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AbstractGanmaoling Granule (GMLG) is one of the most effective Chinese Patent Medicines (CPMs) which is applied to relieve the uncomfortable symptoms caused by the common cold. In this study, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with chemometric analyses and multi-component content determination were performed to preliminary investigate the effect of ozone sterilization technology on the quality of GMLG. The methodology validation and similarity analysis results showed that the analytical method was capable of complying with the demand of HPLC fingerprints, and 80 batches of GMLGs before and after ozone sterilization in four process stages had a high degree of similarity based on the values of similarity analysis (SA) was greater than 0.98. The results of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the GMLGs before and after ozone sterilization were divided into two categories, and the same batch of GMLGs was clustered into the same group. Meanwhile, the contents of linarin, caffeine, chlorpheniramine maleate and acetaminophen between 24 batches of GMLGs before and after ozone sterilization had no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05), which met the requirements of “Drug Standard of the People’s Republic of China”. In conclusion, the ozone sterilization technology had no obvious influence on the quality of GMLGs in four process stages, which provided a reference for the quality control of GMLG and other Chinese-western medicine compound preparations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractOne new rare carbon-bridged citrinin dimer quinocitrindimer C (1) as a pair of epimers, two new polyketide penicilliodes D (3) and E (4) together with nine known citrinin derivatives, were isolated from the fermentation broth of starfish-derived symbiotic fungus Penicillium sp. GGF16-1-2. Their structures and configurations were elucidated by comprehensively spectroscopic data analysis and electronic circular dichroism calculations. Eleven citrinin derivatives were tested by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, and compound 2 played a significant antifungal activity against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides with LC50 value of 0.27 μg/ml. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-view intrinsic decomposition of fabric images is a meaningful and challenging task for fabric analysis. However, it is costly to obtain enough ground truths for supervised training of intrinsic images. In this article, we explore a novel method to decompose the reflectance and shading from fabric images. With the introduction of wavelet transform into the proposed CNN model, this method enables us to exploit the information arising from inherent constraints during training and, by doing so, eliminate the need for ground truth labels. Based on three assumptions, we describe a new training framework for the network, including three types of loss function: prior loss, relative total variation loss, and a loss of constrained shared consistency. The trained model proved to be very efficient, requiring only 0.007 s to process one image. The results show that our method can separate the color and fine texture of fabric images to a certain extent. Finally, we propose several applications of the trained model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on childhood tuberculous empyema (TE) is limited. The aim of this study was to examine the clinicopathological characteristics and outcome of paediatric TE and methods of prompt diagnosis and treatment. Between January 2014 and April 2019, 27 consecutive patients with TE aged ≤15 years [mean (SD) 12.2 (3.3), range 6–15] were retrospectively reviewed. The following were reviewed: baseline demographics, symptoms, laboratory and pathological examination, radiographical findings, microbiological data, anti-tuberculous and surgical treatment and clinical outcome. Acid-fast bacillus (AFB) smear, culture, TB real-time (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and T-SPOT.TB assay were reviewed. Six (60%) of 10 patients were TB-RT-PCR-positive in pus or purulent fluid. Twenty-three of 24 (95.8%) were T-SPOT.TB-positive. Decortication by surgical thoracotomy or thoracoscopy was performed in 22 (81.5%) patients. None of the 27 patients had specific complications such as pyopneumothorax or bronchopleural fistula and all were successfully treated. In childhood TE, aggressive surgical management is associated with a favourable outcome. Abbreviations: AFB, acid-fast bacilli; E, ethambutol; EPTB, extra-pulmonary TB; H, isoniazid; HIC, high-income countries; LMIC, low- and middle-income countries; MTB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PTB, pulmonary TB; R, rifampicin; RT, real time; TB, tuberculosis; TE, tuberculous empyema; Z, pyrazinamide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a great deal of research has examined determinants of military spending, few studies have systematically investigated how legislators vote on defense expenditures. This study fills this important gap. Based on a sample of roll-call data on defense spending from the 112th U.S. House, we estimate legislators' ideal points through an item response model. Several interesting findings emerge. First, Republicans are more likely to favor military spending, a finding that is both statistically and substantively significant throughout our analysis. In addition, interest group campaign contributions play an important role by increasing the probability a legislator supports defense spending. Third, when a congressional district has a larger number of veterans or a lower rate of unemployment, its elected legislator is likely to favor military spending. Finally, the effect of public opinion disappears after the district demographics are controlled for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a robust compressed sensing image encryption algorithm based on generative adversarial network, convolutional neural network (CNN) denoising network and chaotic system is developed. Firstly, we use a sampling network to get the measurement of plain image. Second, the cipher image is obtained by scrambling the measurement through the Logistic-Tent chaotic system. After getting cipher image, the decryption party obtains decrypted measurement by inverse scrambling the cipher image, and then sends it to the reconstruction network to obtain decrypted reconstructed image. Finally, by using the CNN denoiser, the image quality and the visual expression of final decrypted image can be improved. In this scheme, the dual denoiser structure based on reconstruction network and CNN denoiser can effectively resist noise attacks. Besides, the proposed training strategy with noise injection can further improve the robustness of network. Experiments show our method has high reconstruction quality, efficiency, robustness and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new complexes, namely, [Cu2(H2bdcpb)2(pyridine)2] (1), [Cu3(bdcpp)2(CH3NCH3)(H2O)] (2), and [Cu2(H2bdcpp)2(H2O)2]·2H2O (3), have been synthesized through the hydro/solvothermal reaction of cupric nitrate and lab-synthesized 1,3-bis(2′,4′-dicarboxylphenyl)benzene (H4bdcpb) or 2,6-bis(2′,4′-dicarboxylphenyl)pyridine (H4bdcpp) in the presence of different solvent systems. Isostructural complexes 1 and 3 show dinuclear [Cu2(COO)4] covalent modes with different coordinate solvent molecules. In complex 2, a two-dimensional covalent layer is generated from one-dimensional loop chains interconnected by [Cu2(COO)4] paddle-wheels. Structural analyses revealed that the framework stability of complexes 1–3 originated from molecular custom-designed [Cu2(COO)4] paddle-wheel units by symmetrical 2′,4′-dicarboxyl polyaromatic ligands. Three new complexes have been synthesized through the hydro/solvothermal reaction of cupric nitrate and two lab-synthesized polycarboxylates in the presence of different solvent systems. Among them, two isostructural complexes show dinuclear [Cu2(COO)4] covalent modes, while the other complex is a two-dimensional covalent layer. Structural analyses revealed that the framework stability of the complexes originated from molecular custom-designed [Cu2(COO)4] paddle-wheel units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced soil after soaking in heavy metal ion solution have great influences on safety and stability of the reinforcement, herein the mechanical properties of optimum moisture content of different concentrations of zinc ions contaminated soil were studied through shear test, compression test and triaxial test. The compressive modulus, compression coefficient and porosity ratio of different concentrations of the zinc-ion contaminated soil under different pressure were studied, and the variation characteristics of internal friction angle and cohesion were also investigated, thereafter, the causes of the change of cohesion and internal friction angle were analyzed from the microscopic perspective. The results show that the shear strength of contaminated reinforced soil increases with the increase of confining pressure at the same zinc ions concentration. And at the same confining pressure, with the increase of zinc ions concentration, the shear strength of contaminated reinforced soil first increases and then decreases. With the increase of zinc ions concentration, the internal friction angle and compression coefficient increase, the cohesion and the modulus of compression decrease. With the increase of normal stress, the compression coefficient decreases firstly and then increases, and the compression modulus increases and then decreases. With the concentration of zinc ions increases at lower normal stress, the amount of shrinkage increases and the compression coefficient decreases. While at higher normal stress, the compressive modulus decreases and the compression coefficient increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clozapine is one of the most widely used second-generation antipsychotics in clinic. However, allergy-like symptoms such as rash and angioedema have been reported frequently, and the mechanism is still not clear. Mas-related G protein-coupled receptor X2 (MRGPRX2) expressed on mast cells is a crucial receptor for drug induced pseudo-allergic reactions. Therefore, we explored whether the symptoms induced by clozapine were associated with allergic reaction through MRGPRX2. The effects of clozapine on pseudo-allergic reactions were evaluated by mast cells degranulation and calcium mobilization assay in vitro, and mice hindpaw swelling, serum histamine detection, avidin and H&E staining assay in vivo. The overexpressed MRGPRX2 cells membrane chromatography (MRGPRX2-HEK293/CMC), MRGPRX2-HEK293 cells calcium mobilization assay and molecular docking were applied to research the correlation between clozapine and MRGPRX2. The study showed that clozapine induced the release of β-hexosaminidase, histamine and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and trigged calcium mobilization in mast cells. In vivo, clozapine induced paw swelling, degranulation and vasodilation. Furthermore, clozapine could activate the calcium mobilization obviously in MRGPRX2-HEK293 cells, not in NC-HEK293 cells. Clozapine also had a good retention characteristic on MRGPRX2-HEK293/CMC column and the KD value is (2.33 ± 0.21)×10−01M. Our findings demonstrated that clozapine could induce pseudo-allergic reactions and MRGPRX2 might be the critical receptor for it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Ursolic acid (UA; 3β-hydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid), one of the pentacyclic triterpenoids found in various plants and herbs, possesses some beneficial effects under pathological conditions, including combating hepatic fibrosis. Objective: This study investigates the effects of UA on renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. Materials and methods: In vivo, 24 male C57BL6 mice were divided into four groups. Eighteen mice were subjected to unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and the remaining six sham-operated mice served as control. UUO mice received either vehicle or UA (50 or 100 mg/kg) by gastric gavage for 6 days. In vitro, HK-2 cells were treated with 10 or 50 μM UA and 10 ng/mL recombinant human transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). The molecular mechanisms of fibrosis were investigated. Results: UUO induced marked interstitial collagen I and fibronectin deposition and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), as evidenced by increased α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and decreased E-cadherin. However, UA treatment significantly reduced collagen I and fibronectin accumulation in the fibrotic kidney. UA treatment also decreased α-SMA and preserved E-cadherin in vivo. In vitro, TGF-β1-treated HK-2 cells demonstrated elevated α-SMA, snail1, slug, TGF-β1, and p-smad3, as well as diminished E-cadherin. UA pretreatment prevented E-cadherin loss and diminished α-SMA expression in HK-2 cells. UA downregulated mRNA expression of snail1 and slug. UA also lowered TGF-β1 protein expression and p-Smad3 in HK-2 cells. Conclusions: UA attenuated renal tubulointerstitial fibrosis by inhibiting EMT, and such inhibition may be achieved by decreasing profibrotic factors. UA may be a novel therapeutic agent for renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-step fluorescence immunochromatographic assay (FICA) has been developed using fluorescent microspheres-labelled monoclonal antibody (McAb) probe for the rapid detection of copper ions in herbal plants and soil samples were investigated in this study. The results can be read by the fluorescence reader according to the fitted standard curve equation. Under optimal conditions, detecting copper ions with FICA can be done within 15 min with a LOD (limit of detection) of 0.2 μg/L, and was very useful for the rapid onsite testing. A total of 31 solid samples were pre-treated by microwave digestion combined with cation exchange solid phase extraction and prepared as test samples for FICA and ICP-AES. The two methods showed good relativity with correlation coefficients of 0.924 and 0.969 in herbal plants and soil samples for copper detection, respectively. We hope that our research can help promote the daily monitoring of heavy metal pollution effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres with different size and distribution were synthesized via one-step dispersion polymerization, using methyl methacrylate (MMA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and sodium styrene sulfonate (NaSS) as monomer, stabilizer, and co-monomer, respectively. The influence of MMA, PVP, and NaSS concentrations on the particle size and distribution of PMMA was investigated. The results showed that an increase of NaSS or PVP concentrations; the size of PMMA microspheres tended to decrease while increasing the MMA concentration led to large particle size and wide distribution. In order to evaluate matting effect of PMMA microspheres, artificial leather was used as the base, which was coated by waterborne polyurethane (WPU) mixture with PMMA microspheres. The matting effect was significantly determined by the size scale of PMMA microspheres. With increasing the particle size of microspheres, the gloss of coatings surface gradually decreased. Further mechanism study indicated that PMMA microspheres mounted on the surface of WPU coatings thus making the coating surface rough and bumpy was the reason for obtaining coatings with matting effect. Rough surface leads incident light to scatter rather than reflecting, which was the nature for matting effect of present PMMA microspheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnolia pilocarpa Z. Z. Zhao et Z. W. Xie is a species with high horticultural and medicinal value, which found only in Dabie Mountain of central China. In this study, we sequenced, assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of M. pilocarpa. The length of M. pilocarpa complete cp genome was 160,104 bp, with a typical quadripartite structure comprising a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRs; 26,591 bp), a large single copy region (LSC; 88,110 bp) and a small single copy region (SSC; 18,812 bp). The whole cp genome contained 129 unique genes, including 79 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 30 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and four ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. The maximum-likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis indicated that M. pilocarpa was relatively closed to the M. denudata. This chloroplast genome would provide a valuable genetic resource for M. pilocarpa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An HPLC-MS/MS method was described for the quantitation of lovastatin and its main hydroxy acid metabolite lovastatin acid in human plasma. Lovastatin was detected in the positive ion mode, while Lovastatin acid was detected in the negative mode in a single injection, with simvastatin and simvastatin acid as internal standard, respectively. Plasma sample was treated by one-step liquid-liquid extraction with dichloromethane-diethyl ether (2:3 v/v). LC separation was performed within 4 min on a Zorbax Eclipse XDB-C8 column (5 μm, 4.6 × 150 mm I.D.) using 90% methanol-10% - 10 mmol/l ammonium acetate solution which contains 0.02% formic acid as mobile phase. Linear calibration curves were obtained in the concentration range 0.05-30.0 ng/ml. The intra- and inter-day precision values were below 15% and the accuracy was within ±15% at three quality control levels for both lovastatin and lovastatin acid. It was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in 12 healthy volunteers after a single oral dose of 40 mg per subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate re-innervation in the implanted lenticule, as well as changes to the cornea, after correcting hyperopia with an autologous implantation of a lenticule obtained through small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE).Methods: This study retrospectively analysed re-innervation in the implanted lenticule, as well as microscopic morphological changes in the corneal architecture of the recipient cornea in five patients (with myopia in one eye and hyperopia in the contralateral eye) who received SMILE in the myopic eye and femtosecond laser in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK) combined with lenticule implantation in the contralateral hyperopic eye. Re-innervation in the implanted lenticule, as well as microscopic morphological changes in corneal architecture, were evaluated by in vivo confocal microscopy.Results: One patient was examined at postoperative week six, two were examined at postoperative month two, one was examined at postoperative month nine, and one was examined at postoperative month 12. Partial subbasal nerve fibre regeneration was detected in two patients (Case 4 who was examined at postoperative month nine and Case 5 who was examined at postoperative month 12). Regenerated and branched nerve fibres were detected in the implanted lenticule in Case 5 who was examined at postoperative month 12. Both the anterior and posterior interfaces showed an absence or decrease of keratocytes and the presence of small particles of various brightnesses. Keratocytes in the implanted lenticule presented abnormal morphology in size and shape after surgery in all treated eyes, but showed partial morphological recovery in two patients (Case 4 who was examined at postoperative month nine and Case 5 who was examined at postoperative month 12).Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that nerve fibres will regenerate into the implanted lenticule after autologous lenticule implantation. Keratocytes in lenticules demonstrated a gradual return to a normal morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective method based on measuring the fiber orientation of yarn floats with two-dimensional Fourier transform (2-D FFT) is proposed to recognize the weave pattern of yarn-dyed fabric in the high-resolution image. The recognition process consists of four main steps: 1. High-resolution image reduction, 2.Fabric image skew correction, 3.Yarn floats localization, 4. Yarn floats classification. Firstly, the high-resolution image is reduced by the nearest interpolation algorithm. Secondly, the skew of the fabric image is corrected based on Hough transform. Thirdly, the yarn floats in the fabric image is localized by the yarns segmentation method based on the mathematical statistics of sub-images. Fourthly, the high-resolution image is corrected and its yarns are segmented successively according to the inspection information of the reduced image. The fiber orientations are detected by 2-D FFT, and the yarn floats are classified by k-means clustering algorithm. Experimental results and discussions demonstrate that, by measuring the fiber orientation of yarn floats, the proposed method is effective to recognize the yarn floats and the weave pattern for yarn-dyed, solid color, and gray fabrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dyadic effects to a large extent account for the difficulty of explaining and predicting international conflict. In this study, I derive a statistical model to estimate unobserved dyadic effects in the dyadic analysis of conflict. The proposed model employs a hierarchical modeling approach to estimate dyadic effects, thereby avoiding the problems caused by the use of fixed effects models. Furthermore, it simultaneously addresses the important sample selection issue of identifying relevant dyads. I show that the estimation of dyadic effects significantly improves the model fit and generates several interesting findings. Substantively, this study makes an important contribution to the empirical evaluation of the Kantian peace. It argues that international organizations increase the likelihood of conflict of interest between member states but reduce the probability of militarized conflict. I demonstrate that the positive coefficient of international organizations in Oneal and Russett (1999) is biased in the positive direction. When the proposed statistical model is used, international organizations, together with trade and democracy, reduce the probability of conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ageism can generate conflict and harm well-being. Our paper integrates the Aging Stereotypes in Interaction model with intergroup contact theory to predict how communicative elements mediate the effect of intergenerational contact on warmth and competence stereotypes of older adults as a group. Students (N = 288) were randomly assigned to imagine having a conversation with an older adult in one of six experimentally manipulated contact conditions: a competent/incompetent older woman, a sociable/unsociable older woman, or a moral/immoral older woman. Participants’ stereotypes of older adults were affected by the characteristics of their communication partner, and this effect was mediated by specific communication behaviors imagined by the participant for two of the three trait dimensions. For perceptions of competence, overaccommodation was the key mediator. For perceptions of sociability, the key mediator was humorous communication. These mediators represent an expansion in how we understand not just the outcomes of intergroup contact, but also the communicative mechanisms through which it occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel-improved metamaterial transmission line (MTM TL) is investigated and applied to design periodic leaky-wave antenna (LWA) with wide beam-scanning angle range and low cross-polarization. The improved MTM TL consists of metallic holes and interdigital fingers (which embedded in the main microstrip line). By introducing the metallic holes loaded in the interdigital fingers, the parasitic resonant modes of conventional MTM TL can be eliminated effectively. Considering the continuous phase constants changing from negative to positive values of the improved MTM TL under the balanced condition, a continuous beam-scanning property from backward to forward directions of the resultant periodic LWA can be obtained. For verification, a periodic LWA, which consists of 20 unit cells of the improved MTM TL, is fabricated and measured. The measured and simulated results are in good agreements with each other in all condition. According to the measured results, the fabricated periodic LWA operates from 3.38 to 4.60 GHz with a bandwidth of 30.57%, and achieves a continuous beam-scanning property from backward –65° to forward +71° (including broadside radiation) over the operating frequency band. Moreover, the measured cross-polarization remains at a level of more than 30 dB below the co-polarization across the entire radiation region. The presented LWA should find promising applications in modern wireless communication systems due to these wonderful electromagnetic performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen carrier is one of the key roles in the chemical looping process. Thermogravimetric analysis results showed that, among the four metal oxides (Fe2O3, CuO, NiO, and CaSO4), Fe2O3possessed the best regenerative capacity although its crystal cell would shrink after one redox reaction. It was found that loading of Fe2O3on Al2O3could effectively inhibit its crystal cell shrinking and increase Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface of particles up to a certain value. Further study showed that BET surface of the particles had a positive relationship with their redox reactivity. When the BET surface area increased by five times, the maximum reaction rate improved about 13% (reduction stage) and 37% (oxidation stage). Fe2O3/Al2O3oxygen carrier prepared by the sol-gel process contained a new crystal structure, Al3Fe5O12, which could improve the recycle stability of the oxygen carrier. The modified oxygen carrier with Fe/Al2O3molar ratio 2:1 kept the best regeneration capacity of about 97% after five cycles’ redox reaction; at the same time, the oxygen capacity of the sample increased about 25% compared with pure Fe2O3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient extraction of bioactive compounds from licorice was developed using subcritical water. This study aimed at investigating the impacts of parameters on the composition and antioxidant property of the extract. It was found that total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF), glycyrrhizic acid (GL), and antioxidant activity (TAA) were significantly affected by the time, pH, and temperature. The parameters of 20 min and pH 8 were preferred. The maximum values were obtained at 200°C (TF, TP), and 140°C (GL). At 280°C, TAA reached the highest level. Subcritical water extraction was confirmed to be an environmentally-friendly and efficient method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a novel structure to design miniaturized dual-band filtering power dividers. It is realized by combining the feeding lines and coupled stub-loaded quarter-wavelength resonators. The operating frequencies can be adjusted easily by controlling the stub length of the resonator. Source–load coupling is employed to generate transmission zeros to enhance the selectivity. A resistor is added to guarantee the isolation and port matching. For demonstration, a dual-band filtering power divider is implemented. Good agreement between the prediction and measurement validates the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of pinguecula in a rural Chinese population aged ≥50 years in Eastern China. Methods: This cross-sectional, population-based survey included an age-stratified random sample of 1108 residents living in Lvxiang Town of Jinshan District. Participants were requested to complete a comprehensive questionnaire to collect demographic data, history of systemic diseases and lifestyle details. The presence of pinguecula on slit lamp examination was recorded. The prevalence of pinguecula and its associated factors were investigated by logistic regression models. Results: Among 1108 eligible subjects, 959 participated in the study, with an average age of 65.1 ± 9.2 years (range 50-89 years). The overall age-adjusted prevalence of pinguecula in this population was 75.57% (95% confidence interval 71.79-79.35%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that age ( p = 0.002) and working outdoors (daily sunlight exposure ≥2 hours; p = 0.001) were independent risk factors for pinguecula. In addition, sex, education level, alcohol intake, smoking and decreased tear break-up time did not have associations with the development of pinguecula after adjusting for age and outdoor work occupations. Conclusions: The prevalence of pinguecula was 75.57% in this Chinese population aged ≥ 50 years from a coastal rural area of Shanghai, Eastern China, which was higher than the majority of previous findings. Age and working outdoors were independent risk factors for pinguecula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel microstrip left-handed resonator (LHR) is proposed in this paper by embedding narrow central symmetric spiral lines in the rectangular gap of the main microstrip line. According to the EM simulated results, the proposed LHR has two narrow notched bands, which is produced by the magnetic resonance and sudden change of the effective permeability and effective permittivity; the phase characteristics of the proposed LHR show that there are two frequency points with −90-degree phase shift and one frequency point with +90-degree phase shift in the passbands. According to the electromagnetic characteristics of the proposed LHR, we use it to replace the 70.7 Ω transmission line of conventional Wilkinson power divider, and a compact triple-band 3-dB power divider is presented. After fabrication, the presented triple-band power divider is measured by using Anritsu ME7808A vector network analyzer, the measured and simulated results are in good agreement with each other, showing that, the fabricated power divider operating at 2.20, 3.40, and 7.50 GHz with bandwidths of 84.5, 35.8, and 15.2%; in the passbands, the return loss is better than 15 dB, the insertion loss is between 3.4 ± 0.2 dB, and the isolation between port 2 and 3 is better than 20 dB. Moreover, the out-of-band rejection among three operating bands is also very good, which benefits from the two narrow notched bands. Simultaneously, the effective area of the fabricated power divider is 0.121 λg by 0.116 λg (where λg is the guided wavelength at 2.20 GHz), about 55.2% relative to that of conventional one operating at 2.20 GHz. Besides, the presented power divider is uniplanar, and there is no defected ground structure or lumped element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using the complex variable method, the electro-elastic interaction between a piezoelectric screw dislocation in the infinite half-plane and a semi-elliptical interface crack under remote anti-plane shear stresses and in-plane electric loads in piezoelectric bi-material is investigated, and the general solutions to the problem are obtained. The complex potentials, the generalized stress fields, the generalized stress intensity factors and energy release rate of crack tip, and the image force acting on the dislocation are also calculated. The influences of the electro-elastic constants and the location of the screw dislocation upon the stress intensity factor and the image force are discussed, while the influence of remote loading upon the energy release rate is also analyzed. The results indicate that the crack and the lower half plane may attract or repel dislocation with parameters changes when dislocation lies on the upper half plane and the shape of the crack is fixed. The shielding effect is stronger when the piezoelectric coefficient of the upper half plane is larger than that of the lower half plane, and the influence of relative shear modulus upon the shielding effect is relatively smaller when the relative piezoelectric coefficients take fixed values. The energy release rate may be positive or negative under a combined electric load and mechanical load. Both increasing electric field and decreasing mechanical load can decrease the energy release rate thereby enhancing the restraint of the crack expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Brainea insignis (Hooker) J. Smith, a member of Blechnaceae, is a rare and endangered species in tropical Asia. Here we assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast (cp) genome. It is 149,730 bp in length and encodes 88 protein-coding genes, 36 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and eight ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. This chloroplast genome sequencing offers a useful resource for future conservation genetics and phylogenetic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chaos control and synchronization problem of a three-species food chain model with Holling I-type functional response is investigated. By the linearization approach, a feedback control law is developed to stabilize the model system to equilibrium points. Based on the bidirectional coupled method, chaos synchronization of the model system is studied. Numerical simulations show that the feedback control law can suppress chaos to unstable equilibrium points successfully. Further, the numeric results show that when the coupling strength 0

In this article, we investigate the chaotic behaviours in the fractional-order Lorenz system. By utilizing the fractional calculus techniques, we found that chaos exists in the fractional-order Lorenz system of order less than 3. The lowest order we found to have chaos in this system is 2.97. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the analysis of the conflict-trade relationship by introducing foreign direct investment (FDI). We present a formal model that shows why FDI can improve international relations. We then proceed to test the model empirically. Our empirical results show that foreign direct investment plays a similar role to trade in affecting international interactions. More specifically, we find that the flow of FDI has reduced the degree of international conflict and encouraged co-operation between dyads during the period of the late 1980s and the decade of the 1990s. This is an especially important result since one of the main characteristics of globalization has been the reduction of barriers to international capital flows and, as a consequence, the amounts of capital flows have expanded enormously dwarfing those of trade flows. The policy implication of our finding is that further international co-operation in reducing barriers to capital flows can promote a more peaceful world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclooxygenase (COX), the rate-limiting enzyme in prostaglandins (PG) synthesis, exists in at least two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. COX-2 plays an important role in carcinogenesis, and overexpression may increase proliferation, inhibit apoptosis, and enhance the invasiveness of breast cancer cells. Polymorphisms in the regulatory regions of the COX-2 gene may influence function and/or expression and contribute to interindividual variability in susceptibility to cancer. In this study three variants (-1195G/A and -765G/C in the promoter and 8473C/T in 3'UTR) of COX-2 were examined for correlation with breast cancer risk. A case-control study of 615 histologically confirmed breast cancer patients and 643 cancer-free controls frequency-matched for age were selected. Logistic regression analyses revealed that no overall significant associations were detected in the single-locus analysis between three polymorphisms of COX-2 and the risk of breast cancer. However, a significantly increased risk of breast cancer was associated with the combined genotypes containing "more than 3 variant alleles"' (adjusted OR = 1.37, 95% CI 1.01-1.84) compared with the combined genotypes with "0-3 variant alleles." Haplotype analyses showed that haplotypes A-1195G-765T8473 and A-1195C-765T8473 were significantly associated with breast cancer risk (OR = 1.20, 95% CI 1.01-1.43 for A-1195G-765T8473; OR = 9.16, 95% CI 1.14-73.51 for A-1195C-765T8473) compared with the most common haplotype, G-1195G-765T8473. These findings indicate that these three variants in the regulatory regions of COX-2 may contribute to the etiology of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new phenolic glycoside (1), mahkoside A, together with six known compounds including mangiferin (2), kaempferol-3- O -β-d-glucoside (3), dodecanoic acid (4), palmitic acid (5) ethyl stearate (6) and sucrose (7), were isolated from the pit of Mahkota dewa. Their structures were identified on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. All the compounds were isolated from the title plant for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Melica scabrosa Trin. is an important forage grass of Poaceae, wildly distributed in the Northeast Asia to Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of M. scabrosa was obtained by de novo assembly using whole genome sequence data. The chloroplast genome is 134,889 bp in length, containing 80,560 bp in a large single copy (LSC), 12,706 bp in a small single copy (SSC) and 20,810 bp in a pair of inverted repeats (IRs). A total of 129 genes including 83 protein-coding genes and 38 structural RNA genes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis represented close relationship among Melica species. This chloroplast genome sequencing offers a useful resource for future genetics and phylogenetic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to demonstrate a new method to label and select enough glial cells from induced MSCs to provide cells for cell therapy. MSCs were induced with Beta-mercaptoethanol followed by retinoic acid, forskolin, basic-FGF, PDGF and heregulin. Induced MSCs were transfected with reconstructed vector pGFAP-EGFP by inserting GFAP promotor into pEGFP-N3 to substitute CMV promotor. Living cells against G418 were enriched and checked by flowcytometry. EGFP expressing cells were sorted and used for transplantation in vivo. Immunoelectronmicroscopy was accomplished using anti-EGFP to relocalize the transplanted cells. Almost all MSCs took on phenotypes of glial cells after induction, expressing SI00 and GFAP. The EGFP expression rate of survived MSCs against G418 was 82.74%. Glial cells expressing EGFP accumulated mainly around the damaged nerve fibers. MSCs were relocalized by immunoelectronmicroscopy and remyelination was observed. EGFP expression controlled by GFAP promoter in mesenchymal cells was an efficient tool for glial lineage selection and transplantation. Induced MSCs can promote nerve regeneration by participating remyelination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The syntheses of the ribo- and deoxyribonucleoside derivatives of 4-formyl-4-imidazolin-2-one, isosteric isomers of uridine and 2'-deoxyuridine, respectively, were carried out by ring contraction of the corresponding 5-bromouracil nucleosides, followed by conversion of the carboxyl side-chain of the products to the respective carboxaldehyde derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-pressure and large-diameter extraction borehole is used in coal mines due to lack of understanding of the mechanism of negative pressure in the process of gas extraction, which will lead to problems such as poor gas extraction and collapse of the borehole. In order to solve these problems, the flow and pressure distribution in the process of variable mass flow of gas drainage borehole were studied based on factors such as orifice pressure, bore diameter, and bore flow. Firstly, we built a testing platform for variable mass flow pressure distribution and established a variable mass flow energy model and pressure distribution model. Secondly, the correlation between pressure distribution and orifice pressure, borehole diameter, and borehole flow in the process of variable mass flow was calculated by combining laboratory testing with numerical calculations. Finally, the results showed that with the increase in borehole length, pressure, and flow exhibited a downward trend during the variable mass flow of the borehole. Additionally, the pressure distribution in the borehole had a negative exponential relationship with borehole pressure and the diameter of the borehole. The pressure distribution in the borehole had a power-exponential relationship with the gas flow. These research results will provide a reference for the selection of reasonable parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]