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Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a functional 'cold' tumor microenvironment in which the antitumor activity of CD8+ T cells and natural killer T (NKT)-like cells is suppressed and the function of regulatory T (Treg) cells is enhanced. Using flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining, we detected a distinct subset of NKT-like cells expressing FOXP3 in MPE. Through single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis, we found that the glycolysis pathway and pyruvate metabolism were highly activated in FOXP3+ NKT-like cells. Similar to Treg cells, FOXP3+ NKT-like cells highly expressed monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) and lactate dehydrogenase B to uptake and utilize lactate, thereby maintaining their immunosuppressive function and hyperlactylation in MPE. Furthermore, we found that MCT1 small molecule inhibitor 7ACC2 significantly reduced FOXP3 expression and histone lactylation levels in NKT-like cells in vitro. In conclusion, we reveal for the first time the altered phenotypic and metabolic features of FOXP3+ NKT-like cells in human MPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the role of firm's top management team (TMT) in its location strategy in oversea investment decision. From the perspective of the upper-echelon theory and knowledge-based view, we study how knowledge-related characteristics of TMTs, such as education background, foreign experience and R&D experience affect the firm's oversea location choice to invest in an industrial cluster. Using data of OFDI cases from Chinese firms to European sub-national regions from 2006 to 2016, we find that: (1) TMT's education background has a positive effect on firm's OFDI decision in industrial clusters; (2) TMT's foreign experience has a positive effect on firm's OFDI decision in industrial clusters; (3) TMT's R&D background increases the firm's likelihood to invest in industrial clusters. Our findings provide implications related to the effects of TMT characteristics on emerging market firms' oversea investment activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) is mainly caused by the interaction of microbiota and environmental factors. However, the metabolic profiles of S-ECC microbial communities and the community-level microbial responses to carbohydrates and amino acids are poorly understood. We collected supragingival plaques from 15 caries-free (CF) and 14 S-ECC children. Cultivation on Biolog AN microplates together with next-generation sequencing was used to analyze sole carbon source utilization patterns and microbial responses to sucrose, lactose and phenylalanine. S-ECC plaques had greater overall metabolic activity than those of CF ones. Comparing with CF, S-ECC plaques utilized more sucrose and lactose but less phenylalanine and then had greater response to carbohydrates. A remarkable increase of non-mutans Streptococci was observed in sucrose and lactose consumption. Lactose led to less differently distributed taxa than sucrose in both CF and S-ECC groups. Sucrose made the originally different S-ECC and CF communities eventually became similar to each other, but they remained dissimilar in lactose. S-ECC plaques had more active interaction with cariogenic carbohydrates like sucrose and lactose than healthy plaques. We supported lactose has less cariogenicity compared with sucrose from microbial community structural aspect. Phenylalanine may have a potentially inhibitory effect on caries development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) during pregnancy is rare and seldom reported in literature. Here we report a case of pregnancy-associated HLH. A patient was admitted at 26 weeks and 2 days pregnancy complaining of cough and fever was admitted. She was found having bi-cytopenia, elevated ferritin and hypertriglyceridaemia. HLH was not confirmed because of the negative results from the first bone marrow biopsy. As the situation worsened, a timely termination of pregnancy was carried out. The second bone marrow biopsy did reveal hemophagocytosis and then pregnant-related HLH was confirmed. Prompt treatment of dexamethasone and etoposide have the puerpernat in a better situation. From this case, we learned HLH can be likely ignored and not be diagnosed promptly in a pregnant patient. In order to confirm this disease, a bone marrow biopsy should be performed promptly or repeatly for suspicious HLH. The time of termination and treatment is both essential for the foetus and the puerperant. Given the high morbidity and mortality of this disease in recent years, an expert consensus or clinical guideline should be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The targets of this study were to access the alternations of spontaneous brain activity in RD patients by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method and to explore their relationships with clinical behavioral performance. Methods: A total of 20 patients with RD (6 males and 14 females), and 20 healthy controls (HCs) (6 males and 14 females) were recruited, and were matched in sex and age. All participants finished the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. We applied the ALFF method to detect the spontaneous brain activity. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to distinguish RD Patients from HCs. Results: RD patients showed decreased ALFF values in the right occipital lobe and right medial frontal gyrus and increased ALFF values in the right frontal superior orbital and left inferior temporal gyrus when compared with HCs. In RD patients, we did not find any relationship between the mean ALFF values and the clinical behavioral performances. Conclusion: The RD patients exhibited abnormal spontaneous brain activity in vision and vision related brain regions, which might explore potential pathological mechanism of acute vision loss in RD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the rate and extent of the maternal-fetal transplacental passage of bromocriptine (BCT) in the dually perfused human placental model. Methods: Twenty term placentas were included in an ex vivo human placental perfusion experiment with a closed-circuit model. At the start of the perfusion, BCT at the concentration of 10 or 100 ng/ml along with 100 µg/ml antipyrine which used as a positive marker were added to the maternal reservoir. Samples were collected for the measurements of BCT and markers of placental viability both from the maternal reservoir and fetal reservoir throughout the perfusion which lasted for 3 h. Determination of BCT was carried out with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results: At the end of the study, the concentration in the fetal compartment was 0.82 ± 0.32 ng/ml in the low concentration group and 5.02 ± 0.97 ng/ml in the high concentration group with a fetal transfer rate of 6.13 ± 1.94% and 5.46 ± 0.87%, respectively. Conclusion: These data showed that only trace amount of BCT could transport across the human placenta in vitro which suggested that fetal exposure to maternally administered BCT may be insignificant. More additional studies are required to explore the safety of BCT administrated in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous emulsion (SE) has attracted increasing attention, especially in the development of low-permeability reservoirs (with an average throat radius of 0.1-2 µm) for enhanced oil recovery. In this work, based on multiple light scattering principles, the relationship between emulsion stability and the droplet dynamics of SEs was investigated. The results showed that the synergistic effect of surfactant and polymer was crucial for oil emulsification in brine, since the stability of the emulsion was greatly improved. The emulsion stability and droplet dynamics depend on the temperature, concentration, and type of emulsifier. The optimal combination system had the lowest Turbiscan stability index value, and the emulsion stability time was more than 2000s. The average droplet size was 1.50 µm, and the droplet migration rate was 7.21 mm/h. The stability of the emulsion was resulted from the microscopic droplet dynamics. By reducing the migration rate of the droplets, stability of the emulsion can be obtained. Finally, the stability and droplet dynamics mechanism of the system were explained by using a schematic representation of the various equilibriums in the spontaneous emulsification flooding system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CDP138 is a calcium- and lipid-binding protein that is involved in membrane trafficking. Here, we report that mice without CDP138 develop obesity under normal chow diet (NCD) or high-fat diet (HFD) conditions. CDP138-1- mice have lower energy expenditure, oxygen consumption, and body temperature than wild-type (WT) mice. CDP138 is exclusively expressed in adrenal medulla and is colocalized with tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), a marker of sympathetic nervous terminals, in the inguinal fat. Compared with WT controls, CDP138-1- mice had altered catecholamine levels in circulation, adrenal gland, and inguinal fat. Adrenergic signaling on cyclic AMP (cAMP) formation and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) phosphorylation induced by cold challenge but not by an exogenous β3 adrenoceptor against CL316243 were decreased in adipose tissues of CDP138-1- mice. Cold-induced beige fat browning, fatty acid oxidation, thermogenesis, and related gene expression were reduced in CDP138-1- mice. CDP138-1- mice are also prone to HFD-induced insulin resistance, as assessed by Akt phosphorylation and glucose transport in skeletal muscles. Our data indicate that CDP138 is a regulator of stress response and plays a significant role in adipose tissue browning, energy balance, and insulin sensitivity through regulating catecholamine secretion from the sympathetic nervous terminals and adrenal gland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To determine the rate and extent of the maternal-fetal transplacental passage of bromocriptine (BCT) in the dually perfused human placental model. Methods: Twenty term placentas were included in an ex vivo human placental perfusion experiment with a closed-circuit model. At the start of the perfusion, BCT at the concentration of 10 or 100 ng/ml along with 100 µg/ml antipyrine which used as a positive marker were added to the maternal reservoir. Samples were collected for the measurements of BCT and markers of placental viability both from the maternal reservoir and fetal reservoir throughout the perfusion which lasted for 3 h. Determination of BCT was carried out with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results: At the end of the study, the concentration in the fetal compartment was 0.82 ± 0.32 ng/ml in the low concentration group and 5.02 ± 0.97 ng/ml in the high concentration group with a fetal transfer rate of 6.13 ± 1.94% and 5.46 ± 0.87%, respectively. Conclusion: These data showed that only trace amount of BCT could transport across the human placenta in vitro which suggested that fetal exposure to maternally administered BCT may be insignificant. More additional studies are required to explore the safety of BCT administrated in pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine transplacental of oseltamivir phosphate (OP) and its active metabolite oseltamivir carboxylate (OC) using the ex vivo human placental perfusion model in Chinese Hans population.Study Design: Perfusion studies were performed on 20 placentas from healthy term pregnancies. Concentrations typical for 75 mg, twice-daily oral dose were tested (OP 65.2 ng/ml and OC 348 ng/ml), along with the positive control antipyrine 0.1 mg/ml. Each perfusion experiment was conducted for 180 min while samples were taken from both maternal and fetal compartments. Concentrations of OP and its metabolite OC were determined by ultrafast-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Integrity and viability of the placenta were determined by measuring fetal volume loss, pH, pO2, ΔhCG, glucose consumption and lactate production during the perfusion experiments.Results: Following 3 h of perfusion, the fetal transfer rates of OP and its metabolite OC were 12.39%±3.26%, 10.17%±2.03%, respectively. The clearance indexes of OP and OC were 0.36 ± 0.11 and 0.29 ± 0.06, respectively.Conclusion: These data suggest that OP and its metabolite OC pass through the healthy term placenta at a small amount according to the ex vivo human placental perfusion model, fetal exposure must be considered when treating pregnant women with OP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amphiphilic polymers (APs) possess both thickening and emulsifying properties that were optimized by the combination of different APs. The properties and synergistic mechanisms of the combination system, consisting of HAP-L and HAP-S, were studied and optimized according to their proportion at various concentrations, temperatures, salinities, and shear rates. Furthermore, various methods were applied to study the emulsification properties of the combination system. The results show that the viscosity, salt resistance, temperature resistance, and shear resistance of the combination system are greatly improved. It is noteworthy that the combined system displays the optimized properties when the mass ratio of HAP-S and HAP-L is 3:2. Under that circumstance, the emulsions also turn to be more stable and display more uniform particle distribution. After combination, more hydrophobic groups participate in the intermolecular association, and the structure of the network is enhanced. Therefore, a combination of various APs can be used as an effective approach to improve the viscosity and emulsification capability of APs for oil recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Flavopiridol (FLAP) is a promising chemotherapeutic agent undergoing clinical phase I and phase II trials, and a number of studies have elucidated its hepatic metabolism and biliary disposition. Methods: In present study, the intestinal disposition of orally administered FLAP was characterized through pharmacokinetic studies in rats as well as absorption and metabolism studies using a Caco-2 cell culture and four-site perfused rat intestinal models. Results: Pharmacokinetic results show that FLAP has high bioavailability (> 75%), long T1/2 (> 260 min), and short peak time (<20 min). In the Caco-2 cell culture model, the bidirectional permeability of FLAP was 0.47 × 10−5 cm/s to 1.53 × 10−5 cm/s and the efflux ratios were 3.27 and 2.17 at 10 and 30 μM, respectively. Apical loading of two P-glycoprotein (P-gp) inhibitors, cyclosporine A and verapamil, significantly increased the intracellular amount of FLAP and lowered its efflux ratio. In the four-site model, 10 and 40 μM FLAP perfusions were well absorbed at various regions of the intestine, and the biliary excretions of FLAP glucuronides were 1.60-2.84 nmol and 12.47-17.33 nmol, respectively. Conclusion: FLAP possesses high oral bioavailability and good absorption in the intestine, in which FLAP may be subjected to a P-gp efflux. Biliary excretion is the main elimination pathway for FLAP glucuronide and its enterohepatic cycling could be indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new quaternary protoberberine alkaloids, namely corydayanine (1) and yanhusuine (2), were isolated from the tubers of Corydalis yanhusuo. On the basis of extensive chemical and spectroscopic evidences, especially 1D and 2D NMR and HRMS experiments, their structures were elucidated as 5,6-dihydro-3,9-dihydroxy-2,10-dimethoxy-13-methyl-dibenzo[a,g] quinolizinium alkaloid and 5,6-dihydro-12-hydroxy-2,3,9-trimethoxy-13-methyl-dibenzo[a,g] quinolizinium alkaloid, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stable free radical (2,2,6,6-tertamethylpiperidinyl-1-oxy, TEMPO) polymerization technique was applied to graft polymerization of styrene (St) onto palygorskite (PT) surface. The introduction of peroxide groups onto the PT surface was achieved by the reaction of hydrogen peroxide with chlorosilyl groups, which were introduced by the treatment of PT with thionyl chloride. The observed narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn), linear kinetic plots and linear plots of molecular weight (Mn) vs. conversion for the polymer formed indicate that the chain growth from the PT surface is a controlled process with a 'living' characteristic. The prepared PT-g-PSt hybrid nanoparticles have been extensively characterized by FT-IR, GPC, TGA, TEM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In automotive manufacturing, vehicle emission testing and engine calibration are the key to achieving emission standards with satisfactory fuel economy. Because of the complexity of physical and chemical phenomena occurring during engine combustion and catalytic conversion and the lack of real-time measurements of key process and performance parameters, engine calibration and emission testing are still experiment-assisted trial-and-error practices, which are always expensive and inefficient. In this article, a neural network (NN)-based modeling approach is introduced to characterize engine and catalytic converter operations. A model-based optimization method is also introduced to identify optimal engine calibration parameters so that emission reduction and fuel efficiency improvement can be achieved simultaneously. This development facilitates a comprehensive performance analysis of engine and catalytic converters with much less effort required for experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete mitochondrial genome ofPerca schrenkiiwas obtained in the present study. The total length of the mitogenome was 16 536 bp in accordance with other teleost fish. It consisted of 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes) and 2 main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light strand replication). All protein-coding genes started with ATG except forCOX1, which began with GTG. However, the termination codons of 13 protein-coding genes were varied with TAA, TA, T or TAG. The overall base composition in descending order was T 27.9%, C 27.7%, A 27.1% and G 17.4%, with a slight A + T bias. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence may provide important information for phylogenetic analysis and studies on the population genetics ofP. schrenkii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete mitochondrial genome ofSchizothorax pseudaksaiensiswas cloned and sequenced in the present study. The genome was 16,582 bp in size, which had a mostly conserved structural organization in comparison with that of other teleost fish. It consisted of 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes), and 2 main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light strand replication). All protein-coding genes started with ATG except forCOX1, which began with GTG. However, the termination codons of 13 protein-coding genes varied with TAA, TA, T or TAG. The overall base composition ofS. pseudaksaiensisin descending order was A 30.18%, C 27.08%, T 25.37% and G 17.37%, with a slight A + T bias. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence may provide useful information for phylogenetic analysis and studies of population genetics ofS. pseudaksaiensis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]