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Carbothermal reduction of cathode materials is an effective method to selectively extract lithium carbonate, both mechanical activation and microwave heating can enhance thermal reduction of mixed electrode materials. However, the mechanism of enhanced lithium extraction has not been fully revealed. This study attempts to uncover the synergistic strengthening mechanisms of mechanical activation-microwave reduction from the aspects of material structure, dielectric properties, reduction kinetics and lithium recovery rate. Mechanical activation induces amorphization and structural defects. The enhanced dielectric properties of materials and the induced hotspots/arc plasmas are also responsible for the enhancement of the reduction reaction. The average dissociation activation energy in the activated sample is 18.0 kJ·mol

Objectives MicroRNA-199b-3p (miR-199b-3p) plays a crucial role in the malignant development of various cancers, but little known in prostate cancer (PCa). The aim of our study was to demonstrate the function of miR-199b-3p in PCa. Methods Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect miR-199b-3p expression in PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissue samples. In addition, we examined the relationship between the poor prognosis in PCa and miR-199b-3p. Western blot was used to analyze the expression of Phospholipase Ce (PLCe). CCK8 and colony-forming assays were applied to detect the proliferation of PCa. EdU assay is used to detect PCa cells uptake of EdU. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to analyze the binding between miR-199b-3p and PLCe. Results It has been shown that miR-199b-3p in PCa was significantly lower than that in benign prostatic hyperplasia and correlated with poor prognosis. Meanwhile, upregulation of miR-199b-3p can prominently inhibit the proliferation of PCa cells, while its down-regulation triggered opposite result. PLCe was identified as the downstream binding target gene and negatively associated with that of miR-199b-3p. Conclusion miR-199b-3p suppresses malignant proliferation by inhibiting PLCe in prostate cancer in vitro and vivo.

A simple and general approach leading to well-dispersed and surfactant-free multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) based single-piece Pb2+-selective nanocomposite membrane is proposed. The single-piece solid-contact Pb2+-selective electrodes were prepared via one-step drop casting the ultrasonicated suspension mixture on the golden electrodes. The obtained electrodes exhibited a Nernstian response slope of 29.0 ± 0.2 mV/decade in the linear range from 2.0 × 10−3 to 2.0 × 10−9 M and a low detection limit of 4.0 × 10−10 M. Due to the inherent high capacitance and hydrophobicity of nanocomposite membrane, excellent long-term potential stability and absence of water films were observed. Moreover, the sensor showed good resistance to interfering agents such as redox couple, light and gases. In addition, the proposed electrodes were demonstrated to be feasible for Pb2+ determination in tap water. Overall it was demonstrated as an appealing sensor for lead (II) detection for environmental and clinical applications.

Two polysaccharides, MDP-1 and MDP-2, were obtained from the fermentation liquid of M. dendrobii by anion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Their chemical structures were measured by FT-IR, GC, 1H and 13C NMR spectra, indicating the mainly compositions of mannose, xylose, and galactose for MDP-1; galacturonic acid, galactose and rhamnose for MDP-2. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities of MDPs were investigated, showing different antioxidant activities, in which MDP-2 performed noticeable, with excellent superoxide radical activity better than BHT, high DPPH radical activity (IC50 at 227 μg/mL) comparable with BHT, moderate reducing power activity and hydroxyl radical scavenging activity. The results indicated that the fermentation liquid of M. dendrobii could be used as a potential natural source of antioxidant.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are typically important factors in fleshy fruit crop quality. However, qualitative, and quantitative changes of VOCs profiles during grape berry development between different germplasms are not well understood. We surveyed VOCs composition and concentration at three berry development stages (fruit-set, veraison and maturation) in sixty-two grape accessions, and analyzed the relationship between monoterpenes contents and TERPENE SYNTHASE (TPS) genes expression. We identified ninety-four VOCs and observed different patterns of VOCs production through development among the different accessions. Total VOCs levels and the abundance of aldehydes, the most abundant VOCs at all three developmental stages, increased during berry development. Monoterpenes, hydrocarbons, and ketones levels peaked at maturation stage, while alcohols, sesquiterpenes and C13-noisoprenes had the highest concentrations at fruit-set. Correlation analysis indicated that several genes annotated as TPS contribute to monoterpene biosynthesis. These results have promoted the study of VOCs production in grape.

In this study, an expanded granular sludge blanket (EGSB) reactor was used for the treatment of low-strength domestic sewage and the sludge granulation process was systematically investigated. At an optimized hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 5 h, up-flow velocity (Vup) of 1.9 m/h, and organic loading rate (OLR) of 2.16 kg COD/m3/d, the average COD removal efficiency was 71.5 ± 2.3%. Completely granular sludge can be observed after 107 d of continuous operation. Analysis of the distribution and composition of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) indicates that the tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) content shows an increasing trend, while the loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) content did not significantly alter after the granular sludge was formed. The three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix technique (3D-EEM) confirms that aromatic protein-like substances are of key importance to sludge granulation. High-throughput sequencing analysis indicates that the metabolism shifted from hydrogenotrophic (Methanobaterium) to aceticlastic methanogens (Methanosaeta) during sludge granulation.

A series of novel α- l -threose nucleoside phosphonate analogs, 4(R)-methyl-3-O-phosphonomethyl-α- l -threose nucleosides, were synthesized in multistep sequences starting from d -xylose. The synthetic sequence consisted of the following key stages: (i) the multistep synthesis of 1,2-O-isopropylidenyl-4(R)-methyl-3-O-phosphonomethyl- l -threose, (ii) the transformation of 1,2-O-isopropylidenyl sugar into suitable 1,2-di-O-acyl l -threose precursor, and (iii) the construction of target α- l -threose nucleoside phosphonate analogs by Vorbruggen glycosidation reaction, deprotection of acyl group, and hydrolysis of diethyl group on phosphonate. The target nucleoside phosphonates were evaluated for their antitumour activities in cell culture-based assays. Compound 8g, 2-fluroadenosine phosphonate, showed remarkable activity against human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) with IC50 values of 0.476 and 0.391 μM, corresponding to 41- and 47-fold higher potency than the reference compound 5-FU, respectively. Subsequent investigations found that the compound 8g can inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells and cell cloning. The mechanistic studies indicated that compound 8g could cause DNA damage to breast cancer cells through the ATM-Chk1/Chk2-cdc25c pathway, leading to blockage of the G2/M phase cycle of breast cancer cells, which ultimately led to apoptosis. Moreover, 8g could inhibit the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and induce apoptosis. These results indicate that compound 8g holds promising potential as an antitumour agent.

Let G be a simple graph. The atom–bond connectivity index (ABC) of G is defined as A B C ( G ) = ∑ u v ∈ E ( G ) d ( u ) + d ( v ) − 2 d ( u ) d ( v ) , where d(v) denotes the degree of vertex v of G. We characterize the graphs with n vertices, minimum vertex degree ≥ 2, and m edges for m = 2 n − 4 and m = 2 n − 3 , that have maximum ABC index.

Wireless ultraviolet (UV) non-line-of-sight (NLOS) communication network is increasingly being used in three-dimensional (3D) space, such as formation flying and holding, underwater communication networks and ground-to-air communications. In this article, a networking strategy for three-dimensional wireless ultraviolet communication network (UVNNS) is proposed to optimize the coverage, connectivity and the survivability of the UV network. The performance of UVNNS with different communication parameters (apex angle, transmitted power, data rate, error probability and node density), modulation and noise model is simulated and analyzed in the 3D UV network. The simulation results show that the approach of UVNNS can improve the coverage ratio, connectivity and the survivability. Compared with the random deployment approach, the performance metrics of UVNNS are better than that of random deployment approach (RDA) in the same UV network. Therefore, the deployment of the 3D UV network can be accomplished efficiently with a minor impact of obstacles.

Transcrystallinity (TC) as a classic type of crystals has abstracted increasing attention due to its peculiar morphology and impacts the properties of materials in many aspects. Nevertheless, owing to the low content, disorder, and discontinuity of TC achieved by conventional methods, its formation mechanism and growth law still unclear, and its impact on the properties remains debatable. Here a strategy is proposed to construct all PLA-based multilayers composed almost entirely of the TC. PLLA and PDLA are coextruded to form the alternating multilayers, in which the PLLA and PDLA diffuse each other and thus form the two-dimensional stereocomplex (2D-SC) at the multilayered interface, subsequently, the 2D-SC induce the TC growing into the whole layer space. The POM, SEM, and 2D-WAXD results reveal that the TC is composed of highly compact and oriented lamellae, whose b-axis lays perpendicular to, but the a-axis and c-axis parallel to the multilayered interface. Such oriented morphology of TC does impact the properties of PLA. Not limited to the PLA, the strategy proposed here can also be applied to other two complementing stereoregular polymers, where the stereoselective interaction induces the formation of polymer SC. So, this effort could be a useful reference to the research on polymer TC.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Kidney deficiency is the main pathogenesis of osteoporosis based on the theory of “kidney governing bones” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Osteoporosis is a systemic disease; kidney deficiency influences the growth, aging and reproduction of human body, reflecting in endocrine, nerve, immunity, metabolism and other functions. Multi-target drugs composed of natural non-toxic products from kidney-reinforcing herbs, are being investigated for the treatment of osteoporosis. Therefore, it is necessary and imperative to develop an objective and comprehensive method to evaluate and compare the effects of herbs with listed drugs. Aim of the study This study was designed to evaluate and compare the therapeutic effects and the underlying molecular mechanism of the combined extracts of Epimedii Folium and Ligustri Lucidi Fructus (EL) with Raloxifene hydrochloride (RH) in ovariectomy (OVX)-induced postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) rats based on the multi-layer perception (MLP)-artificial neural network (ANN) model. Materials and methods Female SD rats were subjected to either sham surgery (n = 8) or bilateral OVX (n = 48). One week after recovering from surgery, the OVX-induced rats were randomly divided into three groups: OVX model group (n = 32, every 8 rats were killed at the end of the 5th, 9th, 11th or 13th week after OVX), EL group (treated with EL 0.35 g/kg, n = 8), and RH group (treated with RH 6.25 mg/kg, n = 8). The rats in the treatment groups were administrated once a day for 12 weeks, then sacrificed. We observed bone mass and quality, bone remodeling, the function of estrogen and TGF-β1/Smads pathway in all rats. Results Both EL and RH could increase bone mineral density, enhance bone strength, relieve bone micro-structure degeneration, re-balance bone remodeling, regulate estrogen dysfunction, and up-regulate TGF-β1 expression. The evaluation of the MLP-ANN model showed that EL and RH had markedly anti-PMOP effects, and there was no significant difference in the comprehensive evaluation of anti-osteoporosis between the two drugs. However, RH had better effects on bone mass and quality and TGF-β1/Smads pathway than EL; EL had better effects on estrogen function than RH. Conclusion Combined extracts of Epimedii Folium and Ligustri Lucidi Fructus (EL) exhibited bone-protective effects on PMOP. The MLP-ANN method evaluated the efficacy of drugs more comprehensively, which provided a new direction for the evaluation and comparison of drugs.

Magnolol, an essential bioactive natural lignans isolated from Magnolia Officinalis, has various pharmacological activities, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidation and anti-tumor. In this study, a practical strategy based on ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with linear ion trap-Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS) was established to reveal the metabolic fate of magnolol in rat plasma and urine. First of all, in the data-dependent scanning (DDS) acquisition mode, the ESI-MSn data sets of biological samples and reference standard were obtained by using a high-quality online data analysis method. Subsequently, off-line data-mining techniques including multiple mass defect filters (MMDFs) and high-resolution extracted ion chromatograms (HREICs) were applied to screen major-to-trace metabolites of magnolol at the full-scan ESI-MS1 level. Finally, a total of 177 metabolites (prototype compound included) were preliminarily observed and characterized according to accurate mass measurement, the characteristic fragmentation patterns, chromato-graphic behaviors, and corresponding Clog P values. The results showed that magnolol experienced a variety of biotransformation reactions in rats, including hydroxylation, methoxylation, dehydrogenation, carboxylation, sulfonation, glucuronide conjugation, glucose conjugation, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) conjugation, glutathione conjugation and their composite reactions. In conclusion, this study not only greatly expanded the understanding of the therapeutic material basis and pharmacological mechanism of magnolol, but also provided new ideas for its toxicity evaluation, safety monitoring and drug delivery forms design.

2,2,6,6-Tetramethyl-1-piperidine N -oxyl (TEMPO) and nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH) 2 ) mediated electrooxidation of glycine were performed and roles of bases in these two reactions were investigated by cyclic voltammetry. Trends of 2,4,6-collidine > 2,6-lutidine > 3-picoline > pyridine and KOH > NaOH > LiOH were observed in the studies of bases dependent activities on TEMPO and Ni(OH) 2 mediated glycine electrooxidation, respectively. Base effects can be rationalized by acid neutralization, base assisted deprotonation and the interaction between bases and catalysts.

Background Context To our knowledge, there is no study that has systematically analyzed the relationship between C1 transpedicular screw trajectory and V3 segment of vertebral artery (VA V3 segment). Purpose To study the relationship between C1 transpedicular screw trajectory and VA V3 segment. Study Design A morphologic computed tomography angiography (CTA) analysis of the spatial relationship between C1 transpedicular screw trajectory and VA V3 segment. Methods Measurements were made on a workstation by using CTA data of 62 patients. Firstly, parameters related to the relationship between C1 vertebral artery groove (VAG) and vertebral artery (VA) were measured: (A) the shortest distance between the posterosuperior aspect of C1 posterior arch and VA; (B) distance between the outer aspect of VAG and VA; (C) distance between midpoint of VAG and VA; and (D) distance between the inner aspect of the VAG and VA. Then, the central axis of trajectory perpendicular to the coronal plane (axis P) and the central axis of trajectory with a medial inclination (axis M) were designed for the basis of measurements. Parameters related to the relationship between axis P/M and VA V3 segment were measured respectively: (E, E′), distance between insertion point and anterior aspect of VA along axis P/M; (F, F′), the shortest distance between axis P/M and the outer cortex of C1 transverse foramen; and (G, G′), the narrowest width of C1 internal medullary canal along axis P/M. Result A, B, C, and D were 1.7±1.0 mm, 1.6±0.9 mm, 1.5±0.7 mm, 2.3±1.1 mm, respectively. E, E′ were 5.5±1.7 mm and 4.1±2.3 mm. F, F′ were 1.9±0.7 mm and 2.9±0.7 mm. G, G′ were 3.7±1.4 mm and 4.8±1.2 mm. There was a little interspace between atlas VAG and VA, which was mainly filled with venous plexus. Conclusions There is a close relationship between C1 transpedicular screw trajectory and VA V3 segment. Trajectory with medial inclination technique is suggested especially for female patients.

A multi-component emotion describing model is proposed.A text-based emotion detecting method based on the describing model is proposed.Both the interactions among affective components and contextual effect are involved. A multi-component emotion model is proposed to describe the affective states comprehensively and provide more details about emotion for the application of expressive speech synthesis. Four types of components from different perspectives - cognitive appraisal, psychological feeling, physical response and utterance manner are involved. And the interactions among them are also considered, by which the four components constitute a multi-layered structure. Based on the describing model, a detecting method is proposed to extract the affective states from text, as it is the requisite first step for an automatic generation of expressive synthetic speech. The deep stacking network is adopted and integrated with the hypothetic producing process of the four components, by which the intermediate layers of the network become visible and explicable. In addition, the affective states at document level and paragraph level are regarded as contextual features to extend available information for the emotion detection at sentence level. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated through experiments. At sentence level, a 0.59 F-value of the predictions of utterance manner is achieved.

Bitertanol is a widely used chiral triazole fungicide. The stereoselective environmental behavior and biological effects of bitertanol are not clear. The present study evaluated the stereoselectivity of bitertanol, including its degradation in five typical soils (under laboratory controlled aerobic, anaerobic and sterilization conditions), metabolism in rat liver microsomes (RLM; in vitro), and the endocrine disruption effects on the estrogen receptor (ER) and thyroid hormone receptor (TR) using reporter gene assays. The results indicated that (1S,2R)-bitertanol and (1R,2S)-bitertanol had faster degradation rates in soil than the other stereoisomers. The half-lives of four bitertanol stereoisomers ranged from 9.1 d to 86.6 d in different soils under different conditions. (1S,2R)-bitertanol was preferentially metabolized in RLM. The molecular docking results confirmed the in vitro experiments that (1S,2R)-bitertanol had shortest binding distances and lowest energies with cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs). Four bitertanol stereoisomers showed stereoselective antagonistic effects on ER. Additionally, (1S,2R)-bitertanol and (1R,2S)-bitertanol exhibited antagonistic effects on TR. These results suggest that the use of pure (1S,2R)-bitertanol instead of the commercial stereoisomer mix, may help reduce environmental pollution and biological toxicity.

The phenylpyrazole chiral insecticides, including the widely used fipronil, ethiprole, and flufiprole, have generated a worldwide interest due to their environmental toxicity. However, up to now,only few studies focused on their their potential endocrine-disrupting effects (EDEs). In this study, we investigated the endocrine hormonal disorder caused by the fipronil, ethiprole, and flufiprole enantiomers in vitro and in silico approach. Results of the luciferase reporter assay indicated that the enantiomers of fipronil, ethiprole, or flufiprole have shown stereoselective endocrine-disrupting effects. S-(−)-ethiprole and S-(−)-flufiprole have anti-thyroidal disorder effects whereas R-(−)-fipronil, R-(+)-ethiprole, and R-(+)-flufiprole showed anti-estrogenic disorder effects. The results of the molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the happened EDEs could be partially attributed to the enantioselective specific receptor binding affinities. It also suggested that Vander Waals interactions plays an important role in the binding procedure. This study could provide helpful information for the explanation of enantioselectivity in the EDEs of chiral phenylpyrazole pesticides at the molecular level.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Fructus Arctii is the dried ripe fruit of Arctium lappa L. (family Asteraceae). It is a well-known Chinese Materia Medica that was included in the Chinese pharmacopoeia because of its traditional therapeutic actions, such as heat removal, detoxification, and elimination of swelling. Since ancient times Fructus Arctii has been used extensively in a number of classical drug formulas to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that certain components of Fructus Arctii have multiple physiological activities on type 2 diabetes and its complications. Aim of the study We have reported the inhibitory effect of total lignans from Fructus Arctii (TLFA) on aldose reductase, the key enzyme in the polyol pathway, which is considered to be closely related to the onset of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The present study aimed to observe the preventive and therapeutic effects of TLFA on DR in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced DR rats. Materials and methods TLFA was prepared from Fructus Arctii and its content was determined using UV spectrophotometry. The DR model was induced by STZ in Wistar rats. For DR prevention, the animals were gavaged once daily for 9 weeks with TLFA (1.38, 0.69, and 0.35 g/kg/day) as soon as they were confirmed as diabetes models. Pathological changes to retinal tissues and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and protein kinase C (PKC) in the retina were detected after TLFA treatment. The effects of TLFA on blood glucose levels and body weight were also observed. For DR treatment, the animals were gavaged once daily for 12 weeks with TLFA (1.38 and 0.69 g/kg/day) at 3 months after they were confirmed as diabetes models. The therapeutic effect was studied using quantitative detection of blood-retina barrier (BRB) breakdown via an Evans Blue leakage assay. Results For DR prevention, after 9 weeks of TLFA administration, histopathological examination of retinal tissue showed that TLFA improved the lesions in the retina. Changes to retinal microstructures such as capillaries, ganglion cells, bipolar cells, and the membrane disk examined by electron microscopy further confirmed that TLFA has a preventive effect on retinopathy. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) detection showed that TLFA could inhibit retinal cell apoptosis in the diabetic rats, and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels of rats in the TLFA-treated groups decreased during the experiment. For DR treatment, after 3 months of administration, the amount of dye leakage in the TLFA-administered groups was reduced by more than 50% compared with that in the model group, which indicated that TLFA has a therapeutic effect on middle and late DR. Messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of VEGF and PKCβ2 in the retina detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (FQ-RT-PCR) showed that TLFA could inhibit the expression of them, which was consistent with the results of immunohistochemistry (IHC). Conclusion TLFA has a preventive and therapeutic effect on DR. Its mechanism of action on DR is related to inhibiting PKC activation and blocking VEGF elevation.

This work reports the first implementation of potentiometric solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISEs) using the nanocomposite of ordered bimetallic AuCu nanoparticles coupled with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (oAuCuNPs-MWCNTs) as transducers. The unexplored nanocomposite oAuCuNPs-MWCNTs is deposited by solvent casting on gold sputtered copper electrodes as an intermediate layer and then covered with ion-selective membranes to form potentiometric sensors. The performance of the sensors is evaluated by determining Ca2+ and SO42− as an example of cation and anion, respectively. The obtained electrodes show response slopes of 29.0 mV/decade for Ca2+-selective SC-ISEs from 10−6 to 10−1 M, and −27.0 mV/decade for SO42--selective SC-ISEs from 10−5 to 10−1 M. Moreover, they exhibit high double layer capacitance (54 μF for Ca2+-selective SC-ISEs and 105 μF for SO42--selective SC-ISEs), fast charge transfer (resistance of 2.22 MΩ for Ca2+-selective SC-ISEs and 0.46 MΩ for SO42--selective SC-ISEs) and low potential drift (15 ± 3 μV/h for Ca2+-selective SC-ISEs and 118 ± 16 μV/h for SO42--selective SC-ISEs over 12 h). Additionally, none of the redox reactions, light interference and water films is observed. These results indicate that the combination of bimetallic nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials offers great promise for the development of more robust and useful electrochemical sensors.

The lipid content of microalgae is important for biodiesel production. In this study, we determined photosynthetic performance, biomass composition and lipid production of marine unicellular microalgae Chaetoceros muelleri (Bacillariophyceae) and Dunaliella salina (Chlorophyceae) cultured under different nutrient deprivation conditions. The results showed the highest lipid content of C. muelleri (46.32±3.53%) and D. salina (54.15±2.71%) could be achieved by nitrogen and complete nutrient deprivation, respectively. Analysis of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) profile under those conditions revealed that the lipid accumulated by the two species was suitable to produce biodiesel. From these studies, we concluded that C. muelleri and D. salina would be highly suitable candidates for biodiesel production.