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[Display omitted] • GP could regulate hypoglycemic activity by IRS-1/PI3K/Akt and AMPK signaling pathways. • GP could improve IR by inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathway. • GP-H regulated gut microbiota disorders in the T2DM mellitus mice model. • The correlation of gut microbiota, biochemical indexes and short-chain fatty acids was revealed. Ginseng peptide (GP) (100, 200, 400 mg/kg bw) lowered blood glucose levels, explored the relationship between GP and gut microbiota-based hypoglycemic effects. GP significantly reduced fasting blood glucose levels (25.38–13.37 mM), improved insulin resistance (IR) (9.78–5.02), considerably increased liver glycogen content (64.71–97.95 mg/g), glycolytic and gluconeogenesis enzyme activities in T2DM mice, significantly reduced free fatty acids (1.65–0.93 mM), triglycerides (1.55–0.66 mM), total cholesterol (14.75–5.43 mM), and low-density lipoprotein (4.12–2.36 mM) in the serum, significantly increased high-density lipoprotein levels (6.20–17.44 mM) to improve lipid metabolism disorders. According to colonic 16S rDNA sequencing results, GP-H regulated gut microbiota disorders and short chain fatty acid metabolism. Western blot analysis showed that GP could regulate glycogen synthesis, gluconeogenesis, and glucose transport by activating IRS-1/PI3K/Akt and AMPK signaling pathways and improve IR by inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptosis signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women around the world. Estrogen receptor α (ERα) is expressed in approximately 70% of breast tumors, and considered as one of most effective targets in breast cancer therapy. It has been reported that the degradation of ERα protein is mediated by ubiquitin-proteasome system. However, little is known about the regulation of ERα deubiquitination, a critical constituent of its degradation control. The current study first reports that there is a positive correlation between ERα and ubiquitin specific protease 7 (USP7) protein levels in human breast tumor tissues. Subsequent studies showed that USP7 physically interacted with the ERα, thereby mediating the deubiquitination and stabilization of ERα. In addition, USP7 inhibition or silencing led to growth inhibition and apoptosis of ERα-positive breast cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, overexpression of ERα rescued the USP7 silencing-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, supporting that ERα status is essential to the function of USP7 in breast carcinogenesis. Overall, this study suggests that targeting USP7-ERα complex could be a potential strategy to treat ERα-positive breast cancer. • Targeting deubiquitinase USP7 by inhibition or silence leads to cell growth suppression in ERα positive breast cancer cells. • USP7 interacts with ERα and stabilizes the expression of ERα protein by cleaving the ubiquitin on ERα. • ERα expression is indispensable to USP7 deletion induced-growth inhibition in ERα positive breast cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular glutathione plays critical roles in protecting neuronal cells against dopamine induced oxidative stress and electrophilic cellular damage; inspired by above mentioned properties of glutathione, we used glutathione as a polymerization inhibitor to develop a dopamine biosensor which can be used in alkaline environment. The detection of dopamine in alkaline environment has been challenged by its polymerization for many years, glutathione as a kind of thiol can be used to prevent the polymerization of dopamine in alkaline environment by eliminating the electrophilic quinone molecules needed during the polymerization. In order to enhance the electrochemical performance of electrode, Ag 2 Se/MoSe 2 composite with large exposed surface areas was synthesized, which improved the sensitivity and stability for dopamine detection. The low oxidation peak potential for dopamine, 0.04 V vs. SCE, indicats that glutathione can realize the electrooxidation of dopamine at lower potential in alkaline environment. In this study, by introducing glutathione to inhibit the dopamine polymerization, sensitive and stable detection of dopamine can be achieved at pH 8.5 based on the Ag 2 Se/MoSe 2 /GCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sensors with high sensitivity, rapid response and low cost are urgently demanded in today’s industry. In this work, we reported our research on the fabrication process and the relevant sensing mechanisms of a TiO 2 film based hydrogen sensor which showed an excellent performance at room temperature in air. The sensor, prepared by hydrothermal methods with a seed layer being introduced during the growth of the thin films, exhibited the concentration detection limit as low as 1 ppm and the response time as short as 9 s. Structural analysis revealed that the introduction of the seed layer resulted in a significant improvement in the quality of the TiO 2 thin film, which was intimately related to the sensing properties. The dynamical response process was studied and the corresponding sensing mechanisms were analyzed in detail. It was found that, in addition to the generally accepted Schottky barrier mechanism, the adsorption of H 2 molecules at (002) surface of the TiO 2 thin film played a key role in achieving such a low detection limit and a short response time for the sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous structured Ag-Ag 2 S/MoS 2 composite was synthesized by a facile chemical etching method and tested with respect to its application in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Extensive spectroscopic and electrochemical characterizations were performed to investigate the origin of the catalytic activity of this Ag-Ag 2 S/MoS 2 composite and understand the property of this material for HER. During the synthesis process, cysteine (Cys) was used to improve the number of highly catalytic S edges as revealed by a low ratio of Mo to S. The high density of active sites that result from the rough and porous structure surface morphology also contributes to the highly catalytic activity. The catalytic activity for HER increases with the change of material morphology from a relatively complete lamellar structure to the porous structure. The electrochemical stability tests indicate that the catalyst remains highly active throughout prolonged operation. Our enhanced understanding of this highly active hydrogen evolution catalyst may facilitate the development of economical electrochemical hydrogen production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: MoS2-carbon composites which with different morphologies were synthesized by hydrothermal method and tested with respect to their application in hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Their performances were compared to evaluate how the morphology influence HER. The obtained results showed that the composite containing amorphous MoS2 showed higher activity than composite which contains crystalline MoS2. The catalytic activity of composite was highly correlated to its active surface area which was controlled by the morphology. In addition, compared with composite which contains amorphous MoS2, the composite containing crystalline MoS2 showed higher durability in the long-term operation. However, in acidic and alkaline environments, the stability of composite containing amorphous MoS2 is better than which containing crystalline MoS2. The impedance measurements suggested that the high catalytic activity of the composite stems from the synergistic effect of MoS2 and carbon materials. The enhanced understanding of these highly active hydrogen evolution catalysts can facilitate the development of economical electrochemical hydrogen production systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A convenient and low-cost synthesis approach is proposed for the development of a simple and novel electrochemical sensor for the determination of tryptophan (Try). In this synthesis process, graphene-like molybdenum sulfide was successfully obtained, and silver nanoflakes (AgNFs) were directly synthesized on the surface of molybdenum sulfide (MoS2) films, in this process chitosan (CS) and ascorbic acid (AA) acted as the stabilizer and reducing agent, respectively. This nanocomposite was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were employed to evaluate the electrochemical property of Ag-MoS2/CS toward the oxidation of tryptophan. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the oxidation peak currents are proportional to the concentrations of tryptophan over the range of 0.5μM to 120μM, and the detection limit is 0.05μM (S/N=3). Moreover, the proposed method is free of interference from other amino acid to other coexisting species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Qilian Orogen at the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is a type suture zone that recorded a complete history from continental breakup to ocean basin evolution, and to the ultimate continental collision in the time period from the Neoproterozoic to the Paleozoic. The Qilian Ocean, often interpreted as representing the “Proto-Tethyan Ocean”, may actually be an eastern branch of the worldwide “Iapetus Ocean” between the two continents of Baltica and Laurentia, opened at ≥710Ma as a consequence of breakup of supercontinent Rodinia. Initiation of the subduction in the Qilian Ocean probably occurred at ~520Ma with the development of an Andean-type active continental margin represented by infant arc magmatism of ~517–490Ma. In the beginning of Ordovician (~490Ma), part of the active margin was split from the continental Alashan block and the Andean-type active margin had thus evolved to western Pacific-type trench–arc–back-arc system represented by the MORB-like crust (i.e., SSZ-type ophiolite belt) formed in a back-arc basin setting in the time period of ~490–445Ma. During this time, the subducting oceanic lithosphere underwent LT-HP metamorphism along a cold geotherm of ~6–7°C/km. The Qilian Ocean was closed at the end of the Ordovician (~445Ma). Continental blocks started to collide and the northern edge of the Qilian–Qaidam block was underthrust/dragged beneath the Alashan block by the downgoing oceanic lithosphere to depths of ~100–200km at about 435–420Ma. Intensive orogenic activities occurred in the late Silurian and early Devonian in response to the exhumation of the subducted crustal materials. Briefly, the Qilian Orogen is conceptually a type example of the workings of plate tectonics from continental breakup to the development and evolution of an ocean basin, to the initiation of oceanic subduction and formation of arc and back-arc system, and to the final continental collision/subduction and exhumation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The deformation characteristics of subsidence and movement induced by mining under thin bedrocks and thick unconsolidated layers are researched using field measurement and the prediction method of artificial neural networks (ANN). Firstly, the occurrence characteristics of thin bedrock and thick unconsolidated layers were analyzed in a research coal field. Based on the measured data, the characteristics of ground movement show that the surface subsidence deformation of mining under thin bedrock is more intensive than that of mining under normal thickness bedrock. Such is evident through the settlement time concentrating, the maximum surface subsidence being greater than the thickness of coal seam, the distribution of ground movement and deformation being concentrated, the range extension being wide, the active period being intensive and concentrated, the surface damage being very serious, and the crack development being significant. A quantitative prediction method is made on mining subsidence under thin bedrocks and thick unconsolidated layers by means of ANN. The improved neural network was used for modeling and predicting the mining subsidence. The ANN output can reflect the change trend of ground movement and deformation. The forecasting results are in good agreement with the real observation results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Self-aligned titania thin films of either the rutile or the anatase phase were successfully grown on FTO (F-doped SnO2) substrates with hydrothermal methods. The selection of the targeted phase, either rutile or anatase, in the thin films was controlled by adjusting the content and type of acidic anions such as Cl− and SO4 2−. The growth kinetics depended on the synthesis temperature and the types of alcohol in the solvent. The self-alignment in both the anatase and rutile thin films was attributed to the minimization of surface energies during growth. The hydrogen sensing characteristics of dense films of both rutile and anatase phases were investigated and there was remarkable improvement of sensitivity response over reported data. It was found that rutile films had higher sensitivity while anatase films had faster response. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the absence of activation process, we prepared a series of carbon particles from saccharine, in which hydrothermal carbonization method was used. These particles have spherical or near-spherical morphology, controllable monodisperse particle size from the analyses of SEM. Raman and XRD results show that they are nongraphitizable. The BET surface area of these carbon spherules is around 400–500m2 g−1 and the microporosity is about 84%, suggesting that the carbon particles are rich in micropores. The electrochemical behaviors were characterized by means of galvanostatic charging/discharging, cycle voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The results show that the specific capacitance of sucrose-based carbon spherule reached 164Fg−1 in 30% KOH electrolyte and a high volumetric capacitance over 170Fcm−3 was obtained. These carbon spherules could be promising materials for EDLC according to their facile preparation way, low cost and high packing density. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel fiber consisted of nano-Fe2O3 particles/polyamide-6 (PA-6) nanocomposite has been prepared successfully. The thermal stability of the composite material was enhanced about 16 °C (from 440 °C to 456 °C) by the addition of Fe2O3 nanoparticles with 15.0% content (part per hundred parts of resin). In situ polymerization can make the materials possess homogeneously dispersed nanoparticles. The Fe2O3 reinforced materials processed by melt spinning displayed improved tensile modulus compared to similarly processed pure polyamide-6, the improvements of tensile strength and modulus were 21.22% and 112%, respectively. Moreover, this fiber has the property of ultraviolet and visible light absorption. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]