Search

A 150-day experiment was performed to investigate the stimulatory effect of a promising phytoremediation strategy consisting of Suaeda heteroptera (S. heteroptera), Nereis succinea (N. succinea), and oil-degrading bacteria for cleaning up total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in spiked sediment. Inoculation with oil-degrading bacteria and/or N. succinea increased plant yield and TPH accumulation in S. heteroptera plants. The highest TPH dissipation (40.5%) was obtained in the combination treatment, i.e., S. heteroptera + oil-degrading bacteria + N. succinea, in which the sediment TPH concentration decreased from an initial value of 3955 to 2355 mg/kg in 150 days. BAF, BCF, and TF confirmed the role of N. succinea and oil-degrading bacteria in the amelioration and translocation of TPHs. In addition, TPH toxicity of S. heteroptera was alleviated by N. succinea and oil-degrading bacteria addition through the reduction of oxidative stress. Therefore, S. heteroptera could be used for cleaning up oil-contaminated sediment, particularly in the presence of oil-degrading bacteria + N. succinea. Field studies on oil-degrading bacteria + N. succinea may provide new insights on the rehabilitation and restoration of sediments contaminated by TPHs. Our study attempted to investigate the stimulatory effect of a promising phytoremediation strategy consisting of Suaeda heteroptera (S. heteroptera), Nereis succinea (N. succinea), and oil-degrading bacteria for cleaning up TPH in spiked sediment. Planting S. heteroptera can greatly increase sediment TPH removal, and its removal was enhanced greater after inoculation with oil-degrading bacteria and/or N. succinea. Moreover, the promising phytoremediation strategy developed in the current work can serve as an efficient, novel approach to removal TPH in sediment/soil. In our opinions, these findings provide insights into the assessment of their ecological risks in the environments that are of interest to broad readership of International Journal of Phytoremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) are typical endocrine disruptors which are ubiquitous contaminants. Human exposure to PAEs is through multiple routes of which the diet is recognised as the main source of daily intake. The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary exposure to PAEs of residents in Shenzhen (China) through a total diet study and assess the potential health risk. A total of 16 different phthalate esters in samples of 12 composite food groups were determined by GC–MS. The main dietary sources of PAE exposure among adult residents in Shenzhen were potatoes (21%), eggs (21%), meat (15%) and aquatic products (14%). The median total dietary exposure to PAEs in Shenzhen residents was 7780 ng kg−1 bw d−1, and the hazard quotients (HQ) of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) were 0.09, 0.06, 0.07, 0.10 and 0.03, respectively. Therefore, the risks from dietary PAE exposure were low. However, with the increasing use of PAEs and their accumulation in the environment, the probability of PAEs entering the food chain is gradually increasing and, therefore, PAEs should be strictly controlled and regularly monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of mesoporous calcium oxide materials with hierarchical porous structure have been synthesized for no-glycerol biodiesel preparation, which was prepared by using stigma maydis as a novel template, impregnated in calcium acetate solution and subsequently calcined in air and expressed as CaO(O). The experimental results demonstrate that the resulting solid base CaO(O) exhibit favorable catalytic capability in coupling transesterification based on three mixture (methanol, rapeseed oil and methyl acetate) under selection of suitable calcinated temperature (600 °C) and calcium acetate obtained experimentally under molar ratio 1/1/8 of rapeseed oil/methyl acetate/methanol and 10 wt% of catalyst consumption at 65 °C for 2.5 h. However, no more than 60% yield of biodiesel can be obtained over commercial CaO under same react condition. Based on the analysis conclusions, it can be summarized that a uniform CaO coat was deposited on the surface of the biotemplate with multi-basic sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huanglian Jiedu Decoction (HLJJD) has a variety of pharmacological activities, such as anti-inflammatory and neuroprotection against ischaemic brain injury. This ex vivo study explores its antithrombosis activity and inhibition of platelet aggregation. To study the antithrombosis activity of HLJJD ex vivo, saline, or HLJDD (100, 200, and 500 mg/kg) was treated prophylactically by gavage for 3 days in Wistar rats (n = 4). Based on the rat model of transient middle cerebral artery infarction (MCAO) or normal rats (n = 4), the antithrombotic activity in the normal group and HLJDD subgroups on prothrombin time, thrombus weight, platelet aggregation, and others was evaluated, followed by the antiplatelet aggregation of its main components (n = 4). The weight of the thrombus increased significantly at 24 h after MCAO onset. HLJJD did not influence the change of PT, but significantly inhibited thrombosis by 12.5, 20.0, and 20.5% in reducing the dry weight of thrombus, and blocked collagen-induced platelet aggregation by 25.5, 39.0, and 42.7% and adhesion of blood platelet by 17.3, 26.2, and 27.3%. The IC50 value of HLJJD on collagen-induced platelet aggregation was 670 mg/kg. Geniposide only facilitated antiplatelet aggregation induced by collagen, but not AA or ADP. Both baicalin and berberine showed markedly antiplatelet aggregation induced by all activators. The antithrombotic activity of baicalin was relatively higher than that of berberine (35.0–47.8% vs. 20.6–33.5%). Our results indicated that HLJDD regulated blood circulation by inhibiting platelet aggregation and thrombosis, which might also extensively contribute to the clinical prevention and treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogel actuated membrane in this paper is highly stretchable while having an electrically responsive output force. At a doping level of 0.6 g SA, the elongation at break of the hydrogel-driven membrane reached 3117% and the output force density reached 16.49 mN/g. In addition, the elastic modulus, tensile strength, and specific capacitance of the driving membrane reached the maximum values of 29.05 kPa, 907.24 kPa, and 452.8 mF/g at SA doping content of 0.75 g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To provide a detailed review on the therapeutic efficacy of conbercept for the management of ocular vasculopathies. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of various electronic databases was performed. Results: Ocular vasculopathy is one of the major causes of visual impairment and blindness which includes a range of disorders. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) regulates angiogenesis, enhances vascular permeability, and drives the formation of neovascularization. Anti-VEGF therapy has been shown to prevent vision loss or potentially improve vision in patients with exudative or neovascular retinal disease. The most recent anti-VEGF drug in China is conbercept. In the USA and Europe, bevacizumab is the most recently approved anti-VEGF agent. Conclusions: Conbercept serves as another anti-VEGF option for patients with neovascular AMD and other retinal vascular disorders. There have not been many clinical trials that study conbercept as compared with other currently available anti-VEGF drugs. There is a need for large-scale, well-designed, randomized clinical trials to ensure its long-term safety and efficacy and to determine if it has any advantages over other anti-VEGF agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing road and non-road vehicles in use, air quality and human health have been under greater pressure in recent years. Generally, changes involving aerosol-based vehicular pollutants are aging processes, which can alter vehicle emissions to varying degrees. We summarize the effects of the aging process on vehicle emission characteristics in this review. The initial statuses of the hygroscopicity, size distribution, phase partitioning, morphology, and chemical composition of vehicle emissions are described. Changes in these properties are produced by a series of actions, including physical means and photochemical reactions, which are characterized by the organic aerosol (OA) atomic ratio and mass spectra. Moreover, the vehicle driving cycle, after-treatment technologies and fuels affect these properties in various ways. The key driving forces of the aging mechanism of vehicle emissions mainly include diffusion, phase partitioning, and organic gas oxidation. Future research requirements to support vehicle-related air pollution control are also discussed, involving topics such as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleation (IN) of aged diesel particles, reacting phases, unknown precursors or formation pathways, aged OA and source appointment, and emission controls. To what degree the aging process changes vehicle emission properties needs further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triclosan (TCS) is an anti-microbial widely used in personal care and medical antibacterial products. Despite the widespread occurrence of TCS in municipal sewage sludge, understanding toward the fate of TCS within sewage treatment and environmental risks in the eventual land application is still limited. This review summarizes the TCS loads and transfer mechanisms in the sewage treatment process, sludge management process, land application, and its potential environmental impacts. TCS transfer from sewage to sludge mainly occurs in the primary sedimentation process, representing 2.50 to 4.58 times more compared to the secondary sedimentation process. This transfer is facilitated through adsorption because of the presence of humic acid-like and protein-like substances in sludge. Both anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting contribute to the degradation of TCS with aerobic composting being more effective, exhibiting TCS degradation rates 1.04–2.87 times higher than those observed in anaerobic digestion. After sludge land application, TCS majorly dissipates in the soil through biodegradation by fungi and bacteria, potentially posing environmental risks, such as inhibiting the seedling growth of plant species. Additionally, the degradation of TCS, coupled with the formation and subsequent degradation of MeTCS, is observed, with MeTCS exhibiting a higher half-life and greater toxicity than its parent compound (TCS). Overall, this research offers vital insights to enhance understanding of TCS's migration and degradation processes in sewage treatment and soil. It also provides guidance in environmental protection and sustainable resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared from a modified method of Hummers, then the GO was modified by γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (KH560) and reduced by hydrazine hydrate. The silylated reduced graphene oxide (KRGO) was obtained. The KRGO/polyurethane (PU) composites were prepared by solution mixing method using the KRGO as the filler and PU solution as the matrix. The KRGO and KRGO/PU composites were systematically characterized. The structure and morphology characterization showed that the KRGO was uniformly dispersed in PU solution by covalent bonding. The interlayer distance of the graphene increased from 0.79 to 0.95 nm after modification. The KRGO could provide a good compatibility with the PU. The thermal stabilities of the KRGO/PU composites are increased with the increasing addition of KRGO. At the KRGO content value of 1 wt.%, the thermal decomposition temperature on 10% weight loss was approximately 47 °C higher than that of the pure PU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imitating manipulation skills through observing human demonstrations in everyday life is promising in allowing service robots to be programed quickly, as well as to perform human-like behaviors. Such a Learning by demonstration (LbD) problem is challenging because robots are expected to adapt their learned behaviors to the changes of task parameters and the environment, rather than simply cloning the human teacher's motion. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical and parameterized LbD framework that combines symbolic and trajectory learning of pick-and-place manipulation tasks. We have extended the two-step parameterized learning method with error compensation for learning Environment-adaptive Action Primitives (EaAPs), which is capable of adapting robot's reproduced trajectories to new task instances as well as environmental changes. To arrive at refined plans in situations of under-specified human demonstrations, we propose to model the semantics of demonstrated activities with PDDL-based skill scripts. Therefore, latent motion primitives that are impossible to be learned directly from observing human demonstration in noisy video data can be inferred. The proposed method is implemented as a hierarchical LbD framework and has been evaluated on real robot hardware to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene oxide (GO) was functionalized to prepare GO/polyurethane (PU) composites with improved thermal properties. To improve the dispersion of GO in PU, GO is modified with the ionic liquid of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide ([BMIm]Tf2N) to obtain the functionalized GO (IL-GO), which could form homogeneous dispersions in N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) solvent. The structure and morphology characterizations of GO and IL-GO showed that the ionic liquid had been successfully grafted on the surface of GO through non-covalent bonding. The interlayer distance of the GO also increased to 1.01 nm after modification. Following the solution mixing method, the IL-GO/PU composites were prepared. It is found that IL-GO could provide a good compatibility with the PU. When the contents of IL-GO range from 0 to 2 wt.%, the thermal stabilities of the IL-GO/PU composites are gradually enhanced. At the IL-GO content value of 2 wt.%, the glass transition temperature was increased by 56.4 °C, and the thermal decomposition temperature on 10% weight loss was approximately 45 °C higher than that of the pure PU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-walled metal-organic nanotubes (SWMONTs) could be dried in vacuum to obtain SWMONTs with activation sites. Glycine and diethylenetriamine (2,3-NH2) were added to activated SWMONTs, and SWMONTs-COOH and SWMONTs-NH2 nanoparticles could be obtained. SWMONTs-NH2 nanoparticles could be covalently modified by single-ended and double-ended carboxyl polyethylene glycol (PEG-CM, CM-PEG-CM), and SWMONTs-PEG and SWMONTs-PEG-COOH nanoparticles could be obtained. The structure of SWMONTs-NH2, SWMONTs-COOH, SWMONTs-PEG and SWMONTs-PEG-COOH nanoparticles could be determined by XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). The results showed that the amidation reactions were successful. Palmatine (Pal) extraction experiments exhibited that, as for SWMONTs-COOH, SWMONTs-PEG and SWMONTs-PEG-COOH nanoparticles, the best adsorption could be obtained at pH 8, pH 10 and pH 12, which showed that palmatine has a better adsorption effect in an alkaline environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there is a rising interest in the number of food products containing probiotic bacteria with favorable health benefit effects. However, the viability of probiotic bacteria is always questionable when they exposure to the harsh environment during processing, storage, and gastrointestinal digestion. To overcome these problems, microencapsulation of cells is currently receiving considerable attention and has obtained valuable effects. According to the drying temperature, the commonly used technologies can be divided into two patterns: high temperature drying (spray drying and fluid bed drying) and low temperature drying (ultrasonic vacuum spray drying, spray chilling, electrospinning, supercritical technique, freeze drying, extrusion, emulsion, enzyme gelation, and impinging aerosol technique). Furthermore, not only should the probiotic bacteria maintain high viability during processing but they also need to keep alive during storage and gastrointestinal digestion, where they additionally suffer from water, oxygen, heat as well as strong acid and bile conditions. This review focuses on demonstrating the effects of different microencapsulation techniques on the survival of bacteria during processing as well as protective approaches and mechanisms to the encapsulated probiotic bacteria during storage and gastrointestinal digestion that currently reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider an initial-boundary value problem for a sixth-order parabolic equation. We use the modified method of potential wells to study the relationship which the equation solutions existence, blow-up and the asymptotic behavior with initial conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

\nHIGHLIGHTSCarbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRPs) have gained attention as viable substitutes for conventional metals and alloys in weight-sensitive applications like aerospace, primarily because of their outstanding strength-to-weight characteristics. Nevertheless, these materials are susceptible to intricate and challenging-to-anticipate sub-surface impairments, such as delamination after certain impacts. Non-destructive ultrasonic testing (NDT) is a widely employed technique for examining workpieces’ properties. Nonetheless, conventional ultrasonic testing faces significant constraints due to the necessity of physically coupling ultrasonic transducers to the test medium, typically involving substances like liquid and gel, which could cause unnecessary corrosion and pollution on composite materials. This study proposed a tilted non-contact C-scan detection on carbon composite plates with internal delamination based on air-coupled transducers (ACT). By introducing a tilted C-scan method, the subtle pre-fabricated internal impurities can be detected. Analyzed traditional and tilted A-scan signals of Lamb wave for delamination detectionAnalyzed the angular effect of Air-coupled transducerProposed and employed tilted C-scan to improve the detection ability of Air-coupled transducer C-scanAnalyzed traditional and tilted A-scan signals of Lamb wave for delamination detectionAnalyzed the angular effect of Air-coupled transducerProposed and employed tilted C-scan to improve the detection ability of Air-coupled transducer C-scan [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a fast compact finite difference method for quasilinear time fractional parabolic equation without singular kernel is developed and analysed. Compact difference scheme is used as a high order approximation for spatial derivative in the fractional parabolic equation, and the Caputo–Fabrizio (C–F) fractional derivative is discretized by a second-order approximation. We have proved that the proposed scheme has fourth-order spatial accuracy and second-order temporal accuracy. However, due to the nonlocal nature of fractional operator, numerically solving the time fractional parabolic equation with traditional direct solvers generally require memories and computational complexity, where N and M represent the number of time steps and grid points in space, respectively. We developed a fast evaluation scheme for the new C–F fractional derivative, which significantly reduced the computational complexity to , and the memory requirement to. Numerical experiments are given to verify the effectiveness and high order convergence of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ag3PO4/TiO2 heterostructure photocatalysts were prepared by the hydrolysis of TiCl4 and NH3· H2O, microwave calcination, and chemical precipitation method. A series of techniques, such as XRD, SEM, TEM, DRS, FT-IR, PL and XPS, were used to characterize the Ag3PO4/TiO2 heterostructure. The as-prepared Ag3PO4/TiO2 heterostructure was employed to degrade methyl orange and to inactivate E.coli under visible light irradiation, which exhibited high photocatalytic activity, could degrade 95.5 % of MO and kill almost all the E.coli. Recycling experiments confirmed that the Ag3PO4/TiO2 heterostructure had superior cycle performance and structural stability. The photocatalytic activity enhancement of Ag3PO4/TiO2 heterostructure could be mainly attributed to the improved light absorption and the efficient separation of photo-induced electron-hole pairs. This study provided a new way to design and prepare high efficiency and stable photocatalysts for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and photocatalytic sterilization of E.coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies divided the Sinian-Cambrian gas accumulation processes into three stages, including (1) paleo-oil accumulation; (2) paleo-oil cracking; and (3) gas reservoir adjustment and finalization. The author thinks that they ignored a key process, during which the natural gas invades and changes the paleo-oil reservoirs into paleo-gas reservoirs. According to the micro-observation of bitumen in reservoirs, there were great differences between the asphaltene formed by gas invasion and the pyrobitumen formed by paleo-oil cracking. When the gas invasion happened in paleo-reservoirs, asphaltene was separated out and the liquid hydrocarbon was partially changed into solid bitumen which lead to the increase of gas storage for oil-cracking gas and source rocks pyrolysis gas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is one of the most widely used phthalate esters. The application of DEHP has caused serious environmental pollution and posed a threat to human health. Methods: A total of 30 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control group, DEHP group (500 mg/kg DEHP), low GABA (Gama-aminobutyric acid) group (500 mg/kg DEHP and 1 mg/kg GABA), medium GABA group (500 mg/kg DEHP and 2 mg/kg GABA) and high GABA group (500 mg/kg DEHP and 4 mg/kg GABA). The interventions continued for 30 consecutive days. Open-field test and elevated plus-maze test were used to detect behavioral changes of rats before and after interventions. Results: The levels of nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase in prefrontal cortex of rats were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. DEHP and GABA treatment had no significant effects on the body weight of rats. GABA restored food utilization rate of rats impaired by DEHP to the level of healthy rats. According to open-field test and elevated plus-maze test, GABA alleviated the effects of DEHP on rat behaviors. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that GABA was effective in reducing the levels of nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase in rats treated with DEHP. Conclusion: DEHP exposure induced anxiety in rats, which may be achieved through elevating nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase levels in prefrontal cortex of rats. However, the effects caused by DEHP could be alleviated by GABA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discrimination and determination of small organics may be employed for baijiu identification. A single nanoparticle was designed as a fluorescence sensor to address this issue. Via specific host-guest interactions, small organics may significantly disrupt the energy transmission of nanoparticles, resulting in sharp changes in characteristic fluorescence peaks, thus allowing the discrimination of single substances or mixtures by principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The system was characterized by transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy. 15 small flavor organics in baijiu were successfully discriminated. Moreover, the linear relationship between the concentrations of tryptophan and ethyl butyrate with the corresponding responsiveness demonstrated the capabilities of the sensor. The reported device was successfully applied to distinguish 16 baijiu brands. This simple and rapid method has outstanding potential for the characterization of alcoholic beverages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies an inverse problem of determining the unknown source term in a space-fractional diffusion equation. Three types of spectral regularization method are proposed to deal with the ill-posed problem and the corresponding error estimates are obtained with an a priori strategy to find the regularization parameter. We verify the efficiency of the proposed numerical method with some numerical experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bacteriophages have been successfully applied to control the growth of pathogens in foods and to reduce the colonization and shedding of pathogens by food animals. They are set to play a dominant role in food safety in the future. However, many food-processing operations and the microenvironments in food animals' guts inactivate phages and reduce their infectivity. Encapsulation technologies have been used successfully to protect phages against extreme environments, and have been shown to preserve their activity and enable their release in targeted environments. A number of encapsulation technologies have shown potential for use with bacteriophages. This review discusses the current state of knowledge about the use of encapsulation technologies with bacteriophages to control pathogens in foods and food animals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) was supposed to be an independent predictor for vascular-related events. Biomarkers such as homocysteine (Hcy), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and urine albumin(microalbumin) (UAE) have involved the pathophysiological development of arteriosclerosis. The present study was to investigate relationship between CAVI and biomarkers in vascular-related diseases.Methods: A total of 656 subjects (M/F 272/384) from department of Vascular Medicine were enrolled into our study. They were divided into four groups according to the numbers of suffered diseases, healthy group (group 0: subjects without diseases of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), coronary heart disease (CHD); n = 186), group 1 (with one of diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 237), group 2 (with two of diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 174), and group 3 (with all diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 59). CAVI was measured by VS-1000 apparatus.Results: CAVI was increasing with increasing numbers of suffered vascular-related diseases. Similar results were found in the parameters of biomarkers such as Hcy, log NT-ProBNP, and log UAE. There were positive correlation between log NT-proBNP, Hcy, log UAE, and CAVI in the entire study group and nonhealthy group. Positive correlation between log UAE and CAVI were found in the entire study group after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, uric acid, and lipids. Multivariate analysis showed that log UAE was an independent associating factor of CAVI in all subjects.Conclusions: CAVI was significantly higher in subjects with hypertension, CHD, and DM. There was correlation between arterial stiffness and biomarkers such as NT-proBNP, Hcy, and UAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of Brønsted–Lowry acids (phenol or dry HCl), the acyl chloride, which was obtained by the reaction between 5-(8-carboxyl-1-naphthyl)-10,15,20-triphenyl-porphyrin (CNTPP) and oxalyl chloride, reacted with tetrahydrofuran and led to the 4-chlorobutyl ester, P1, as the result of the acylative cleavage. P1 and its zinc complex [ZnP1] have been characterized by 1H NMR. The structure of [ZnP1] was obtained by X-ray crystallography. Zinc is coordinated by four pyrrole nitrogens. The 8-position substituent, a 4-chlorobutyl ester group, lies above the porphyrin plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tongbai orogenic belt has an overall antiformal geometry and the hinge of the antiform is sub-horizontal and trends NW–SE. The Tongbai complex (TBC) in the core of the antiform is bounded by the S-dipping Yindian–Malong shear zone in the south, the sub-horizontal Taibaiding shear zone at the top and the N-dipping Hongyihe–Tongbai shear zone in the north. The three shear zones have dextral, top-to-NW and sinistral movement, respectively. They are parts of a single shear zone, termed the Tongbai shear zone, that has a uniform top-to-NW sense of shear. Three samples of deformed granitoid (mylonite or protomylonite) from the shear zone have U–Pb zircon ages of 145 ± 6 Ma, 142 ± 2 Ma and 131 ± 6 Ma, respectively. An L-tectonite in the TBC yielded a metamorphic age of 137 ± 8 Ma and a migmatite an age of 137 ± 1 Ma. The Tongbai shear zone is intruded by undeformed Early Cretaceous granite and dykes and deformation in the shear zone is constrained to ca. 140–135 Ma, synchronous with metamorphism and migmatization in the TBC. Early Cretaceous magma emplacement and the associated uplift modified the TBC into a gentle antiform and the uplift may have continued to ca. 102–85 Ma. Similar geometry and kinematics have been documented in the Dabie orogenic belt to the east, which suggests that the Central Orogenic Belt in China probably experienced a uniform orogen-parallel extension and top-to-NW shearing in the ductile lithosphere in the Early Cretaceous. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Dark septate endophytes (DSEs), one of the most common fungal colonizers of roots, are considered to overlap in function with mycorrhizal fungi. However, there is little knowledge on the distribution and identity of DSEs in ‘non-mycorrhizal’ plants. In the current study, colonization and diversity of DSEs colonizing the roots of eight typically ‘non-mycorrhizal’ families were assessed. In total, 120 root samples of 31 plant species were all colonized by DSEs. Intensity of DSE colonization varied greatly among different plant species, with a range of 0.56–47.56%, 8.13% on average.Cladosporium,CyphellophoraandPhialophorawere the dominant genera, with a relative abundance of more than 60% over a total of 90 isolates. Our results showed that diverse DSE species colonized the roots of ‘non-mycorrhizal’ plants, especially they were more common in degraded mine tailings than in the undisturbed site, but their integral roles to the functional roots are in need of further experimental demonstration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Arteriosclerosis evaluated by arterial stiffness is the basic pathophysiological change during the development of hypertension. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) is an index of arterial stiffness. Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) is an independent risk factor for vascular diseases. However, there was little research about the relationship between CAVI and homocysteine (Hcy) in hypertension subjects with HHcy.Methods: A total of 330 subjects (M/F 133/197) from Vascular Medicine of Peking University Shougang Hospital were divided into four groups: control group (group 1, normotensive with normal Hcy,n= 149), hypertension group (group 2,n= 113), HHcy group (group 3,n= 30), and hypertension with HHcy group (group 4,n= 38). CAVI was measured by VS-1000 apparatus.Results: Our results showed that CAVI was significantly higher in group 4 than in group 1 and group 2 (8.41 ± 1.08 vs. 7.79 ± 1.14; 8.41 ± 1.08 vs. 7.87 ± 1.02, bothp< 0.05, respectively). Positive correlation between CAVI and Hcy was found in the entire study group (r= 0.109,p= 0.049) and hypertension subjects (group 2 + group 4;r= 0.202,p= 0.014). Multivariate analysis showed that Hcy was an independent associating factor of CAVI in all subjects (β= 0.251,p= 0.034).Conclusions: The present study showed that CAVI was significantly higher in hypertension subjects with HHcy compared to hypertension group. There was significant correlation between CAVI and Hcy, indicating the relationship between arterial stiffness and biomarkers in vascular-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the cytokines in serum, synovial fluid as potential biomarkers of Kashin–Beck disease (KBD) and to further understand the role of these cytokines in the pathogenesis of KBD. Methods: A systematic electronic database search was performed from inception up to 15 March 2015. Meta-analysis was performed for cytokines more than one repetition in studies with available data. The effect size was summarized as standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by a random effect model. Results: A total of 18 articles were included. The pooled standardized mean differences showed the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha (2.72, 95% CI: 1.8 5–3.59), interleukin-1 beta (1.21, 95% CI: 0.6 1–1.80), and nitric oxide (2.60, 95% CI: 1.5 2–3.68) were significantly higher in adult KBD patients compared with that in healthy controls. Conclusions: There was explicit evidence showing that the tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1 beta and nitric oxide were closely related to the presence of KBD, and these cytokines played a vital role in the pathogenesis of KBD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Hydrogen bonds are very common and important interactions in biological systems, they are used to control the microenvironment around metal centers. It is a challenge to develop appropriate models for studying hydrogen bonds. We have synthesized two metal complexes of the phenol-tailed porphyrin, [Zn(HL)] and [Fe(HL)(C6H4(OH)(O))]. X-ray crystallography reveals that the porphyrin functions as a dianion HL2−and the phenol OH is involved in hydrogen bonds in both structures. In [Zn(HL)], an intramolecular hydrogen bond is formed between the carbonyl oxygen and OH. In [Fe(HL)(C6H4(OH)(O))], the unligated O(5) of the ligand is involved in two hydrogen bonds, as a hydrogen bond donor and a hydrogen bond acceptor. The overall electronic effect on the ligand could be very small, with negligible impact on the structure and the spin state of iron(III). The structural differences caused by the hydrogen bonds are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological activity study on Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes is a challenging issue because of the activity of ligands could be modulated by complexation. A new dinuclear copper(II) complex, [Cu2(L1)2]·2CH3OH (1), and a new mononuclear zinc(II) complex, [ZnL2(CH3OH)] (2), where L1is the dianionic form of the bis-Schiff baseN,N′-bis(2-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzylidene)-1,2-ethanediamine (H2L1), and L2is the dianionic form ofN,N′-bis(5-fluoro-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-1,2-ethanediamine (H2L2), have been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. X-ray analysis indicates that the metal atoms in the complexes are in square pyramidal coordination. Antibacterial activity of the complexes againstStaphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, andCandida albicansstrains was studied and compared with that of the free Schiff bases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

7-Ethyl-10-hydroxy-camptothecin (SN38), the active metabolite of irinotecan (CPT-11), is an effective antineoplastic agent against many malignancies. Although it is 100-fold to 1000-fold more potent than CPT-11, the clinical utility of SN38 has been extremely restricted because of its poor solubility in any pharmaceutically acceptable solvents. The aim of this study was to develop SN38 nanoparticles (SN38-PC-LNs) using pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, and investigate the therapeutic efficaciesin vitroandin vivo. SN38-phospholipid complex (SN38-PC) was prepared and loaded into lipid nanoparticles. The particle size was approximately 200 nm with a narrow size distribution. A high encapsulation efficiency of 88.11% ± 1.41% and drug loading of 9.55% ± 0.84% were achieved under the optimal condition. SN38-PC-LNs exhibited potent cytotoxic effects against a panel of human tumor cell lines (HT-29, HepG2, A549 and MCF-7).In vivoevaluation proved the enhanced antitumor efficacy of SN38-PC-LNs in mice bearing S180 tumor as well. The results from this study demonstrated an effective formulation of SN38 has been developed, which is promising for the delivery of SN38 for tumor chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we study the conductivity coefficient determination in the heat equation from observation of the lateral Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. We define a bilinear form functionQγassociated to the boundary condition and the Dirichlet-to-Neumann map, and prove that the linearized problemd Qγis injective. Based on the idea of complex geometrical optics solutions, we give two approximations to the conductivity coefficient by using the Fourier truncation method and the mollification method. Under the a priori assumption of the conductivity, we estimate the errors between the conductivity coefficient and its approximations by setting a suitable bound of the frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This meta-analysis was conducted to assess the association between coffee consumption and prostate cancer risk. Thirteen cohort studies with 34,105 cases and 539,577 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for different coffee intake levels were calculated. Dose-response relationship was assessed using generalized least square trend estimation. The pooled RR for the highest vs. lowest coffee intake was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85–0.95), with no significant heterogeneity across studies (P = 0.267; I2= 17.5%). The dose-response analysis showed a lower cancer risk decreased by 2.5% (RR = 0.975; 95% CI: 0.957–0.995) for every 2 cups/day increment in coffee consumption. Stratifying by geographic region, there was a statistically significant protective influence of coffee on prostate cancer risk among European populations. In subgroup analysis of prostate cancer grade, the summary RRs were 0.89 (95% CI: 0.83–0.96) for nonadvanced, 0.82 (95% CI: 0.61–1.10) for advanced and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.55–1.06) for fatal diseases. Our findings suggest that coffee consumption may be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer and it also has an inverse association with nonadvanced prostate cancer. Because of the limited number of studies, more prospective studies with large sample size are needed to confirm this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurology shows that human controls dozens of muscles for hand poses in a coordinated manner and such coordination is referred as to a postural synergy. The concept of postural synergies was recently adopted in the control of robotic hands. With the synergies implemented digitally in a controller, all the motors in an anthropomorphic robotic hand can be controlled via a few synergy inputs. Aiming at exploring alternative approaches for synergy realization, this paper proposes to implement the postural synergies using a mechanical transmission unit. Two rotation inputs can be scaled, combined, and mapped to the rotary outputs to drive an anthropomorphic hand, enabling not only various grasping tasks but also a manipulation motion. Synergy synthesis and design of the anthropomorphic hand are firstly presented. The transmission unit as the implementation of the postural synergies is then elaborated. Tests were performed to quantify how well the synergies could be reproduced via this transmission unit. The results suggest it might be promising to construct a low cost yet versatile prosthetic hand by implementing the postural synergies mechanically. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), a functionalized agent that can chemically link to TiO2nanomaterial (n-TiO2), was used to modify the surface of n-TiO2via a Ti-ethereal bond, yielding a GMA-modified n-TiO2(mn-TiO2). Then the GMA bonded to the TiO2surface was copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA) via a reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization in the presence of the RAFT agent S-1-dodecyl-S′-(α, α′- dimethyl -α″-acetic acid)trithiocarbonate (DDACT) to form mn-TiO2-PMMA nanoparticles. The resulting mn-TiO2nanoparticles and mn-TiO2-PMMA nanoparticle materials were characterized by using infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermal analysis, and electron microscopy. The mn-TiO2nanoparticles demonstrated good dispersive capacity in organic solvents. The results of TGA indicated that the amount of PMMA grafted onto the surface of TiO2increased with the polymerization time. Additonally, the effects of mn-TiO2/PMMA on the thermal and mechanical properties of polypropylene were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high response speed biological gel artificial muscle (BGAM) with a networked pore structure is proposed. The BGAM is prepared from carboxylated chitosan and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose. For the given parameters including the driving voltage and the size of the BGAM, the response speed of the BGAM in this paper is 15 times faster than the BGAM in the existing research. The best result on the response speed of 0.115 mN/s is obtained, the porosity is 18.5%, the elastic modulus is 2.73 MPa, the specific capacitance is 0.23mF/cm2. This BGAM, prepared by cross-linking natural polymers, is biocompatible and degradable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytochemical investigation of the ethanol extract from the leaves of Momordica charantia L. led to the isolation of two new (1, 2) and four known (3–6) cucurbitane-type triterpenoids. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive analyses of spectroscopic data including IR, UV, MS, 1D, and 2D NMR. Also the absolute configurations of momordicines I (3) and II (4) were determined for the first time by application of the modified Mosher's method, acid hydrolysis, and GC analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forward-looking imaging problem of synthetic aperture radar can be resolved by adopting the bistatic configuration. This paper introduces a translational variant bistatic forward-looking SAR (BFSAR) configuration with a moving transmitter and a forward-looking receiver. Focusing bistatic SAR data in frequency domain requires two-dimensional (2D) point target spectrum. However, the existence of the double square root (DSR) term in the bistatic range makes it difficult to get the exact solution for the 2D spectrum. Approximate solutions such as the method of series reversion (MSR) have been derived to get the 2D spectrum, but the accumulative error to DSR of MSR is not the smallest one. To improve the accuracy of the 2D spectrum, the method of Legendre polynomial expansion is proposed to obtain the least square approximation of the bistatic range and get a more accurate 2D spectrum. Then, the Chirp-Z transform is chosen to focus the translational variant BFSAR data based on this spectrum, and the imaging quality is compared with the traditional MSR spectrum; the simulation results verify the 2D imaging ability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Citrus (Citrus reticulata), which is an important economic crop worldwide, is often managed in a labor-intensive and inefficient manner in developing countries, thereby necessitating more rapid and accurate alternatives to field surveys for improved crop management. In this study, we propose a novel method for individual tree segmentation from unmanned aerial vehicle remote sensing (RS) using a combination of geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) and layer-adaptive Euclidean distance transformation-based watershed segmentation (LAEDT-WS). First, we use a GEOBIA support vector machine classifier that is optimized for features and parameters to identify the boundaries of citrus tree canopies accurately by generating mask images. Thereafter, our LAEDT workflow separates connected canopies and facilitates the accurate segmentation of individual canopies using WS. Our method exhibited an F1-score improvement of 10.75% compared to the traditional WS method based on the canopy height model. Furthermore, it achieved 0.01% and 1.38% higher F1-scores than the state-of-the-art deep learning detection networks YOLOX and YOLACT, respectively, on the test plot. Our method can be extended to detect larger-scale or more complex structured crops or economic plants by introducing more finely detailed and transferable RS images, such as high-resolution or LiDAR-derived images, to improve the mask base map. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a numerical method is developed to solve an N-carrier system with Neumann boundary conditions. First, we apply the compact finite difference scheme of fourth order for discretizing spatial derivatives at the interior points. Then, we develop a new combined compact finite difference scheme for the boundary, which also has fourth-order accuracy. Lastly, by using a Padé approximation method for the resulting linear system of ordinary differential equations, a new compact finite difference scheme is obtained. The present scheme has second-order accuracy in time direction and fourth-order accuracy in space direction. It is shown that the scheme is unconditionally stable. The present scheme is tested by two numerical examples, which show that the convergence rate with respect to the spatial variable from the new scheme is higher and the solution is much more accurate when compared with those obtained by using other previous methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sensor networks are an emerging technology that promises fast and easy monitoring of the physical world. One of the applications of sensor networks is environmental monitoring, which consists of a large number of sensors collecting massive data about the atmosphere, thus making centralized monitoring extremely difficult. In this paper, we show that centralized monitoring is not necessary due to the fact that there exist different types of events in the data, each of which can be effectively monitored by a small subset of sensors. We propose decentralized monitoring of a sensor network that automatically identifies these event types and the related groups of sensors. Our contribution is twofold: (1) the proposed decentralized solution achieves event classification performance equivalent to the centralized solution and (2) it mines valuable information (event types and groups of sensors) useful for researchers studying events and sensor deployment strategies. We provide a thorough evaluation of the proposed solution, conduct extensive experiments using both benchmark and real-world sensor data, and observe consistent performance. We suggest some further work based on our study and experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the combined refraction-diffraction of plane monochromatic waves by a circular cylinder mounted on a conical shoal in an otherwise open sea of constant depth is solved analytically based on the mild-slope equation. At first, Hunt's approximate direct solution for the wave dispersion equation [Hunt, 1979] is used to transform the mild-slope equation with implicit coefficients into an equation with all coefficients being explicitly expressed. This equation is then solved analytically in terms of combined Fourier series and Taylor series. Comparisons are made between the present method and the analytical solutions based on the linear shallow-water equation [Zhu and Zhang, 1996] and the Helmholtz equation [MacCamy and Fuchs, 1954] for long waves and short waves, respectively, and excellent agreements are obtained. For waves in intermediate water depth, comparisons are made with numerical results based on the mild-slope equation and an equally good quality of agreement is achieved. By varying the shoal size, it is found that the wave amplification normally enhances with the increase of shoal, due to the increased contribution from wave refraction. For relatively short wave, the trapped waves by refraction in front of the island interact with the reflected waves and form the partial-standing waves there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a proinflammatory cytokine that plays a range of important roles such as in inflammation, immune response, and cell growth regulation. Here, we aimed to assess the potential influence of the IL-6 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1800796 on the concentration/dose (C/D) ratios of tacrolimus and donor liver function in Chinese liver transplant patients. A total of 331 liver transplant patients were included in this study. The C/D ratios and the ALT, AST, T-BIL, ALP, and GGT levels were analyzed at different time points in patients with and without the IL-6 rs1800796 SNP. The IL-6 rs1800796 polymorphism in recipients was found to be correlated with the C/D ratios of tacrolimus at months 2 to month 6 after transplantation. Also, the rs1800796 SNP in donors was found to influence liver function (shown in the data of ALT, AST, T-BIL, ALP and GGT) in recipients at the early post-transplant stage after transplantation. In conclusion, the IL-6 rs1800796 polymorphism was associated with the C/D ratios of tacrolimus and post-transplant donor liver function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]