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Large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea), an economically important marine fish in China, has suffered from serious vibriosis, which has resulted in great economic losses for the large yellow croaker industry. Vaccination has been considered to be a safe and effective method to prevent and control vibriosis. However, due to the complex diversity and serotypes of the Vibrio genus, the progress of Vibrio vaccine development is still slow. In this study, we prepared recombinant Vibrio dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (rDLD) protein and investigated its potential as a candidate to be a subunit vaccine against Vibrio. The lysozyme activity and the rDLD-specific antibody level in sera of large yellow croakers immunized with rDLD were significantly higher than those in the control group, and the transcript levels of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, IL-1β), MHC IIα/β, CD40, CD8α, IL-4/13A, and IL-4/13B were significantly up-regulated in the spleen and head kidney of large yellow croakers immunized with rDLD, suggesting that rDLD could induce both specific and nonspecific immune responses in this species. In addition, rDLD protein increased the survival rate of large yellow croakers against Vibrio alginolyticus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, with the relative percent of survival (RPS) being 74.5% and 66.9%, respectively. These results will facilitate the development of a potential subunit vaccine against Vibrio in large yellow croaker aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow resistance and bubble transport in a helical static mixer were studied experimentally and numerically. The inline mixer increases the volume fraction of gas in liquids by breaking bubbles into smaller sizes with a micrometer size in the flow experiments. The gas–liquid flow was simulated by a combination of computational fluid dynamics and Taylor expansion methods of moments. The friction factor of the helical static mixer is much smaller than that of the Kenics static mixers. The pressure drop increases with the Reynolds number, and the increment is larger when the Reynolds number is higher. The equidistant pressure drop increases with the argument of Reynolds number, and increases when the pitch decreases from upstream to downstream. The energy expenditure increases significantly when the variable-pitch coefficient is too small. The bubble geometric mean diameter decreases and the geometric standard deviation increases when the gas–liquid fluid flows through the mixer. The variable pitch structure enhances the bubble breakup effectively. The change of the bubble size decreases with the argument of the Reynolds number. The effect of the mixer has a limitation on breaking the bubbles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we aimed to elucidate the anti-invasive effects of Cudrania tricuspidata root-gold nanoparticles (CTR-GNPs) using glioblastoma cells. We demonstrated the rapid synthesis of CTR-GNPs using UV-vis spectra. The surface morphology, crystallinity, reduction, capsulation, and stabilization of CTR-GNPs were analyzed using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Furthermore, CTR-GNPs displayed excellent photocatalytic activity as shown by the photo-degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B. Cell migration and invasion assays with human glioblastoma cells were performed to investigate the anti-invasive effect of CTR-GNPs on U87 cells that were treated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. The results show that CTR-GNPs can significantly inhibit both basal and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced migration and invasion ability. Importantly, treatment with CTR-GNPs significantly decreased the levels of metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/-9 and phospholipase D1 (PLD1) and protein but not PLD2, which is involved in the modulation of migration and the invasion of glioblastoma cells. These results present a novel mechanism showing that CTR-GNPs can attenuate the migration and invasion of glioblastoma cells induced by PMA through transcriptional and translational regulation of MMP-2/-9 and PLD1. Taken together, our results suggest that CTR-GNPs might be an excellent therapeutic alternative for wide range of glioblastomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave-assisted and ultrasound-assisted extraction assays were used to isolate total flavonoids (TF) from Osmanthus fragrans flowers. The effects of the solid-liquid ratio, ethanol concentration, microwave power, microwave extraction time, ultrasonic power and ultrasonic extraction time on the yield of TF were studied. A sequential combination of microwave- and ultrasound-assisted extraction (SC-MUAE) methods was developed, which was subsequently optimized by Box-Behnken design-response surface methodology (BBD-RSM). The interaction effects of the ethanol concentration (40-60%), microwave extraction time (5-7 min), ultrasonic extraction time (8-12 min) and ultrasonic power (210-430 W) on the yield of TF were investigated. The optimum operating parameters for the extraction of TF were determined to be as follows: ethanol concentration (48.15%), microwave extraction time (6.43 min), ultrasonic extraction time (10.09 min) and ultrasonic power (370.9 W). Under these conditions, the extraction yield of TF was 7.86 mg/g., Competing Interests: The authors have declared no conflict of interest.