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The biorefinery industry has processed lignocellulosic biomass for the production of bio-based products, which accompanies with the generation of proteins in waste streams. Glutamate (Glu) is a non-essential amino acid rich in various sources of protein waste. To explore the usefulness of Glu, Glu metabolism in Escherichia coli was deciphered by the genetic approach. Key pathways involving Glu catabolism were identified, and the analysis of end product profiles revealed the flux distribution in central metabolism. Using ethanol as an example, the rate-limiting reaction catalyzed by aspA was manipulated to adjust the cataplerostic flux in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. This in turn redistributes the flux between glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. Consequently, it improves the ethanol production which reaches 85% of the theoretical yield. Overall, the result of this study indicates that Glu is a new renewable source with a potential application in biorefinery and biotechnology.

Background Female sex is a known risk factor for drug-induced long QT syndrome (diLQTS). We recently demonstrated a sex difference in apamin-sensitive small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) current (IKAS) activation during β-adrenergic stimulation. Objective To test the hypothesis that there is a sex difference of IKAS in the rabbit models of diLQTS. Methods We evaluated the sex differences in ventricular repolarization from 15 male and 22 female Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts with optical mapping techniques during atrial pacing. HMR1556 (IKs blocker), E4031 (IKr blocker) and sea anemone toxin (ATX-II, INaL activator) were used to simulate types 1-3 LQTS, respectively. Apamin, an IKAS blocker was then added to determine the magnitude of further QT prolongation. Results HMR1556, E4031 and ATX-II led to APD80 prolongation in both male and female ventricles at pacing cycle lengths (PCLs) of 300-400 ms. Apamin further lengthened APD80 (in PCL350 ms) from 187.8±4.3 to 206.9±7.1 (p=0.014) in HMR1556 treated, from 209.9±7.8 to 224.9±7.8 (p=0.003) in E4031 treated, and from 174.3±3.3 to 188.1±3.0 (p=0.0002) in ATX-II treated female hearts. In contrast, apamin did not further lengthen the APD80 in male hearts. Compared with the baseline, the Cai transient duration (CaiTD) was significantly increased in diLQTS but without sex differences. There were no significant effects of apamin on CaiTD. Conclusion We conclude that IKAS is abundantly increased in female but not in male ventricles with diLQTS. Increased IKAS helps preserve the repolarization reserve in female ventricles treated with IKs and IKr blockers or INaL activators.

Background Both atrial fibrillation (AF) and early repolarization (ER) are highly prevalent in patients with Wolff–Parkinson–White (WPW) syndrome. Methods We retrospectively identified 123 WPW patients with manifest accessory pathway (mAP) and 105 patients with concealed accessory pathways (cAP) who underwent successful ablation of the APs. AF history prior to the ablation was investigated. The presence of ER was evaluated from the 12-lead electrocardiograms performed both before and immediately after the ablation. Patients were further followed up for AF occurrence after the AP ablation. Results Compared with cAP patients, WPW patients presented with higher incidence of previous AF, as well as ER after the AP ablation. Compared with those without AF history, WPW patients with comorbid AF were more prone to presenting ER, especially in the inferior leads, after the mAP ablation. Regression analysis suggested that the post-ablation ER in the inferior leads was strongly associated with AF in WPW patients [OR = 5.85; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.29–14.96], even after adjusting for age and left atrial diameter (OR = 5.14; 95% CI: 1.80–14.74). Moreover, post-ablation inferior-lead ER was predictive of AF recurrence after mAP ablation during the follow-up of 22.6 ± 11.1 months. In comparison, ER was correlated with neither AF history nor AF recurrence in patients undergoing cAP ablation. Conclusions ER in the inferior leads after the mAP ablation is highly correlated with AF history and recurrence in WPW patients.

Background Ondansetron, a widely prescribed antiemetic, has been implicated in drug-induced long QT syndrome. Recent patch clamp experiments have shown that ondansetron inhibits the apamin-sensitive small conductance calcium-activated potassium current (IKAS). Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether ondansetron causes action potential duration (APD) prolongation by IKAS inhibition. Methods Optical mapping was performed in rabbit hearts with pacing-induced heart failure (HF) and in normal hearts before and after ondansetron (100 nM) infusion. APD at 80% repolarization (APD80) and arrhythmia inducibility were determined. Additional studies with ondansetron were performed in normal hearts perfused with hypokalemic Tyrode's (2.4 mM) solution before or after apamin administration. Results The corrected QT interval in HF was 326 ms (95% confidence interval [CI] 306–347 ms) at baseline and 364 ms (95% CI 351–378 ms) after ondansetron infusion (P Conclusion Ondansetron is a specific IKAS blocker at therapeutic concentrations. Ondansetron may prolong the QT interval in HF by inhibiting small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, which increases the vulnerability to ventricular arrhythmias.

The AKR1A1 protein is a member of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily that catalyzes the transformation of D-glucuronate to L-gulonate in the synthesis of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C, Vit C). We previously demonstrated that AKR1A1 knockout mice (AKR1A1

Fractures are the result of fragile bone structures after trauma caused by direct or indirect external impact or strong muscular contraction. Most fracture patients undergo surgical fixation to accelerate the healing process and restore the function of mutilated bone. Promoting the healing process remains an important issue for the treatment of bone fractures. Our previous studies demonstrated the remarkable bone-protective effects of kefir peptides (KPs) in ovariectomized rats and mice. In this study, we further evaluate the efficacy of KPs on fracture healing using a rat model of femoral fracture.Fifteen 8-week-old male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into the sham, mock, and KPs groups, in which the mock and the KPs groups underwent femur-fracture surgery with nail fixation, while the sham group underwent a sham operation. The next day, rats were orally administered with daily 400 mg/kg of KPs (KPs group) or distilled water (sham and mock groups) for four weeks. X-ray imaging, histochemical staining and serum osteogenic markers were applied for fracture healing evaluation. In vitro, mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and MC3T3-E1 line were subjected to osteoblast differentiation in the presence of KPs and compared with no KPs treatment.The results demonstrated that KPs treatment improved the progression of the fracture healing process (p 0.05) and significantly increased the expressions of Col1a1, Alp, Spp1, Vegfa and Cox2 mRNA in the femurs of the KPs-treated fractured rats compared to those of the mock-treated fracture rats. In vitro, KPs treatment promoted bone regeneration factor (Col1a1, Alp, M-csf and Phospho1) expression in MC3T3-E1-derived osteoblast cultures (on Day 3) and enhanced osteogenic differentiation and mineralization in BMMSC-derived osteoblast cultures (on Day 17 and Day 21).This is the first study to show that KPs can help with fracture healing by promoting osteogenic differentiation, and it also suggests that KPs can be used as a nutritional supplement to accelerate fracture healing.

Three kinds of amorphous ITO (a-ITO) films were deposited on chemically strengthened glass by DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature. A rapid infrared annealing (RIA) device was built, and an infrared fast crystallization process was developed. Not only the effects of RIA on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of ITO films, but also the effects of RIA on the mechanical properties of chemically strengthened glass substrates were investigated compared with those of conventional furnace annealing (CFA). The rules of the structural and physical properties during amorphous-crystalline transition are basically the same by RIA and CFA. However, the RIA time is only 10% of the CFA time, and the compressive stress reduction of chemically strengthened glass is only 4.2% at 500 °C, which is 38.5% by CFA. These results demonstrate that very effective RIA technology could replace the traditional annealing method (CFA), which can greatly reduce production costs and significantly improve production efficiency.

High output subcutaneous nerve stimulation (ScNS) remodels the stellate ganglia and suppresses cardiac arrhythmia.The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that long duration low output ScNS causes cardiac nerve sprouting and increases plasma norepinephrine concentration and the duration of paroxysmal atrial tachycardia (PAT) in ambulatory dogs.We prospectively randomized 22 dogs (11 males and 11 females) into 5 different output groups for 2 months of ScNS: 0 mA (sham) (n = 6), 0.25 mA (n = 4), 1.5 mA (n = 4), 2.5 mA (n = 4), and 3.5 mA (n = 4).As compared with baseline, the changes in the durations of PAT episodes per 48 hours were significantly different among different groups (sham, -5.0 ± 9.5 seconds; 0.25 mA, 95.5 ± 71.0 seconds; 1.5 mA, -99.3 ± 39.6 seconds; 2.5 mA, -155.3 ± 87.8 seconds; and 3.5 mA, -76.3 ± 44.8 seconds; P .001). The 3.5 mA group had a greater reduction in sinus heart rate than did the sham group (-29.8 ± 15.0 beats/min vs -14.5 ± 3.0 beats/min; P = .038). Immunohistochemical studies showed that the 0.25 mA group had a significantly increased while 2.5 mA and 3.5 mA stimulation had significantly reduced growth-associated protein 43 nerve densities in both atria and ventricles. The plasma norepinephrine concentrations in the 0.25 mA group was 5063.0 ± 4366.0 pg/mL, which was significantly higher than that in the other groups of dogs (739.3 ± 946.3; P = .009). There were no significant differences in the effects of simulation between males and females.In ambulatory dogs, low output ScNS causes cardiac nerve sprouting and increases plasma norepinephrine concentration and the duration of PAT episodes while high output ScNS is antiarrhythmic.

This study contributes to exploring the effects of regulatory fit with green marketing messages on consumer behavioral intentions by examining the moderating roles of perceived motives of green initiatives and perceived incentive mechanisms. Experiment 1 explores the effects of regulatory fit and non-fit on behavioral intentions in terms of the different types of green marketing messages. Experiment 2 explores the moderating effect of perceived different motives of green initiatives on the link between promotion/prevention regulatory fit and behavioral intentions. Additionally, Experiment 3 examines the moderating effect of perceived different incentive mechanisms on the relationship between promotion/prevention regulatory fit and behavioral intentions. Based on these findings, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Bovine mastitis costs the US dairy industry $2 billion, an average of $200 per cow annually. Mastitis is currently diagnosed based on macroscopic alteration of milk or with a somatic cells count (SCC), which are non-specific markers of infection. Cows that have milk samples with no macroscopic alteration (i.e. clots) with more than 200,000 SCC per mL are classified as experiencing subclinical mastitis. Here, we demonstrate a novel cytometric fingerprinting and machine learning (CFML) toolchain as a label-free, objective, high-throughput microbiological milk quality evaluation method for routine mastitis screening. Milk samples were collected from each quarter of the udder from paired 20 milking Holstein cows. Cytometric fingerprints were immediately obtained along with simultaneous pathological analysis. Cytometric fingerprints largely resembled SCC and unique somatic cytometric fingerprints were observed in response to bacterial pathogens distinct from algal and fungal. To demonstrate applications of machine learning in reducing human intervention in future on-farm automated mastitis screening systems, we trained multiple machine learning models on cytometric fingerprints. Tested classifiers were found to be efficient, scalable and robust in classifying specific pathogen, identifying the lactation stage and pathogen intensity with 99.27%, 100%, and 100% accuracies respectively. Our findings indicate that CFML is sensitive to milk samples from cows experiencing subclinical mastitis spanning distinct types and levels of infections. The use of CFML is hence recommended for rapid, high-throughput mastitis typing. This would assist in the use of data-driven monitoring approaches leading to proper and judicious use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.

The Tagged Neutron Method (TNM) widely used in recent years has been applied to detect explosives to fight against terrorism. Because of the existence of a high-density (about 2.5 g/cm3) dry concrete wall, neutrons are moderated and γ -ray are attenuated and absorbed, which causes great interference to the detection of hidden explosives. A movable device has been designed for detection of explosive embedded in a concrete wall by using TNM technique. The experimental set-up was modeled and optimized with the MCNP5 Monte Carlo code. The γ -ray energy spectrum of graphite sample was firstly collected to calibrate the detection system and verify the validity of the MCNP5 model. Then γ -ray energy spectra of different samples under different situation are accumulated and compared with the simulation results. The samples of TNT and ammonium nitrate surrogate were placed behind a concrete wall with thickness of 10 cm, 15 cm and 20 cm, respectively. The comparison of the MCNP simulation results with experiment is in a good agreement. The results obtained provide a good reference for the subsequent data acquisition and analysis by using this model.

Objective This study reviewed our experience in treating patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS) who had acute sensorineural hearing loss (ASHL) early after radiosurgery. Patients and methods Seventy VS patients underwent cyberknife radiosurgery. Of them, 6 patients had ASHL early ( Results The mean hearing level of Group A was 39 ± 16 dB before radiosurgery, which deteriorated to 67 ± 14 dB at the onset of ASHL after radiosurgery. Three months after treatment for ASHL, hearing improvement was noted in only one patient (17%). Mean tumor volumes of Group A before and after ASHL were 1.54 ± 1.48 cc and 1.33 ± 1.04 cc, respectively, showing non-significant difference. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the optimal cutoff value for tumor size was 1.45 cm for predicting absence of ASHL, with a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 67%. In contrast, Group C with mean tumor size of 0.64 ± 0.15 cm adopted observation policy, and none of them had ASHL two years after diagnosis. Conclusion Prevalence of ASHL in VS patients early after radiosurgery is 8.6%, likely due to radiation injury to the cochlear nerve. Thus, when tumor size is

Background This study aimed to investigate the association of pre-treatment inflammatory status with survival time and to develop a prognostic nomogram incorporating inflammatory cytokines in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Methods A total of 228 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) received R-CHOP-based regimens from a prospective randomized study (NCT01852435) were included as a training cohort. Other cohorts of 886 lymphoma patients were served as validation cohorts. Lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR), serum levels of soluble interleukin s(IL)-2R, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), were assessed before treatment. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were used to select variables for nomogram of overall survival (OS). The predictive accuracy of the nomogram was determined by concordance index (C-index). Findings The nomogram included lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), sIL-2R, TNF-α and decreased LMR. The C-index of the nomogram for OS prediction were range from 0.61 to 0.86 for training cohort of DLBCL and validation cohorts of DLBCL, PTCL, NKTCL and ASCT, which were superior to the predictive power of International Prognostic Index (IPI, 0.67 to 0.84) or NCCN-IPI (0.59 to 0.78), but not in those of indolent lymphoma like FL and MALT. Interpretations The nomogram incorporating inflammatory cytokines provides a useful tool for risk stratification in aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Fund National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shanghai Commission of Science and Technology, Multicenter Clinical Research Project by Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Clinical Research Plan of SHDC, and Chang Jiang Scholars Program.

E-retailers and home delivery companies have struggled with logistics congestion. Hence, this study aims to develop a pricing model for alleviation of congestion in e-commerce logistics. The analytical results reveal that a congestion surcharge mechanism influences the behavior of a home delivery company and e-commerce consumers in terms of early delivery and delayed delivery, cargo volume, and consumers’ favorite delivery time. Moreover, e-commerce logistics fees in practice are established by negotiation between e-retailers and home delivery companies. The proposed model can be treated as a reference for e-retailers and home delivery companies to determine appropriate logistics fees. This pioneering study develops a congestion pricing model to deal with congestion problems in e-commerce logistics, which can effectively reflect the impact of various congestion fees on the behavior of e-commerce stakeholders.

Atrial fibrillation(AF) has become a significant public health concern in China, with population aging and urbanization.Data screening was performed for 30,244,930 subjects with medical insurance in the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission database between 2015 and 2020. Patients diagnosed with AF were identified and further assessed for treatment information and clinical outcomes, as well as sex differences and impact of COVID-19 pandemic on AF managment.AF prevalence was 0.88% in Shanghai, which increased with age and reached 6.70% at subjects 80 years and over. AF was more prevalent in women compared with men (0.89% vs. 0.88%, p0.0001), which could be attributed to higher AF burden in women over 80 years. Driven by increased prescription of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants, anticoagulant use increased from 19.46% in 2015 to 56.57% in 2020. The number of left atrial appendage closure increased from 0.16% in 2015 to 1.23% in 2020. Rhythm control strategy was increasingly adopted, as the use of antiarrhythmic drugs doubled and ablation increased by 21% in 2020 compared to 2015. Compared with men, women were less prone to receive rhythm control treatments, including antiarrhythmics, ablation and cardioversion, but more likely to adopt rate control drugs. During the 5.5 years follow-up, the incidences of stroke, transient ischemic attack, systemic embolism, bleeding, myocardial infarction, and in-hospital death were 6.09%, 5.74%, 1.44%, 5.11%, 8.41%, and 12.84% in patients with index diagnosis of AF in 2015, respectively.The burdens of AF and AF-related outcomes in Shanghai are high. Management of AF is markedly improved in recent years, and was not or only slightly impeded by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are sex differences in the prevalence, management, and outcomes of AF.Shanghai Hospital Development Center, National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to concerns around its subsequent impact on patients with non-COVID-19 diseases, and the health-seeking behavior of such patients must be investigated. Methods: Taking advantage of the remote ECG system covering 278 medical institutions throughout Shanghai, the numbers of hospital visits with ECG examinations during the lockdown (between January 23 and April 7, 2020), post-lockdown (between April 8 and December 31, 2020) and post-epidemic (between January 23 and April 7, 2021) periods were analyzed and compared against those during the same periods of the preceding years (2018 and 2019). Findings: Compared with those of the same period during pre-COVID years, the number of hospital visits decreased during the lockdown (a 38% reduction), followed by a rebound post-lockdown (a 17% increase) and a fall to the baseline level of the post-epidemic period. This decrease-rebound-fallback pattern was largely attributed to the dynamics of visits to community clinics rather than academic hospitals. The number of new COVID-19 cases or deaths announced on a given day correlated negatively with hospital visits during the same day and for the following 42 days, with the correlation at its most prominent at seven days. Hospital visit dynamics differed for various cardiovascular diseases. Whereas hospital visits for sinus bradycardia exhibited a typical decrease-rebound-fallback pattern, hospital visits for ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction did not fall during the lockdown period but did exhibit a subsequent increase during the post-lockdown period. By comparison, the volume for ventricular tachycardia remained constant throughout this entire period. Interpretation: The health-seeking behavior of patients with cardiovascular diseases exhibited a decrease-rebound-fallback pattern following the COVID-19 lockdowns. Hospital visits for diseases with more severe symptoms were less influenced by the lockdowns, showing a resilient demand for healthcare. Funding: Shanghai Hospital Development Center, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Declaration of Interest: All authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethical Approval: This study was approved by the ethics committee at Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Backgrounds: Severe influenza infection causes substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide and remains an important threat to global health. This study addressed factors related to treatment outcomes in subjects of complicated influenza infection with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) during the Taiwan epidemic in the Spring of 2016. Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted by Taiwan Severe Influenza Research Consortium (TSIRC), including eight tertiary referral medical centers. Patients with virology-proven influenza infection admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) between January and March 2016 were included for analysis. Results: We identified 263 patients with complicated influenza infection who fulfilled ARDS criteria; the mean age was 59.8 ± 14.6 (years), and 66.1% (166/263) were male. Type A influenza (77.9%, 205/263) virus was the main pathogen during this epidemic. The 30-day mortality rate was 23.2% (61/263). The mean tidal volume (VT) in the first three days after intubation was greater than 8 mL/kg of predicted body weight (PBW). Patients whose first measured VT was >8 mL/kg PBW had an increased 30-day mortality (p = 0.04, log-rank test). In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model, an increase of 1 mL/kg PBW of first VT was associated with 26.1% increase in 30-day mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 1.261, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.072–1.484, p

Multilayer polymer composite structures have been playing important roles in various fields, but the voids inside are not allowed in most scenarios. Ultrasonic technology has been widely used to inspect voids in concrete and metal structures. However, the application of ultrasonic imaging in polymer composite structures is severely blocked by the coating and lamination structures and unstable manufacturing induced sound speed variations. In this paper, a method to autofocus imaging of internal voids in multilayer polymer composite structures with ultrasonic phased array is firstly proposed. The method processes the full matrix capture (FMC) and focuses all voids in the multilayer structure automatically without the prior information of the speed of sound (SOS). The method utilizes the focus criterions to evaluate the focusing quality and then estimates the SOS with differential evolution layer by layer from surface to deep, which improves the robustness and computational efficiency. The method was examined with simulation data from three multilayer structures and well-focused all voids with position error less than 0.6 mm and SOS error less than 6 %. Moreover, the method was verified with the experimental data and focused voids with position error less than 1 mm.

Gamification is increasingly applied as a design strategy when improving various behavioral outcomes in the online retailing domain. Understanding the attributes of gamification marketing activities (GMAs) is critical for successful gamification, but perceived experience derived from the attributes of GMAs and its influence on desirable consumer behaviors have not been addressed so far in gamified online retailing studies. Thus, this paper aims to examine the relationships among GMAs’ experience, value, satisfaction, brand love, and desirable consumer behaviors. To test these relationships in the research model, we developed a study using a sample of 242 online bookstore customers, and found that the experience of GMAs has a significant and positive effect on hedonic value and utilitarian value. The findings also confirm that hedonic value and utilitarian value significantly affect satisfaction and brand love. Finally, our results confirm that satisfaction has a significant and positive effect on brand love, and in turn, on desirable consumer behaviors (i.e., brand loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, and resistance to negative information). The findings of this study can permit online retailing companies to predict the future behaviors of their customers more exactly and guide their management of assets and gamification marketing activities.

Given the growing commercial importance of the “user experience”, better application of gamification. Thus, this study aims at exploring the antecedents and consequences of user experience and its mediating role in an online gamification context. Specifically, this study uses structural equation modeling to test the causal relationships among perceived mobility, utilitarian and hedonic features, user experience, perceived benefits (self-benefit and social benefit), types of perceived value (information value, experiential value, social value, and transaction value), and brand equity (perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand associations, and brand trust) in an online gamification context. Results show that perceived mobility has a significant impact on utilitarian and hedonic features, while perceived mobility and utilitarian and hedonic features influence user experience, which in turn, affects perceived benefits, types of perceived value, and brand equity. Additionally, the mediating effect of user experience is also confirmed in this study. In summary, the findings of this study can help website managers improve their users' perception of benefits, value, and brand equity more effectively and act as a guide to research and development (R&D) of gamification to obtain competitive advantage in the online context.

Ethnopharmacological relevance The medicinal mushroom Antrodia cinnamomea has been used to treat cancer but its anti-angiogenic effects have not been studied in detail. Aim of the study The main objective of this study was to determine the molecular mechanism of activity underlying the anti-angiogenic effects of A. cinnamomea. Materials and methods The effects of an A. cinnamomea ethanol extract (ACEE) on cell migration and microvessel formation were investigated in endothelial cells in vitro and Matrigel plugs implanted into mice in vivo. Activation of intracellular signaling pathways was examined using Western blotting. Protein expression was assessed using immunohistochemistry in a mouse model of lung metastasis. Results We show that treatment with ACEE inhibits cell migration and tube formation in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). ACEE suppresses phosphorylation of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and expression of pro-angiogenic kinases in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-treated HUVECs, in addition to reducing expression of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). ACEE treatment inhibits VEGF-induced microvessel formation in Matrigel plugs in vivo. In addition, ACEE significantly reduces VEGFR2 expression in Lewis lung carcinoma cells and downregulates the expression of cluster of differentiation 31 (CD31) and VEGFR2 in murine lung metastases. Conclusion These results indicate that A. cinnamomea produces anti-angiogenic effects by inhibiting the VEGFR2 signaling pathway.

This study proposes a service design approach integrating Kansei Engineering and a data mining technique, in which Kansei Engineering is an ergonomic approach of customer-oriented product/service development and can translate the users’ subjective perceptions into a design specifications. The integrated approach collects customers’ relevant perceptual vocabulary and service properties based on the Kansei Engineering procedure. Subsequently, it quantifies the relationship among service properties, perceptual responses and usage intention through the data mining technique using a decision tree. A case of door-to-door delivery (D2DD) service is adopted to demonstrate that the proposed approach can incorporate the customers’ feelings into the process of service design or improvement and illustrate that the decision tree is suitable to be integrated with Kansei Engineering. The analytical results show the influence of a combination of different service properties (resp. perceptual responses) on a perceptual response (resp. usage intention). It is found that the combinations of crucial perceptual responses result in positive (resp. negative) usage intention and the property combinations result in these crucial perceptual responses. Accordingly, the D2DD service provider can improve or create its service based on the research findings.

The waste cotton stalk (CS) and wood sawdust (WS) biomass samples pretreated by two different thermal methods (dry torrefaction (DT) and hydrothermal treatment (HT) at 200, 230, 260 °C, respectively) were densified to prepare biomass briquette and then carbonized at 400 °C to prepare charcoal briquette without any binders. The physical properties and combustion characteristics of the derived charcoal briquettes were investigated to assess the feasibility of its application as barbecue charcoal. The results indicate that the physical properties including the mass densities and compressive strengths of HT charcoal briquettes are better than those of DT and unpretreated charcoal briquettes, even those of the commercial barbecue charcoal with binder addition. Moreover, the fixed carbon and ash yields of the resulted HT charcoal briquettes meet the European Standard on commercial barbecue charcoal. Especially HT charcoal briquettes has far lower ash yield than the commercial barbecue charcoal. HT charcoal briquettes have similar combustion character index ( S ) with the commercial barbecue charcoal. In the research, CS and WS hydrothermal pretreated at 230 °C are the best materials for the charcoal briquette preparation process.