Search

The complexity of forming a tube escalates inversely with the bending radius; a smaller radius corresponds to increased difficulty. A differential heating push-bending (DHP-B) forming approach was proposed, which established a nonuniform temperature field, enabling the formation of bent tubes with reduced bending radius. The impact of the temperature field and heating zones on the forming of the TA18 (Ti-3Al-2.5 V) bent tube (D = 20 mm, t = 1, r = 0.9 D) was investigated through finite element methods and experiments. The findings reveal that unilateral heating on the outer side of the tube results in the inward displacement of the neutral layer of the wall thickness, thus reducing the thickening on the intrados of the tube. Conversely, heating on the inner side of the tube instigates an outwards displacement of the neutral layer, leading to an increase in the inner thickening of the bend. Despite increasing the stress on the bent section, heating the outer side mitigates the material flow to the thickened area due to the nonuniform yield stress induced by the nonuniform temperature field, thereby reducing the generation of compressive strain. Furthermore, the study reveals that when heating is confined to the bent section or the straight-line section, the thickening is greater than when the entire outer side is heated. Finally, based on the finite element results, a TA18 bent tube with a bending radius of 0.9 D was successfully formed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A push-spin integrated (P-SI) bending forming method was proposed for tubes with small bending radius. A spinning wheel device is incorporated on the inner side of the die's bend, allowing either passive or active rotation of the spinning wheel. This setup can reduce friction or alter the direction of the friction force at the intrados of the bent tube, enhancing the stress-strain condition therein. A finite element model for the P-SI bending forming was established. The simulation results indicate that this forming procedure reduces the sensitivity of the length of the output zone to the tube's internal medium reverse thrust. This is advantageous in mitigating the wrinkling defect of the bent tube by increasing the internal medium pressure. Additionally, it facilitates material flow at the intrados of the bent tube, extending the output zone's length and reducing the occurrence of excessive wall thickening. An experiment using a 0.9D aluminum alloy thin-walled tube with P-SI bending forming was conducted. The experimental results demonstrated that compared to the conventional push-bend forming technique, the output zone's length in tubes formed by the P-SI process doubled, which was consistent with the finite element simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A process of differential heating push-bending (DHP-B) was proposed to enhance the forming quality of thin-walled tubes with small bending radius. Finite element numerical simulation and the orthogonal test method were employed to optimize the process parameters, including temperature, friction coefficients of the inner and outer deformation zones (Z1 and Z2) as well as the guide zone (Z3), and the reverse thrust, for bending 5A02 aluminum alloy tubes with a diameter of 32 mm, a wall thickness of 1 mm, and a relative bending radius of 0.9. The thinning rate, ovality, and push-out amount were taken as the evaluation indexes to determine the primary and secondary relationships between the factors by the comprehensive balance method. Temperature, among these factors, had the most significant impact on these evaluation indexes. The variation of friction coefficient mainly affected thinning rate and ovality, whereas the reverse thrust primarily affected the push-out amount. The optimal parameter combinations were identified as a temperature of 300 °C, friction coefficient Z1 of 0.1, Z2 of 0.1, Z3 of 0.03, and reverse thrust of 27 MPa, as revealed by the results. Finally, the simulation results were validated by experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, a teleostean group (e.g., family or genus) owns one type or a set of similar mitochondrial gene arrangement. It is interesting, however, that four different types of gene arrangement have been found in the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Cynoglossidae species. So far, the possible mechanisms of mitogenomic gene rearrangement and its potential implications have aroused widespread attention and caused lots of controversy. Here, a total of 21 Cynoglossidae mitogenomes and a newly sequenced mitogenome of Cynoglossus puncticpes (Pleuronectiformes: Cynoglossidae) were compared. The length ranges from 16 417 bp to 18 369 bp, which is mainly caused by the length heteroplasmy of control region (CR). Further analysis reveals that the difference of tandem repeats acts as a determining factor resulting in the length heterogeneity. Like most gene rearrangements of Cynoglossinae mitogenomes, tRNA-Gln gene encoded by the L-strand has translocated to the H-strand (Q inversion), accompanied by the translocation of CR in C. puncticpes mitogenome. The typical IQM order (tRNA-Ile-Gln-Met) changed to QIM order. Tandem duplication/random loss and mitochondrial recombination were accepted as the most possible models to account for the rearrangements in C. puncticpes mitogenome. Phylogenetic trees showed a strong correlation between the gap spacer in the rearranged QIM area and phylogeny, which provides a fresh idea for phylogenetic studies in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) can provide useful information for phylogenetic relationships, gene rearrangement, and molecular evolution. In the present study, two newly sequenced mitogenomes of Ocypodoidea (Cleistostoma dilatatum and Euplax sp.) were reported for the first time, which are 15 444 bp and 16 129 bp in length, respectively. Cleistostoma dilatatum is the first species in the family Camptandriidae whose complete mitogenome was sequenced. Each mitogenome contains an entire set of 37 genes and a putative control region, but their gene arrangements are largely different. Tandem duplication and random loss model is proposed to account for their gene arrangements. Comparative genomic analyses of 19 mitogenomes clustering in one branch reveal that 18 of them shared the same gene rearrangement, while that of C. dilatatum mitogenome was consistent with the ancestral gene arrangement of Brachyura. The dN/dS ratio analysis shows that all PCGs are evolving under purifying selection. Phylogenetic analyses show that all Macrophalmidae species cluster together as a group, and then form a sister clade with Camptandriidae. Moreover, the polyphyly of three superfamilies (Ocypodoidea, Eriphioidea, and Grapsoidea) is reconfirmed. These findings help to confirm the phylogenetic position of Camptandriidae, as well as provide new insights into the phylogeny of Brachyura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The smaller the relative bending radius of the bent tube, the more difficult the tube blank is to be bent. In this paper, the push-bending process for the aluminum tube with a relative bending radius of 0.9D was analyzed through simulation. There was tangential tensile stress concentration occurring at the front endpoint of tube intrados, which increased the risk of cracking. That is because the bending tube's extrados moves less angular distance than its intrados by the uniform lubrication method, causing excessive deformation of the cross-section. Therefore, a differential lubrication method using the lubricant with a larger friction coefficient at intrados and the lubricant with a smaller friction coefficient at extrados was proposed to increase the angular velocity of the tube's extrados. It was found that the differential lubrication method helped avoid excessive thinning at the front endpoint of tube intrados through simulations. Furthermore, push-bending experiments of 5A02 aluminum alloy with a relative bending radius of 0.9D were carried out to investigate this effect. The experimental results showed that the differential lubrication method effectively avoided cracking, which agreed with the simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop a clot-based radiomics model using CT imaging radiomic features and machine learning to identify cardioembolic (CE) stroke before mechanical thrombectomy (MTB) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Materials and methods: This retrospective four-center study consecutively included 403 patients with AIS who sequentially underwent CT and MTB between April 2016 and July 2021. These were grouped into training, testing, and external validation cohorts. Thrombus-extracted radiomic features and basic information were gathered to construct a machine learning model to predict CE stroke. The radiological characteristics and basic information were used to build a routine radiological model. A combined radiomics and radiological features model was also developed. The performances of all models were evaluated and compared in the validation cohort. A histological analysis helped further assess the proposed model in all patients. Results: The radiomics model yielded an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.838 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.771–0.891) for predicting CE stroke in the validation cohort, significantly higher than the radiological model (AUC, 0.713; 95% CI, 0.636–0.781; p = 0.007) but similar to the combined model (AUC, 0.855; 95% CI, 0.791–0.906; p = 0.14). The thrombus radiomic features achieved stronger correlations with red blood cells (|rmax|, 0.74 vs. 0.32) and fibrin and platelet (|rmax|, 0.68 vs. 0.18) than radiological characteristics. Conclusion: The proposed CT-based radiomics model could reliably predict CE stroke in AIS, performing better than the routine radiological method. Key Points: • Admission CT imaging could offer valuable information to identify the acute ischemic stroke source by radiomics analysis. • The proposed CT imaging–based radiomics model yielded a higher area under the curve (0.838) than the routine radiological method (0.713; p = 0.007). • Several radiomic features showed significantly stronger correlations with two main thrombus constituents (red blood cells, |rmax|, 0.74; fibrin and platelet, |rmax|, 0.68) than routine radiological characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of Parasesarma eumolpe (Brachyura: Grapsoidea: Sesarmidae) for the first time. The characteristics of this newly sequenced mitogenome were described and compared with other Sesarmidae species. The 15 646-bp mitogenome contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and an A-T rich region. All of the PCGs are initiated by the start codon ATN and terminated by the standard TAN codon or an incomplete T. The pairwise Ka/Ks ratio analysis shows that all 13 PCGs are under purifying selection, whereas the ATP8 gene is an outlier, with pairwise comparison values ranging from neutral selection (0.000) to positive selection (1.039). The gene arrangement of P. eumolpe compared with ancestral Decapoda shows the translocation of two tRNAs (tRNA-His and tRNA-Gln), which is identical to other Sesarmidae species. Phylogenetic analyses show that all Sesarmidae species are placed into one group, and the polyphyly of Eriphioidea, Ocypodoidea, and Grapsoidea is well supported. The relationship between gaps in the QIM region and the phylogeny of Sesarmidae is analyzed. It is obvious that both the G5 (the gap between Q and I) and G6 (the gap between I and M) decrease progressively with the evolution process. These results will help to better understand the genomic evolution within Sesarmidae and provide insights into the phylogeny of Brachyura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) can help understand the molecular evolution and phylogenetic relationships of various species. To date, the phylogenetic status of Leucosiidae within Brachyura remains unresolved because of the limited number of mitogenomes available. In the present study, the complete mitogenome of Myra affinis was sequenced using next-generation sequencing to supplement the limited mitogenome information of Leucosiidae. The 15349 bp-long mitogenome includes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and a putative control region. The overall base composition is 34.5% A, 36.1% T, 11.5% G, and 17.9% C, with a high AT bias (70.6%). All 13 PCGs start with the standard ATN codon and stop with the TAN codon or incomplete T. Except for tRNA-Ser, all other tRNAs have a typical cloverleaf-like secondary structure. Phylogenetic analyses based on the maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods are employed to generate identical phylogenetic topologies, thereby supporting the sister relationship between Leucosiidae and Matutidae for the first time. The monophyly of Eubrachyura is well established, and its sister relationship with Raninoida is strongly supported. The results of this work will not only help achieve a better understanding of the characteristics of the M. affinis mitogenome and the phylogenetic position of Leucosiidae, but also provide relevant information for further studies on the phylogeny of Brachyura. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The different branch diameters of five-way tube affect the design of loading internal pressure in the hydroforming process, where the large-diameter branch is broken more easily than the small-diameter one due to the same ultimate stress of tube material in one-step forming method. Therefore, the first four-way and then five-way of multi-step forming (FFTF) method and the first three-way and then five-way of multi-step forming (FTTF) method were proposed to fabricate the 5A02 aluminum alloy five-way tube with two kinds of branch diameters to avoid the burst of large-diameter branch tube. The finite element simulation of five-way tube hydroforming process shows that the height of small-diameter branch tube is lower and serious wrinkles appear at the large-diameter branch tube in the one-step forming and FFTF method. By optimizing the length of punch, a five-way tube with a big branch height and uniform wall thickness was obtained with the FTTF method. The approach of lengthening the punch in the experiment increased the height of formed branch and reduced the wall thickness reduction rate of five-way tube in FTTF method. Overall, the findings mentioned above cannot only offer guide in creating five-way tube with excellent quality, but also be taken as reference to the hydroforming studies on multi-way tube in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new technology of local electrically assisted necking and thickening forming of 5A02 aluminum alloy tube is developed, to enhance the quality of tube necking and thickening and increase the thickness of the tube wall in thickening area. Advantages of the electroplasticity of pulse current are utilized to guarantee the forming quality of tube necking and thickening. Process parameters such as thickness of the guide block, contact mode of the upper electrode, and the cooling method were studied. The results indicate that the thicker the guide block, the less prone to premature bending and instability in the forming process. The integral electrode is the most stable and the best heat dissipation effect, which avoids the tube from internal buckling. With the increase of the cooling capacity, the average wall thickness increases first and then decreases. According to these results, a process scheme is designed, with which successful experiments have been performed. And the microstructures of the necking and thickening areas were studied by optical microscope. Local electrically assisted necking and thickening technology shows great benefits in tube extrusion forming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare advanced non-parallel transmission zoomed diffusion-weighted imaging (nonPTX zoom-DWI) to conventional DWI (conv-DWI) for the assessment of prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: This retrospective study included 98 patients who underwent conv-DWI, nonPTX zoom-DWI, and T2-weighted imaging of the prostate. The image qualities of the two DWI sets, including the distortion of the prostate and the existence of artifacts, were evaluated. To compare the overall PCa and clinically important PCa (ciPCa) detection ability between the sets, lesions were scored using the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) version 2. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the lesions were also measured and compared. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare continuous variables, and the χ2 test was used to compare categorical variables. Two-sided P values of < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Non-PTX zoom-DWI yielded significantly better image quality and image analysis reproducibility than conv-DWI (all P < 0.001). Compared with conv-ADC, nonPTX zoom-ADC showed slightly better detection performance for overall PCa (AUC: 0.827 vs. 0.797; P = 0.55) and ciPCa (AUC: 0.822 vs. 0.749; P = 0.58). At a PI-RADS score of 4 as the cutoff value for PCa prediction, nonPTX zoom-DWI showed significantly higher diagnostic efficiency for overall PCa detection (sensitivity: 87.9% vs. 72.4%; specificity: 87.5% vs. 77.5%; both P < 0.05) and ciPCa detection (sensitivity: 86.3% vs. 74.5%; specificity: 72.3% vs. 63.8%; both P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: Non-PTX zoom-DWI yields better image quality and higher PCa detection performance than Conv-DWI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) can provide useful information for phylogenetic relationships, gene rearrangement, and molecular evolution. In this study, the complete mitogenomes of two hermit crabs, Dardanus arrosor and Dardanus aspersus, were sequenced for the first time and compared with other published mitogenomes of Paguroidea. Each of the two mitogenomes contains an entire set of 37 genes and a putative control region, but they display different gene arrangements. The different arrangements of the two mitogenomes might be the result of transposition, reversal, and tandem duplication/random loss events from the ancestral pancrustacean pattern. Genome sequence similarity analysis reveals the gene rearrangement in 15 Paguroidea mitogenomes. After synteny analysis between the 15 Paguroidea mitogenomes, an obvious rearranged region is found in D. aspersus mitogenome. Across the 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) tested, COI has the least and ND6 has the largest genetic distances among the 15 hermit crabs, indicating varied evolution rates of PCGs. In addition, the dN/dS ratio analysis shows that all PCGs are evolving under purifying selection. The phylogenetic analyses based on both gene order and sequence data present the monophyly of three families (Paguridae, Coenobitidae, and Pylochelidae) and the paraphyly of the family Diogenidae. Meanwhile, the phylogenetic tree based on the nucleotide sequences of 13 PCGs shows that two Dardanus species formed a sister group with five Coenobitidae species. These findings help to better understand the gene rearrangement and phylogeny of Paguroidea, as well as provide new insights into the usefulness of mitochondrial gene order as a phylogenetic marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is well acknowledged as an effective treatment for dyssynchronous heart failure. However, the molecular mechanism is unclear to date. Mitochondrial dysfunction and impaired energetic metabolism are two important mechanisms that lead to heart failure. Therefore, we aim to screen the changes of mitochondria-associated proteins and signaling pathways involved in heart failure and CRT treatment.Methods: A total of 24 beagle dogs were randomly assigned into control (CON), heart failure (HF), or CRT group. Myocardial mitochondria from the free wall of left ventricle was extracted for isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) labeling coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry analysis (2DLC-MS/MS).Results: A total of 2190 proteins were identified, among which 234 proteins were differentially expressed in HF compared with CON group, 151 proteins were differentially expressed in CRT compared with HF group. A total of 192 of the 234 differentially expressed proteins in HF group were changed oppositely by CRT treatment, and 128 of the 151 CRT-induced differentially expressed proteins showed opposite trend of expression to HF/CON. Gene Ontology analysis of the 128 proteins revealed that 16 were localized in mitochondria, 17 were associated with calcium signaling, and 7 could be secreted extracellularly for cell-to-cell signaling. Calpain-1 (CAPN1), which is localized to mitochondria and related to calcium signaling, was upregulated in HF and downregulated after CRT treatment. CRT treatment also improved mitochondrial morphology and function and reduced collagen areas of both interstitial and perivascular fibrosis.Conclusions: CRT treatment significantly improved cardiac function, reduced myocardial fibrosis, and enhanced mitochondrial function in the failing heart through CAPN1 downregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the influence of pressure control precision, the actual pressure in hydroforming process for the tube is usually greater than the design pressure, which causes the fracture of tube. The loading path of T-shaped tube hydroforming process was designed based on the control of limit pressure. First, the limit pressure of tube Pmax was obtained by improving the internal pressure until the tube cracked in the T-shaped tube hydroforming process without the feeding and a theoretical model for predicting instantaneous pressure is developed. Second, the tube bulge height Hmax and the maximum feeding Dmax were explored through manual operation of feeding and pressure in hydroforming machine, in which the overflow pressure is set to Pmax by using an overflow valve; finally, the loading path of internal pressure and feeding was designed using the ladder growth and linear growth in T-shaped tube hydroforming experiment in which the maximum pressure, the maximum feeding, and the overflow pressure (equal to internal pressure) were set to Pmax, Dmax, and Pmax, respectively. The results show that the obtained limit pressure Pmax can avoid the overpressure of the tube and restrain the fracture of the tube through the action of the overflow valve. Meanwhile, the accuracy of the prediction model to figure up Pmax was verified through experiments: the theoretical prediction value of the established model was consistent with the experimental true value. Compared with the T-shaped tube formed by linear loading path, the wall thickness of the formed T-shaped tube by ladder loading path is more evenly distributed without wrinkles and fractures and the height of the formed branch tube close to Hmax. At the same time, it is found that under the differential lubrication tube blank, the time of obtaining a suitable loading path is significantly reduced, and the collocation of ladder mode is simpler and more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Necking technology was widely used in the airplane pull rod parts. The tube end of airplane pull rod parts made by the traditional technology (such as spinning) was insufficient to thread directly, and it needed to rivet the threaded sleeve, which result in the low joint strength of airplane pull rod parts. Alternatively, a method of necking and thickening for a thin-walled tube using differential temperature extrusion was proposed for the purpose of threading directly. In this work, the effects of temperature and friction during the process of necking and thickening for 5A02 aluminum alloy thin-walled tube were conducted by finite element (FE) simulations and experiments. The simulation results showed that the higher the temperature was and the lower the friction coefficient was, the bigger the thickness of thickening area in the tube end was, which benefited to thread directly. Then, FE simulation was verified to be reliable by experiments. Subsequently, the effect of temperature on the microstructure in the thickening area of the formed workpiece was investigated by the optical microscopy. The microstructural morphology showed the grain size of the thickening area in the formed workpiece coarsened in comparison with the unformed tube when the material was heated at high temperature during the process of necking and thickening of tube. And the higher temperature was, the coarser the grain in the thickening area was. Finally, the reasonable forming temperature and friction was proposed for improving the micro and macro forming quality of the airplane pull rod parts under the necking and thickening process for thin-walled tube. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stability of fractional singular systems with time delay is discussed. Considering the singularity of the system, a system is decomposed into two subsystems. Through fractional Laplacian transformation and inverse Laplacian transformation on the subsystems, the expression of the state variables in time domain is obtained. According to the characteristics of Mittag-Leffler function, some inequalities that have important influence on stability are derived. Finally, a new sufficient condition is found to make the fractional singular systems with time delay asymptotically stable when the fractional order belongs to1 < α < 2. Meanwhile, the sufficient condition is also obtained to make the system stable under the nonlinear disturbance. All processes are proved and numerical examples are provided to show the validity and feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammalian skeletal muscles are heterogeneous in nature and are capable of performing various functions. Tropomyosin (Tpm) is a major component of the thin filament in skeletal muscles and plays an important role in controlling muscle contraction and relaxation. Tpm is known to consist of multiple isoforms resulting from different encoding genes and alternative splicing, along with post-translational modifications. However, a systematic characterization of Tpm isoforms in skeletal muscles is still lacking. Therefore, we employed top-down mass spectrometry (MS) to identify and characterize Tpm isoforms present in different skeletal muscles from multiple species, including swine, rat, and human. Our study revealed that Tpm1.1 and Tpm2.2 are the two major Tpm isoforms in swine and rat skeletal muscles, whereas Tpm1.1, Tpm2.2, and Tpm3.12 are present in human skeletal muscles. Tandem MS was utilized to identify the sequences of the major Tpm isoforms. Furthermore, quantitative analysis revealed muscle-type specific differences in the abundance of un-modified and modified Tpm isoforms in rat and human skeletal muscles. This study represents the first systematic investigation of Tpm isoforms in skeletal muscles, which not only demonstrates the capabilities of top-down MS for the comprehensive characterization of skeletal myofilament proteins but also provides the basis for further studies on these Tpm isoforms in muscle-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study the effects of Fuzheng Huayu Decoction on the plasma proteome in cirrhotic rats. Twenty-six male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups: cirrhotic model group ( n = 10), treated with CCl4 (CCl4/olive oil: v/v = 1:1); Fuzheng Huayu Decoction intervention group ( n = 10), treated with CCl4 + Fuzheng Huayu Decoction; and normal control group ( n = 6), treated with olive oil only. After 8 weeks, blood samples were collected from the inferior vena cava to undergo bi-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE) and analysis by PDQuest 7.3 software. Differential protein spots were cut, enzyme hydrolysis was conducted, and peptide fragments extracted from the mixture underwent mass spectrometry (MS) with MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS. The liver fibrogenesis was assessed using a digital image analysis instrument of Masson’s trichrome stained sections. The fibrosis area of the Fuzheng Huayu Decoction was (8.9 ± 3.7)%, significantly smaller than that of the cirrhotic model group [(12.4 ± 4.7)%, P<0.05]. Ten markedly changed protein spots were identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF-MS. Eight of the 10 proteins, including plasma glutathione peroxidase, plasma glutathione peroxidase precursor, prealbumin, haptoglobin, apolipoprotein A-IV precursor, complement C4, inter-alpha-inhibitor H4 heavy chain, and serine/threonine-protein kinase microtubule-affinity regulating kinase 1 (MARK1) were expressed very lowly in the cirrhotic model group while they were expressed highly in the Fuzheng Huayu Decoction group. The expression of liver regeneration-related protein LRRG03 and vimentin increased in the cirrhotic model group, and reduced in the Fuzheng Huayu Decoction group. Some proteins related to oxidative stress, cell proliferation and transformation have changed in the plasma of cirrhosis induced by CCl4. Fuzheng Huayu Decoction promotes protein synthesis and plays an anti-fibrotic role by anti-oxidation and accommodation of cell proliferation and transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to establish the novel high throughput, high efficiency and low cost technological platform for the research of N-glycoproteomics, to resolve the significance of characteristic expression profile of glycoprotein and to find the proteins with biological functional importance, the glycoproteins with high-mannose core and the two antennary types were purified and enriched by the Con A affinity chromatography. Con A affinity protein expression profiles of normal human liver tissue were generated by using SDS-PAGE, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by fast fluorescence staining based on multiplexed proteomics (MP) technology. 301 visible protein spots on the gel were detected and 85 of glycoproteins were further successfully identified via peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) by a matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS/MS) and annotated to IPI databases. Identified glycoproteins definitely take part in the regulation of cell cycle and metabolic processes. The glycosylation sites were predicted with NetNGlyc 1.0 and NetOGlyc 3.1 software, meanwhile they were classified according to the geneontology methods. The construction of Con A affinity glycoprotein database of normal human liver tissue would contribute to the subsequent research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber coated with a novel γ-Al2O3 coating has been prepared and used to screen gaseous samples for traces of volatile organic compounds (VOC). The adsorption and desorption characteristics of the new porous layer have been investigated. Results show that it has good thermal stability (to 350 °C), high extraction capacity, a long life-span, and good selectivity for alkanes and esters. Detection limits for VOC in a gaseous matrix, for extraction with the γ-Al2O3-coated fiber then analysis by GC–FID, were less than 0.714 ng L−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]