cost iodine resource. • Wide scope of reactants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ag/ZnO inhibits the biofilm formation of S. mutans. • Ag/ZnO at sub-MICs inhibits multiple virulence factors. • Ag/ZnO affects virulence factors of S. mutans at transcriptional levels. Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), the main pathogen of dental caries, could be well killed by Ag/ZnO nanocomposite. However, effects on virulence factors remain to be elucidated. This study investigated effects of Ag/ZnO at sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) on virulence factors of S. mutans and related genes expressions. Effects of Ag/ZnO on the growth of S. mutans was investigated by growth curves and MTT staining method. The influence of Ag/ZnO at sub-MICs on biofilm formation was measured by the crystal violet staining method and observed by a scanning electron microscopy. Adherence, cell-surface hydrophobicity, acidogenicity and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) of S. mutans after treatment by Ag/ZnO at sub-MICs were also investigated. Virulence factors related genes expressions after treated by Ag/ZnO at 1/2 MIC was conducted by the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) method. Sub-MICs of Ag/ZnO exhibited a dose-dependent inhibition on the virulence factors of S. mutans. Specially, Ag/ZnO at 1/2 MIC decreased 69.00 % biofilm formation, 31.78 % sucrose-independent and 48.08 % sucrose-dependent adherence, 69.44 % cell-surface hydrophobicity and 72.45 % water-soluble and 90.60 % water-insoluble EPS. Furthermore, the expression of virulence factors related genes was significantly suppressed by Ag/ZnO at 1/2 MIC. Ag/ZnO at sub-MICs inhibited multiple virulence factors of S. mutans through downregulating the related genes. Ag/ZnO nanocomposite could be used for prevention of dental caries at low dosage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Bi 2 S 3 nanospheres with size of 212 nm were prepared by a simple hydrothermal process. The selectively enhanced antibacterial effects of Bi 2 S 3 nanospheres with three classes of ineffective antibiotics, β-lactam (cefuroxime, CXM; cefotaxime, CTX and piperacillin, PIP), quinolone (ciprofloxacin, CIP) and aminoglycoside (gentamicin, GEN) against clinical isolated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were investigated for the first time. GEN shows significantly synergistic growth inhibition against MRSA when combined with Bi 2 S 3 nanospheres, while CXM, CTX, PIP and CIP do not. Raman spectroscopy and Z potential studies reveal that Bi 2 S 3 could interact with GEN and the combination showed small electronegativity, which probably induced the increase of GEN content in cytoplasm of bacteria. Furthermore, the combination of Bi 2 S 3 nanospheres and GEN can destroy the bacterial membrane function and induce more bactericidal reactive oxygen generation than that of Bi 2 S 3 or GEN alone. The cytotoxicity test indicates that the combination of Bi 2 S 3 and GEN presented low toxicity to human normal hepatocyte L02. This work shows that Bi 2 S 3 nanospheres can be used to enhance the action of ineffective antibiotic GEN against MRSA, thus strengthening the antibiotic capacity for fighting MRSA infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cereals are widely used as raw material for food fermentation, and they can provide a variety of sugars in the fermentation via saccharification. However, the effect of sugar profile on microbial metabolism in spontaneous food fermentation is still unclear. Here, this work studied the regulation of sugar profile on the diversity of microbiota and their metabolism in Chinese Baijiu fermentation using sorghum as raw material. Six sugars were detected during Baijiu fermentation with 6 different cultivars of sorghum. The diversity of microbiota (ANOSIM: bacteria: P = 0.001, R = 0.77; fungi: P = 0.009, R = 0.33) and metabolites (ANOSIM: P = 0.001, R = 0.50) had different profiles during Baijiu fermentation. Among these sugars, glucose, fructose, and arabinose were identified as key sugars driving both the microbial and the metabolic diversity during Chinese Baijiu fermentation, and the metabolic diversity was positively correlated with the microbial diversity (P < 0.05). Hence, response surface methodology was used to establish a predictive model for regulating the metabolic diversity with the combination of three key sugars. The metabolic diversity significantly increased to 0.42 with the optimized levels of glucose (31.82 g/L), fructose (4.81 g/L), and arabinose (0.20 g/L), compared with unoptimized low-level average metabolic diversity (0.29). This work would provide a strategy to control microbial metabolism in spontaneous food fermentation, hence to improve the quality of fermented foods. • Sugar profiles were significantly different in 6 cultivars of sorghum. • Glucose, fructose and arabinose were key sugars driving microbial diversity. • Sugar profile regulated metabolic diversity by driving microbial diversity. • Metabolic diversity was significantly related to microbial diversity. • Combination of abundant sugars and trace sugars had higher metabolic diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A synthetic microbial community comprising eight strains was constructed. • The synthetic microbial community achieved 42.08% degradation of corn straw. • A hybrid enzyme system efficiently degrades lignocellulose. • Sugars and proteins are the main products of corn straw fermentation. • Degradation of agricultural straw by the synthetic microbial community is feasible. The efficient degradation of lignocellulose is a bottleneck for its integrated utilization. This research performed species analysis and made functional predictions in various ecosystems using multiomics coupling to construct a core synthetic microbial community with efficient lignocellulose degradation function. The synthetic microbial community was employed to degrade corn straw via solid-state fermentation. The degradation mechanisms were resolved using proteomics. The optimum culture conditions included 10% inoculum level (w/v), 4% nitrogen source ratio and a fermentation time of 23 d. Under these conditions, the degradation rates of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin were 34.91%, 45.94%, and 23.34%, respectively. Proteomic analysis revealed that lignin 1,4-β-xylanase, β-xylosidase and endo -1,4-β-xylanase were closely related to lignocellulose degradation. The metabolic pathways involved in lignocellulose degradation and the functional roles of eight strains were obtained. The synthesis of a microbial community via multiomics linkage technology can effectively decompose lignocellulose, which is useful for their further utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a variety of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have been developed to target human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) for lung cancer therapy, many patients treated with first-line small-molecule TKIs are clinically observed to eventually establish drug-resistant mutations T790 M and C797S around kinase active site, which play a primary role in development of acquired drug resistance to first-generation reversible and second-generation irreversible TKIs, respectively. Here, instead of developing small-molecule drugs to directly target the active site, we attempt to derive self-inhibitory peptides (SIPs) from the EGFR:EGFR asymmetric dimerization interface, where is separated from kinase active site and has a relatively low conservation as compared to the active site. It is found that the dimerization is a typical peptide-mediated protein interaction, where the first EGFR N-lobe adopts an N-terminal binding sequence (n BS) to interact with the dimerization interface of second EGFR C-lobe. A core binding sequence (n CBS, 676NQALLRILKE68) is identified in the n BS region as hotspot segment, which is then rationally optimized to generate a number of SIPs. Consequently, three designed SIPs are determined as promising candidates; they have high affinity to EGFR kinase domain, strong competitive potency with native n BS peptide for the dimerization interface, and effective cytotoxicity on human lung cancer cell lines. It is also demonstrated that these peptides are insensitive to drug-resistant EGFR T790 M/C797S mutation at molecular and cellular levels, and exhibit a good selectivity for EGFR over HER2 at molecular level. Image 1 • Peptides splitting from EGFR dimerization interface are used to competitively inactivate the kinase. • An integrated in silico-in vitro strategy is described to optimize the peptides. • The designed peptides are insensitive to drug-resistant EGFR T790 M/C797S mutation. • The designed peptides have a good selectivity for EGFR over HER2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peptide EDYGA was docked to the active pocket of Keap1 Kelch domain, three hydrogen bonds were found, the pocket of Keap1 Kelch domain are H bond donor, and EDYGA was hydrogen bond acceptor. • Peptide EDYGA was the most potent ARE-luciferase inducer. • EDYGA enhanced Nrf2 level by stabilizing Nrf2 by down regulating Keap1. • EDYGA was docked to the active pocket with three hydrogen bonds. The antioxidant response element (ARE) is a cis-acting enhancer sequence located in the region containing genes related to antioxidant and detoxification. Under oxidative stress, the induction of nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/ARE is considered as a fundamental process involved in defending reactive oxygen species (ROS) and providing protection against toxic xenobiotics. In this study, we obtained seven antioxidant peptides from soft-shelled turtle and concluded that Glu-Asp-Tyr-Gly-Ala (EDYGA) is the most potent ARE-luciferase inducer. To gain fundamental insights into the role of EDYGA in oxidative stress, we evaluated the effects of EDYGA on the Nrf2/Keap1 system in HepG 2 cells. The results revealed that EDYGA modulated the Nrf2/ARE pathway by enhancing Nrf2 level through the stabilization of Nrf2, which was accomplished by a decrease in the level of Keap1. These actions eventually led to an increase in nuclear Nrf2 accumulation and ARE-binding activity. Moreover, silencing Nrf2 markedly reduced ARE-driven activity induced by EDYGA. Docking results proved that glutamate residues of peptide EDYGA directly bind to Arg 415 of Kelch domain receptor pocke. The results were helpful in understanding the antioxidant activity of peptides from soft-shelled turtle which have potential to be used in foods and drugs as functional ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the interactions among land use functions from an efficiency perspective is crucial for making options that optimize benefits among multiple, often contradictory land-use objectives closely related to food, economy and ecology towards sustainable landscape management. Here, we propose a theoretical framework for evaluating multiple land use functional efficiencies—food functional efficiency (FdFE), economic functional efficiency (EcFE), and ecological functional efficiency (ElFE)—in terms of ideal reference and key indicators across different landscapes. The framework was empirically applied to Jiangsu Province, a typical economically developed region in eastern China, to reveal the spatial-temporal characteristics of FdFE, EcFE, and ElFE at different scales, as well as their trade-offs and synergies. Results showed that FdFE decreased significantly from 2000 to 2020 with an average value of 69.3%, while both EcFE and ElFE increased slightly with an average value of 69.4% and 64.9%, respectively, indicating a great potential for functional improvement in land use in Jiangsu Province. Few regions (4.95%) can simultaneously improve on FdFE, EcFE, and ElFE. Complex trade-offs or synergies with significant temporal dynamics and spatial patterns were common in the interactions among FdFE, EcFE, and ElFE at different scales. Especially, 78.57% of synergies and 76.47% of trade-offs were both related to ElFE, highlighting the critical role of ecological protection in land use. Meanwhile, trade-offs between pair-wise efficiencies at the landscape level during 2000–2020 mostly occurred in FdFE—EcFE and ElFE—EcFE, while stable and enhanced synergies occurred in FdFE—ElFE, and the magnitude of these interactions varied greatly at different spatio-temporal scales. This study provides new ideas for better understanding the multifunctional benefits of land use and their interactions, thereby providing useful information for optimizing land multifunctional use and landscape management from local to regional scales. [Display omitted] • Proposing a framework for land use functional efficiency (LUFE) based on ideal reference and key indicators. • Revealing the remarkable spatio-temporal changes of LUFEs in food, economy and ecology at multiple scales. • Identifying improvement and degradation clusters of LUFEs at multiple scales. • Assessing the spatio-temporal evolution and scale effects of trade-offs and synergies among multiple LUFEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Involving more nickel proportion in Ni-rich cathodes, edging to LiNiO 2 , is an inevitable trend to satisfy the demand of high energy density in lithium-ion batteries, but an inducement for the severer formation of undesirable lithium residues. To overcome the consequent degradation behaviors, a LiCoO 2 @Co 3 O 4 complex coating layer is successfully realized on the surface of LiNiO 2 via a facile wet-chemical method taking advantage of the Li-reactive ability of Co 3 O 4. As a result, the 0.4 wt.% Co modified material exhibits competitively enhanced cyclic performance with 178.1 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles at 1 C, 11% higher than the pristine one in retention rate. Even at higher rates and temperature, it shows better electrochemical stability as well. The superior electrochemical properties of LiCoO 2 @Co 3 O 4 coated LiNiO 2 is ascribed to the dual-function of the coating method, where Co 3 O 4 is formed during heat treatment and simultaneously reacted with surface lithium residues to generate LiCoO 2. In combination of bulk and surface characterization, the significant effects of the coating layer on stabilizing material interface and strengthening the kinetic characteristics for LiNiO 2 cathode materials are investigated and elucidated in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing unsupervised methods usually require a prior knowledge to ensure the performance when detecting shilling attacks in collaborative filtering recommender systems. To address this limitation, in this paper we propose an unsupervised method to detect shilling attacks based on hidden Markov model and hierarchical clustering. We first use hidden Markov model to model user's history rating behaviors and calculate each user's suspicious degree by analyzing the user's preference sequence and the difference between genuine and attack users in rating behaviors. Then we use the hierarchical clustering method to group users according to user's suspicious degree and obtain the set of attack users. The experimental results on the MovieLens 1 M and Netflix datasets show that the proposed method outperforms the baseline methods in detection performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation of coating material of welding electrode from marine placer via carbothermic reduction with added aluminum (Al) was systematically investigated. The reduction behavior and phase transformation of the marine placer–coal mixture with Al were checked by TG/DTG/DSG, XRD and SEM/EDS analysis. The additional Al can obviously increase the metallization rate of the mixtures, and the corresponding products easily exceeded the technical requirement. A reaction mechanism for the carbothermic reduction of the marine placer–coal mixture with Al was proposed. When the temperature was < 960 °C, the main reduction reaction was solid–solid reduction (C–iron bearing oxides) and a few aluminothermic reductions. These reactions have a slow reaction rate. When the temperature was higher than 960 °C, the gasification reaction just started, and the iron-bearing oxides were mostly reduced by CO. As the reduction progressed, the iron bearing oxides and the solid reductants, carbon and Al melt, increase in density because of the sintering mechanism and the compactness of the solid was improved. In addition, the gasification reaction rate increases with the enhancement of temperature, thereby accelerating the whole reduction. The heat released by the aluminothermic reduction increased the temperature in the neighboring area, thereby facilitating the gasification reaction and promoting the reduction rate to generate the metallic iron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitophagy plays an important role in mitochondrial quality control and cell survival during the process of ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) is the most important channel responsible for Ca 2+ influx into mitochondria and Ca 2+ signal plays a potential role in modulating mitophagy. However, the effect of MCU on mitophagy during the process of I/R injury remains unknown. This study constructed an in vitro I/R model by subjecting oxygen and glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/RP) model to SH-SY5Y cells to mimic the cerebral I/R injury and aimed to explore the exact effect of MCU on I/R induced mitophagy. The results showed that OGD/RP induced autophagy and mitophagy in SH-SY5Y cells. Ru360, the inhibitor of MCU, improved mitochondrial morphology and fuctional stability as well as cell viability, significantly reduced OGD/RP induced mitophagy as evidenced by the decrease in Beclin-1 and the increase in Tom20 and P62 expression. Whereas spermine, the agonist of MCU, had no significant impact on the expression of those mitophagy related proteins compared with OGD/RP group. This study indicates that inhibition of MCU can inhibit excessive mitophagy and protect the neurocytes from I/R injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Curie temperature, initial permeability and resistivity of MnZn ferrites with Fe-poor composition (less than 50mol% of Fe2O3) are studied. The experience formula of Curie temperature for MnZn ferrites with Fe-rich composition is modified to calculate the Curie temperature of Fe-poor MnZn ferrites. Tri-segment frequency dispersion model, which consists of domain wall motion, magnetization rotation and gyro-magnetic spin rotation, is used to simulate the permeability spectra of ferrites. The permeability of Fe-poor MnZn ferrites compares with that of Fe-rich MnZn ferrites in low frequency region, and it is still high enough to compare with that of NiZn ferrites in high frequency region. The resistivity of Fe-poor MnZn ferrites is about 103 Ωm, much higher than that of Fe-rich MnZn ferrites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• STAT3 gene inhibits the NF-κB signalling pathway in VMC. • STAT3 gene reduces the inflammatory responses of VMC. • STAT3 can protect heart cells by inhibiting inflammatory responses and Th17 cell differentiation. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of STAT3 in reducing the inflammatory responses in mice with viral myocarditis (VMC). Induce and generate viral myocarditis by using coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infected cardiomyocyte-specific STAT3 conditional knockout (STAT3cKO) mice and BALB/c mice. Use RT-PCR and western blot techniques to detect the expression of related cytokines in the uninfected wild-type mice group (Control group), myocarditis wild-type mice group (Model group) and STAT3cKO group, as well as the differentiation of spleen T cells in each group. Eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3-STAT3 can reduce the expression of inflammatory factors the in vitro cultured cardiomyocytes of the STAT3cKO group. RT-PCR showed that compared with the Control group, the expression levels of VMC-related genes (NF-κB, TNF‑α, IL-1β and IL-1) and anti-inflammation-related cytokines (IL-10 and TGF-β) in the Model group went up (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001); and also compared with the Control group, the rise in the expression levels of the above VMC-related genes in the STAT3cKO group was particularly significant (***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001) but there was no significant difference in the expression of IL-10 and TGF-β. After 4 weeks, a second RT-PCR showed that the expression of inflammation-related genes in the STAT3cKO group continued to be activated (***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001). Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of p65, a key protein of the NF-κB signalling pathway. The results showed that the p65 protein content was increased and the IL-10 protein content was decreased in the STAT3cKO group; the results of the T cell differentiation test showed that the T cell differentiation rate increased in the STAT3cKO group (**p < 0.01). Eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA3-STAT3 could reduce the expression of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-17 (**p < 0.01). The expression of STAT3 gene in VMC could to a certain extent inhibit the NF-κB signalling pathway and reduce the inflammatory responses of VMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Based on the traditional revenue model of seller, a robust revenue optimization method is proposed to solve the uncertainty of deal prices. • This research establishes four robust maximum revenue models under different uncertainty sets (Box, Ellipsoid, Polyhedron and Box-polyhedron). • Through employing the RO method, the optimal revenue can be found, and the optimal solution that satisfies all situations in the worst case can be obtained. • Comparing different revenues among models, the value strategies are not optimal for auctioneer in despite of whether to consider uncertainty. Different sequence of selling the diverse goods (used cars) in sequential auction, which is different sequential strategy, collides risk of price uncertainty that leads uncertain revenue. To find the optimal solutions for seller facing revenue uncertainty, a robust optimization method is proposed to overcome the inherent uncertainty of price. In this way, the traditional maximum revenue model is extended into four corresponding robust models according to the different forms of uncertainty sets, the robustness and conservativeness of the solutions are compared. Moreover, these results can be shown by corollaries and numerical examples: (1) the greater uncertain level parameter is, the less revenue is; (2) revenue in model without considering uncertainty is too high, and revenues in robust models are less than it; (3) the revenue does not always increase with total auction sequence increases; (4) value strategies are not optimal for auctioneer in despite of whether to consider uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]