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Hydrogen spillover in metal‐supported catalysts can largely enhance electrocatalytic hydrogenation performance and reduce energy consumption. However, its fundamental mechanism, especially at the metal–metal interface, remains further explored, impeding relevant catalyst design. Here, we theoretically profile that a large free energy difference in hydrogen adsorption on two different metals (|ΔGH‐metal(i)−ΔGH‐metal(ii)|) induces a high kinetic barrier to hydrogen spillover between the metals. Minimizing the difference in their d‐band centers (Δϵd) should reduce |ΔGH‐metal(i)−ΔGH‐metal(ii)|, lowering the kinetic barrier to hydrogen spillover for improved electrocatalytic hydrogenation. We demonstrated this concept using copper‐supported ruthenium–platinum alloys with the smallest Δϵd, which delivered record high electrocatalytic nitrate hydrogenation performance, with ammonia production rate of 3.45±0.12 mmol h−1 cm−2 and Faraday efficiency of 99.8±0.2 %, at low energy consumption of 21.4 kWh kgamm−1. Using these catalysts, we further achieve continuous ammonia and formic acid production with a record high‐profit space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The entanglement of the momentum of light with its spin at interfaces or inside structured media, known as the photonic spin‐Hall effect, holds great promise for various applications, such as beam splitting, focusing, and polarization detection. However, the photonic spin‐Hall effect remains unexplored in the field of logic operation. In this work, the photonic spin‐Hall effect of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPPs) in programmable metamaterial is demonstrated. Moreover, photonic spin‐Hall logic devices based on programmable spoof plasmonic metamaterial are designed, enabling the control of energy flow through the utilization of both spin and digital coding, with examples including SSPPs logic gates such as the "AND" gate, the "NIMPLY" gate (A AND NOT B), the "OR" gate, and the "NOT" gate. The findings introduce the combination of digital coding metamaterial with the photonic spin Hall effect, which offers a powerful and flexible platform for controlling electromagnetic waves in information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic alkyne semihydrogenation under mild conditions is a more attractive approach for alkene production than industrial routes but suffers from either low production efficiency or high energy consumption. Here, we describe a tandem catalytic concept that overcomes these challenges. Component (i), which can trap hydrogen effectively, is partnered with component (ii), which can readily release hydrogen for hydrogenation, to enable efficient generation of active hydrogen on component (i) at low overpotentials and timely (i)‐to‐(ii) hydrogen spillover and facile desorptive hydrogenation on component (ii). We examine this concept over bicomponent palladium‐copper catalysts for the production of representative 2‐methyl‐3‐butene‐2‐ol (MBE) from 2‐methyl‐3‐butyne‐2‐ol (MBY) and achieve a record high MBE production rate of 1.44 mmol h−1 cm−2 and a Faraday efficiency of ~88.8 % at a low energy consumption of 1.26 kWh kgMBE−1. With these catalysts, we further achieve 60 h continuous production of MBE with record high profit space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tunable liquid lenses with controllable focal length attract much attention from many researchers due to the unique advantages of strong adjustability, low power consumption, fast response time, and easy integration. In the last two decades, tunable liquid lenses have already been applied in machine vision, code scanner cameras, cellphone cameras, webcams, microscopes, mini projectors, AR/VR displays, 3D displays, and so on. There is no doubt that the tunable liquid lenses play an increasingly more important role in the field of optical technology. In this review, the research background and significance of the tunable liquid lenses are introduced. Tunable liquid lenses are systematically qualified according to the driving mechanism, and their current status and latest progress are presented in detail. The existing problems, directions for future research, and current and potential applications of the tunable liquid lenses are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal nitrides are considered as the promising materials in the energy conversion processes due to the similar electronic structures to Pt. In this work, a series of Ni/TMN−C (TM=V, Mo, Nb, Ta) catalysts were synthesized and investigated the catalytic performance for methanol oxidation reaction in alkaline media. The electrochemical measurements indicated that the TNNs‐modified Ni/C catalysts exhibited higher activity, kinetics, charge transfer and stability for alkaline MOR compared with Ni/C. It was found that the incorporation of TMNs improved the activity and stability for MOR in various degree. Specially, Ni/VN−C showed the highest catalytic activity, nearly three times higher than that of Ni/C due to the highest coverage of the surface component NiOOH, consistent with the Tafel and EIS results that it exhibited the fastest charge transfer kinetics and reaction rate. XPS characterization indicated that the obvious electron interaction occurred between the TMNs and Ni species and Ni would transfer electrons to the transition metal nitrides, resulting in the electron‐rich states of TMNs. Interestingly, combining the d‐band center and activity of the corresponding catalysts, it could be found that a volcano plot existed between them, suggesting that the introduction of appropriate nitrides would change the electronic structure of Ni and enhance the catalytic performance for MOR in alkaline media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determination of polarization states of electromagnetic waves plays a crucial role in photonic applications. However, it is very challenging to determine the polarization state of continuous terahertz (THz) waves. Here, a metasurface‐like metallic waveguide array (MWA) is proposed to address this by measuring both the phase difference and amplitude ratio of its two orthogonal components based on generation and interference of polarization‐multiplexing vortex beams. When a full‐polarized THz wave passes through the MWA, its two orthogonal components will be converted into +1st‐ and −1st‐order Bessel vortex beams, respectively. Their projection components in a proper polarized direction can interfere with each other, and their initial phase difference can be measured in real‐time owing to its linear relationship with the azimuth of the dark fringe in interference patterns. The two Bessel beams can be further collected separately using a linear polarizer to obtain their amplitude ratio. Therefore, the polarization state of incident waves can be determined with both the phase difference and amplitude ratio. The proposed method enables a convenient polarization determination of continuous THz waves and has great potential for developing polarization‐dependent investigations and applications in THz detection, communication, and sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the change in bearing condition, the bearing fault features are weak, often drowning in the background noise. It makes difficult to extract weak fault features from the vibration signal. If the fault features cannot be effectively extracted, the diagnostic accuracy will be greatly affected. Under this background, a fault diagnosis framework including two stages of signal enhancement and intelligent fault recognition is proposed in this work. Firstly, use a genetic algorithm to obtain the optimal combination of parameters, upon which the original fault signals are decomposed into intrinsic modal function components. Then, they are transformed into the spectrum signals and inputted into the proposed Bayesian network using dynamic weighted transfer learning (DWTL). This paper uses the DWTL method to set the source domain weight factor and the balance coefficient based on data quantity in different source and target domains. The DWTL method proposed in this paper can improve the fault diagnosis accuracy and effectively avoid the negative transfer phenomenon. An example of rolling bearing fault diagnosis is conducted. The results show that the accuracy of fault diagnosis based on the proposed framework is about 10% higher than that of other fault diagnosis methods. Therefore, the validity and feasibility of the proposed fault diagnosis framework are proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A practical and effective approach to increase the energy storage capacity of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is to boost their areal capacity. Developing thick electrodes is one of the most crucial ways to achieve high areal capacity but limited by sluggish ion/electron transport, poor mechanical stability, and high‐cost manufacturing strategies. Here we address these constraints by engineering a unique hierarchical‐networked 10 mm thick all‐carbon electrode, providing a scalable strategy to produce high areal capacity LIB electrodes. The hierarchical‐networked structure utilizes micrometer‐sized carbon fibers (MCFs) as building blocks, nano‐sized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as good continuous network with excellent electrical conductivity, and pyrolytic carbon as the binder and active material with excellent storage capacity. The combination of the above features endows our HNT‐MCF/CNT/PC electrode with excellent performance including high reversible capacity of 15.44 mAh cm−2 at 2.0 mA cm−2 and exhibits excellent rate capability of 2.50 mAh cm−2 under 10.0 mA cm−2 current density. The Li‐ion storage mechanism in HNT‐MCF/CNT/PC involves dual‐storage mechanism including intercalation and surface adsorption (pseudocapacitance) confirmed by the cyclic voltammetry and symmetric cell analysis. This work provides insights into the construction of high mechanical stability thick electrode for the next generation high areal capacity LIBs and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two‐dimensional electron‐rich fused‐ring moiety (ClBDSe) based on benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]diselenophene is synthesized. Three copolymers (PBDT−Se, PBDSe−T, and PBDSe−Se) are obtained by manipulating the connection types and number of selenophene units on the conjugated main chains with two 2D fused‐ring units and two different π‐bridges, respectively. In comparison with PBDT−Se and PBDSe−Se, PBDSe−T with benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]diselenophene unit and thiophene π‐bridge exhibits the deepest HOMO energy level and the strongest crystallinity in neat films. The PBDSe−T:Y6 blend film exhibits the best absorption complementarity, the most distinctive face‐on orientation with proper phase separation, the highest carrier mobilities, and the lowest charge recombination among three blend films. Finally, the PBDSe−T:Y6‐based device delivers an impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.50 %, which is higher than those of PBDT−Se:Y6 and PBDSe−Se:Y6. Moreover, a decent open‐circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.89 V with a remarkably small energy loss of 0.44 eV is achieved for PBDSe−T:Y6. The efficiency of 14.50 % is the highest value for selenophene‐containing copolymer‐based binary organic solar cells (OSCs). This study provides evidence that introduction of 2D‐benzo[1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]diselenophene as a fused electron‐rich unit with π‐bridging into copolymeric donors is a valid strategy for providing high Voc and excellent PCE simultaneously in selenophene‐based OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Accurate and high‐throughput phenotyping of the dynamic response of a large rice population to drought stress in the field is a bottleneck for genetic dissection and breeding of drought resistance.Here, high‐efficiency and high‐frequent image acquisition by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was utilized to quantify the dynamic drought response of a rice population under field conditions. Deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) and canopy height models were applied to extract highly correlated phenotypic traits including UAV‐based leaf‐rolling score (LRS_uav), plant water content (PWC_uav) and a new composite trait, drought resistance index by UAV (DRI_uav).The DCNNs achieved high accuracy (correlation coefficient R = 0.84 for modeling set and R = 0.86 for test set) to replace manual leaf‐rolling rating. PWC_uav values were precisely estimated (correlation coefficient R = 0.88) and DRI_uav was modeled to monitor the drought resistance of rice accessions dynamically and comprehensively. A total of 111 significantly associated loci were detected by genome‐wide association study for the three dynamic traits, and 30.6% of them were not detected in previous mapping studies using nondynamic drought response traits.Unmanned aerial vehicle and deep learning are confirmed effective phenotyping techniques for more complete genetic dissection of rice dynamic responses to drought and exploration of valuable alleles for drought resistance improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfide solid electrolytes (SSEs) have captured plentiful interest on account of their high ionic conductivity and appropriate mechanical strength. However, the poor air stability and cost‐intensive preparation process of SSEs limit their applications. Herein, a novel ultimate‐energy mechanical alloying (UEMA) approach is applied to rapidly synthesize the argyrodite‐type electrolytes in a one‐pot process. According to the hard‐soft‐acid‐base theory and the first‐principles density functional theory (DFT) calculation, In‐doping in Li6PS5I is attempted to enhance air stability and the experimental results demonstrate the success of this approach. The synthesized Li6.5In0.25P0.75S5I electrolyte has a high ionic conductivity (1.06 mS cm–1), and also presents excellent interfacial stability against Li metal, benefiting from the formation of a LiI‐rich interphase layer. The assembled Li–S battery with Li6.5In0.25P0.75S5I as an interlayer delivers a high discharge capacity (954 mAh g–1) and presents the capacity retention of 96% after 200 cycles. The In‐doped Li6PS5I is a novel promising electrolyte with high air stability and ionic conductivity for the application of all‐solid‐state lithium metal batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracellular plaque deposits of ß-amyloid peptide (Aß) are one of the main pathological features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aggregation of Aß42 species, especially Aß42 oligomers, is still an active research field in AD pathogenesis. Secretory clusterin protein (sCLU), an extracellular chaperone, plays an important role in AD pathogenesis. Although sCLU interacts directly with Aß42 in vitro and in vivo, the mechanism is not clear. In this paper, His-tagged sCLU (sCLU-His) was cloned, expressed and purified, and we applied florescence resonance energy transfer-fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FRET-FCS) to investigate the direct interaction of sCLU-His and Aß42 at the single-molecule fluorescence level in vitro. Here, we chose four different fluorescently labeled Aß42 oligomers to form two different groups of aggregation models, easy or difficult to aggregate. The results showed that sCLU-His could form complexes with both aggregation models, and sCLU-His inhibited the aggregation of Aß42/RB ~ Aß42/Atto647 (easy to aggregate model). The complexes were produced as the Aß42/Label adhered to the sCLU-His, which is similar to a "strawberry model," as strawberry seeds are dotted on the outer surface of strawberries. This work provided additional insight into the interaction mechanism of sCLU and Aß42. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiopoietins (Angs) are a family of vascular growth factors that share multiple cellular functions related to cell survival, proliferation, and migration. Angs play physiological and pathological roles through the Tie tyrosine kinase receptors. The Ang‐Tie signaling pathway participates in the developmental and tumor‐induced angiogenesis and is also involved in many disease settings, such as vascular diseases, systemic inflammation, and cancers. Since Angs are widely expressed in the kidney, an enormous amount of research focuses on their roles in the kidney. In this review, we describe the biological functions of the Ang‐Tie signaling pathway and summarize their roles in kidney development and maturation, acute and chronic kidney diseases, diabetic nephropathy, lupus nephropathy, hemolytic uremic syndrome, end‐stage renal diseases, and renal cell carcinoma. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Ang‐Tie signaling may reveal potential therapeutic targets for preventing or alleviating kidney diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Anxiety disorders are associated with a high social burden worldwide. Recently, increasing evidence suggests that nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) has significant implications for psychiatric diseases, including anxiety and depressive disorders. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of NF‐κB in stress‐induced anxiety behaviors are poorly understood. In this study, we show that chronic mild stress (CMS) and glucocorticoids dramatically increased the expression of NF‐κB subunits p50 and p65, phosphorylation and acetylation of p65, and the level of nuclear p65 in vivo and in vitro, implicating activation of NF‐κB signaling in chronic stress‐induced pathological processes. Using the novelty‐suppressed feeding (NSF) and elevated‐plus maze (EPM) tests, we found that treatment with pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC; intra‐hippocampal infusion), an inhibitor of NF‐κB, rescued the CMS‐ or glucocorticoid‐induced anxiogenic behaviors in mice. Microinjection of PDTC into the hippocampus reversed CMS‐induced up‐regulation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), carboxy‐terminal PDZ ligand of nNOS (CAPON), and dexamethasone‐induced ras protein 1 (Dexras1) and dendritic spine loss of dentate gyrus (DG) granule cells. Moreover, over‐expression of CAPON by infusing LV‐CAPON‐L‐GFP into the hippocampus induced nNOS‐Dexras1 interaction and anxiety‐like behaviors, and inhibition of NF‐κB by PDTC reduced the LV‐CAPON‐L‐GFP‐induced increases in nNOS‐Dexras1 complex and anxiogenic‐like effects in mice. These findings indicate that hippocampal NF‐κB mediates anxiogenic behaviors, probably via regulating the association of nNOS‐CAPON‐Dexras1, and uncover a novel approach to the treatment of anxiety disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Aims: Oligodendrocytes, especially oligodendrocyte precursor cells, are known to be sensitive to hypoxic and metabolic stresses. Vulnerability of oligodendrocytes is considered a contributing factor to white matter dysfunction. However, little is known about the energy processing characteristics of oligodendrocyte lineage cells under basal and metabolic stress conditions. The aim of this study was to identify the energy requirements and cellular responses of oligodendrocytes at different developmental stages. Methods: We compared the metabolic stress responses between myelinating oligodendrocytes (OLs) and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). Differential regulation of cellular response was also investigated. Results: We found that, following cerebral ischemia, monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) expression was upregulated in the peri‐infarct striatum but not in the cortex of the brain. In vitro ischemia models were used to induce oligodendrocyte stress as well. An increase in MCT1 expression was detected in OPCs after a mild oxygen‐glucose deprivation. Double‐labeled immunohistochemical analysis revealed that OPCs and OLs responded differently to metabolic stresses and that the susceptibility to metabolic stresses of OPCs and OLs was associated with their distinct expression profiles of MCT1. Conclusion: Taken together, this study shows that MCT1 plays a role in the responses of OPCs and OLs to metabolic and ischemic stresses and suggests that redistribution of energy substrates is a determinant in white matter injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The biodiesel by-product, crude glycerol including lower alcohols, could be used as the feedstock for producing monoacyglycerols ( MAGs), which are commonly used as non-ionic surfactants and emulsifiers. In this work, lower alcohols (methanol, ethanol and isopropanol) in sub- and supercritical states were used as the solvents for MAG production. RESULTS Isopropanol is the best solvent for obtaining high monooleate ( MOG) yield compared with methanol and ethanol. Moreover, the sub- and super-critical isopropanol shows better performance than the normal NaOH catalyzed or non-solvent process. The reaction loading of a batch reactor has a complicated effect on the yield. The maximum MOG yield can always be obtained at 60% loading. The square root modified quadratic model was utilized to analyze the relationship and to optimize reaction temperature (220-260 °C), reaction time (30-150 min), and isopropanol (0-4 mL). In the optimum condition (260 °C, 150 min, 4 mL of isopropanol), a high MOG yield of 67.8% can be obtained, well in agreement with the predicted value. CONCLUSION Isopropanol at sub- and super-critical state greatly improved the mass transfer between the immiscible reactants (triglyceride and glycerol). Compared with some methods with chemical catalyst, the method without any catalyst obtained higher MOG yield. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impaired white matter integrity in traumatic brain injury (TBI) can lead to deficits in various neurological functions. The differentiation of the underlying pathological processes, e.g. edema, demyelination, axonal damage, to name a few, is of key clinical interest for the assessment of white matter injury. In this study, a combination of T2, diffusion and susceptibility MRI was used to study the spatiotemporal changes in white matter at 1 h, 3 h, and 1, 2, 7 and 14 days following TBI, using a rat controlled cortical impact (CCI) model. Based on radial diffusivity (RD), the rats were divided into two groups: group 1 showed widespread increases in RD along the corpus callosum of the ipsilesional hemisphere at day 2, and group 2 showed normal RD. Based on this group separation, group 1 also showed similar widespread changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) and T2 at day 2, and group 2 showed normal FA and T2. The widespread changes in RD and T2 in group 1 on day 2 were apparently dominated by edema, which obscured possible myelin and axonal damage. In contrast, the susceptibility of group 1 showed more localized increases near the impact site on day 2, and otherwise similar contrast to the contralesional hemisphere. The localized susceptibility increase is probably a result of demyelination and axonal injury. The extent of brain damage between the two groups revealed by MRI was consistent with behavioral results, with the first group showing significantly increased forelimb asymmetry and increased forelimb foot fault deficits. Our results suggest that the combination of T2, diffusion and susceptibility MRI may provide an opportunity for the differential assessment of edema and axonal damage in TBI. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

EPB41L3 may play a role as a metastasis suppressor by supporting regular arrangements of actin stress fibres and alleviating the increase in cell motility associated with enhanced metastatic potential. Downregulation of epb41l3 has been observed in many cancers, but the role of this gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. Our study aimed to determine the effect of epb41l3 on ESCC cell migration and invasion. We investigated epb41l3 protein expression in tumour and non-tumour tissues by immunohistochemical staining. Expression in the non-neoplastic human esophageal cell line Het-1a and four ESCC cell lines - Kyse150, Kyse510, Kyse450 and Caes17 - was assessed by quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) and Western blotting. Furthermore, an EPB41L3 overexpression plasmid and EPB41L3-specific small interfering RNA were used to upregulate EPB41L3 expression in Kyse150 cells and to downregulate EPB41L3 expression in Kyse450 cells, respectively. Cell migration and invasion were evaluated by wound healing and transwell assays, respectively. The expression levels of p-AKT, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)2 and MMP9 were evaluated. Expression of epb41l3 was significantly lower in tumour tissues than in non-tumour tissues and in ESCC cell lines compared with the Het-1a cell line. Kyse450 and Caes17 cells exhibited higher expression of epb41l3 than Kyse150 and Kyse510 cells. Overexpressing epb41l3 decreased Kyse150 cell migration and invasion, whereas EPB41L3-specific small interfering RNA silencing increased these functions in Kyse450 cells. Furthermore, overexpressing epb41l3 led to downregulation of MMP2 and MMP9 in Kyse150 and Kyse510 cells. Our findings reveal that EPB41L3 suppresses tumour cell invasion and inhibits MMP2 and MMP9 expression in ESCC cells. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive impairment plays a role in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Patients with painful disorders are reported to show attentional biases toward pain-related information. However, these findings are controversial and rarely has any study examined whether chronic pain patients have attentional biases to pain-related conditioned stimuli ( CS). In this study, 21 patients diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia ( TN) were recruited from the neurosurgical department of a large urban general hospital. Sixteen family members and 21 pain-free volunteers were included as two separate control groups. Pain ratings, pain-related anxiety, general anxiety, and depression were measured in all subjects using questionnaires. Two dot probe tests were performed, one which used pictures of painful versus neutral faces as cues, and another that presented three types of CS as cues that predicted certain, uncertain, or no pain. Our results demonstrated that the TN patients showed attentional biases towards painful faces and the CSs that signaled uncertain pain. Moreover, the ratings of negative emotion about their pain conditions correlated significantly with the presence of attentional biases. The patients' close family members, however, displayed biases towards uncertain-pain CS. This study demonstrates that patients with chronic pain have increased attention towards pain-related information and that the fearful thinking about pain was positively correlated with this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The solubility parameters were used to choose the solvent for poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) in electrospinning. In this study, a novel method for predicting the contribution value of the pyrrolidone group (a typical part of the PVP molecular structure) was proposed. The solubility parameters of PVP were calculated by this method, and accordingly, ethanol was chosen as the solvent for PVP. What is more, response surface methodology was used to facilitate a systematic investigation on the influence of the PVP solution concentration, feed rate, distance between the tip and collector, and operating voltage on the fiber diameter and morphology in electrospinning. The predicted fiber diameters by the response regression model, and the experimental values were in close proximity. The solution concentration and feed rate both had significant effects on the PVP fiber diameter, and there was some interaction between the solution concentration and the feed rate in this system. In addition, this study provided a train of thought for the electrospinning of polymer fibers with controllable and predictable fiber diameters. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40304. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated whether: (1) liver X receptor (LXR)-driven induction of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and other LXR-mediated effects on cholesterol metabolism depend on intestinal cholesterol absorption; and (2) combined treatment with the LXR agonist GW3965 and the cholesterol absorption inhibitor ezetimibe results in synergistic effects on cholesterol metabolism that could be beneficial for treatment of atherosclerosis. Mice were fed 0.2 % cholesterol and treated with GW3965+ezetimibe, GW3965 or ezetimibe. GW3965+ezetimibe treatment elevated serum HDL-C and Apolipoprotein (Apo) AI, effectively reduced the intestinal cholesterol absorption and increased the excretion of faecal neutral sterols. No changes in intestinal ATP-binding cassette (ABC) A1 or ABCG5 protein expression were observed, despite increased mRNA expression, while hepatic ABCA1 was slightly reduced. The combined treatment caused a pronounced down-regulation of intestinal Niemann-Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) and reduced hepatic and intestinal cholesterol levels. GW3965 did not affect the intestinal cholesterol absorption, but increased serum HDL-C and ApoAI levels. GW3965 also increased Apoa1 mRNA levels in primary mouse hepatocytes and HEPA1-6 cells. Ezetimibe reduced the intestinal cholesterol absorption, ABCA1 and ABCG5, but did not affect the serum HDL-C or ApoAI levels. Thus, the LXR-driven induction of HDL-C and ApoAI was independent of the intestinal cholesterol absorption and increased expression of intestinal or hepatic ABCA1 was not required. Inhibited influx of cholesterol via NPC1L1 and/or low levels of intracellular cholesterol prevented post-transcriptional expression of intestinal ABCA1 and ABCG5, despite increased mRNA levels. Combined LXR activation and blocked intestinal cholesterol absorption induced effective faecal elimination of cholesterol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Programmed Cell Death 5 ( PDCD5) is a protein that accelerates apoptosis in different types of cells in response to various stimuli and is down-regulated in many cancer tissues. We hypothesized in this study that down-regulating PDCD5 can protect the brain from ischemic damage by inhibiting PDCD5-induced apoptotic pathway. Methods One hundred and sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to five groups: Sham surgery (n = 25), MCAO (n = 45), MCAO+rh PDCD5 (Rh PDCD5) (n = 30), MCAO+control si RNA (n = 30), and MCAO+ PDCD5 si RNA (n = 30). At 24 h following MCAO, immunohistochemistry and Western blot were performed. Results PDCD5 si RNA reduced the infarct volume, improved neurological deficits, improved cerebral blood flow ( CBF), and reduced Evans blue extravasation. Meanwhile, over-expression of PDCD5 protein with recombinant human PDCD5 (rh PDCD5) had an opposite effect. Immunohistochemistry and Western blot demonstrated PDCD5 si RNA decreased the expressions of key proapoptotic proteins such as p53, Bax/Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase-3 in the penumbra areas, whereas rh PDCD5 increased cell apoptosis. Double fluorescence labeling showed the positive immunoreactive materials of PDCD5 were partly colocalized with MAP2, GFAP, CD34, p53, and caspase-3 in the penumbra areas in brain. Conclusions PDCD5-induced apoptosis and over-expression of PDCD5 are harmful to the ischemic neurons in vivo. Meanwhile, the inhibition of PDCD5 may be protective via reducing the apoptotic-related protein such as p53, Bax, and caspase-3. This observation may have potential for the treatment of ischemic cerebral stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Gallstone disease ( GD) is a common disease of multigenetic origin; however, the major susceptibility loci for GD in human populations remain unidentified. This study aimed to identify the genetic factors contributing to gallstone development in Chinese. Methods A genome-wide scan was conducted in 12 Han Chinese GD families to identify linkage loci. The linkage region showing the highest logarithm of odds score encompasses the sterol 12α-hydroxylase gene ( CYP8 B1). Replication analysis with an independent sample of 192 GD patients and 192 unrelated, matched controls was carried out to verify the associations between CYP8 B1 polymorphisms and GD. Results Three loci ( D3 S1266, D4 S406, and D9 S1682) showed suggestive or nominal evidence of linkage in all 12 GD families. The logarithm of odds score of D3 S1266 reached 2.71 in the families with late-onset patients. The single nucleotide polymorphism rs3732860 in the 3′-untranslated region of CYP8 B1 showed significant association to GD ( P = 0.022), and carriers of the A allele had lower risk of GD (odds ratio = 1.46, 95% confidence interval: 1.055-2.034) compared with carriers of the G allele. Conclusions The single nucleotide polymorphism rs3732860 in the 3′-untranslated region of the CYP8 B1 gene is associated with risk of GD in Chinese Han and appears to be responsible for the observed linkage with D3 S1266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since monomethoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) inevitably contains diol PEG and is difficult to get high molecular weight through traditional synthesis at high temperature under high pressure, a novel synthetic technique via anionic solution polymerization was reported in this study. With a new initiating system, potassium naphthalene and methanol, was introduced, the polymerization proceeded at ambient temperature and side reactions were well restrained. Furthermore, a slight excess of potassium naphthalene can effectively remove the trace of water and oxygen in the reaction system. Under this condition, mPEG was nearly quantitatively obtained without containing diol PEG. Its Mn ranged from 1 to 30 kDa and the polydispersity was kept lower than 1.07. Characterization of the mPEG obtained was carried out using GPC to determine the content of diol PEG and 1H‐NMR and MALDI‐ToF MS spectroscopic analysis to confirm the exact structure. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), the major constituent of senile plaques in the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain, is the main source of oxidative stress leading to neurodegeneration. The methionine residue in this peptide is reported to be responsible for neurotoxicity. Structurally similar substitution with methionine 35 replaced by cysteine in Aβ40 was synthesized, and this result in enhanced β-sheet structures according to both circular dichroism (CD) spectra and β-fibril specific fluorescence assay but attenuated cytotoxicity whether in the presence of copper or not. These findings may provide further evidence on disclosing the connection between amyloid β-aggregation and Aβ-induced neurotoxicity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The time effect of ultrasonication was investigated for dispersing carbon nanofibers (CNFs) into a polycarbonate (PC) matrix on the mechanical properties of thus‐produced composites. The effects of CNF surface modification by plasma treatment and the CNF concentration in composites on their mechanical properties were also explored. The plasma coating was characterized by HRTEM and FT‐IR. Furthermore, the plasma polymerization (10 w) treatment on the CNF enhanced the CNF dispersion in the polymer matrix. The mechanical properties of the CNF–PC composites varied with the dispersion time, at first increasing to a maximum value and then dropping down. After a long ultrasonic treatment (24 h), the properties increased again. At a high concentration, the CNF‐PC suspension became difficult to disperse. Additionally, the possible mechanisms for these behaviors are simply proposed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 3792–3797, 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the effect of shape on graphene pressure sensors, a theoretical model of polymerisation degree is proposed in this work. According to the theoretical model of polymerisation degree, it is found that the regular polygons have better sensitivity characteristics. The more the number of sides for the regular polygons, the larger the polymerisation degree, and the better the sensitivity of the graphene pressure sensors. According to the theoretical model, the polymerisation degree of the positive triangle, regular quadrilateral, regular pentagon, and circle shape is 0.5, 0.71, 0.81, and 1, respectively. The measured results show that the relative resistance change of positive triangle, regular quadrilateral, regular pentagon, and circle shape are 8.56, 9.24, 9.61, and 10.4%, respectively. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical results. Therefore, the theoretical model of polymerisation degree can provide effective quantitative guidance for the graphene pressure sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) signature emitted from vegetation provides an abundance of information regarding photosynthetics activity and has been used as a powerful tool to obtain physiological information of plant leaves in a non-invasive manner. CF is difficult to quantify because the CF signal is obscured by reflected light. In the present study, the apparent reflectance spectra of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaves were measured under illuminations with and without filtering by three specially designed long-wave pass edge filters; the cut-off wavelengths of the three filters were 653.8, 678.2, and 694.1 nm at 50% of maximum transmittance. The CF spectra could be derived as the reflectance difference spectra of the leaves under illuminations with and without the long wave pass edge filters. The ratio of the reflectance difference at 685 and 740 nm (Dif685/Dif740) was linear correlated with the CF parameters (maximal photochemical efficiency Fv/Fm, and the yield of quantum efficiency) measured by the modulated fluorometer. In addition, the ratio reflected the water stress status of the wheat leaf, which was very high when water deficiency was serious. This method provides a new approach for detecting CF and the physiological state of crops. (Managing editor: Ping HE) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations and ratios of nutrients in Jiaozhou Bay, China, have changed much in the past decades, with trends indicating an increase in nitrogen and a decrease in silicate. Statistical analysis has shown that the long-term variations of nutrients are associated with agricultural activities, precipitation, and anthropogenic factors. Stoichiometric calculations indicate that the nutrient structure has become more and more unbalanced. There has been almost no possibility for nitrogen limitation since the 1980s, the probability of P limitation has increased, and the probability of Si limitation has also increased markedly from the 1980s to the 1990s. As a consequence of changes in nutrient structure, a decrease in the abundance of net phytoplankton was evident, whereas total chlorophylla, levels have remained roughly unchanged at around 3.55 g/L. Thus, it is likely that smaller species have taken the niche vacated by the larger species. Changes in phytoplankton size and species composition may ultimately lead to various functional and structural changes at the system level.(Managing editor: Ya-Qin HAN) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibacterial peptides’ genes are rapidly and transiently expressed on immune stimulation, which is the characteristic of immediate early genes. It implies post-transcriptional regulation is an important pathway in antibacterial peptides’ gene expression. In a search of putative post-transcriptional regulatory elements, we found a segment of an AU-rich sequence in 3′-untranslated region (UTR) of drosophila diptericin mRNA. 3′-UTR of diptericin mRNA can be specifically bound with Elav and this binding can be competed with the typical AU-rich element (ARE) of c-fos mRNA. These results suggest that the AU-rich sequence in the 3′-UTR of diptericin mRNA may be a cis-acting element and involved in post-transcriptional regulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Trifluoroethyl salicylate (TFESA), a novel salicylate derivative, was chemically synthesized and evaluated by bioassay as a potential elicitor for inducing the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites. A cell line of Taxus chinensis, which stably produced a high level of bioactive taxuyunnanine C (Tc), was taken as a model plant cell system. The application of TFESA to the cell cultures could significantly induce Tc biosynthesis, although the cell growth was slightly inhibited. More interestingly, Tc production was enhanced more in the presence of TFESA compared with a structure-similar well-known elicitor, salicylic acid (SA). For example, addition of 100 μM TFESA on day 7 led to a high Tc content of 21.9 ± 0.1 mg g-1 (at day 21), whereas the Tc content was 14.0 ± 0.2 and 16.7 ± 0.3 mg g-1 for the control and that with addition of 100 μM SA, respectively. The results indicate that the newly synthesized TFESA can act as a powerful elicitor for secondary metabolism induction in plant cell cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead‐based perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) are promising candidates for use in lighting and display applications; however, the toxicity of lead is one critical issue that needs to be solved for its commercialization. Consequently, less toxic tin and bismuth‐based perovskite NCs have been developed, but these materials exhibit low photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) and large full width at half maximum (FWHM) values. Due to their similarity in size for Eu2+ and Pb2+, the more environmental‐friendly europium shows the potential to replace lead. Herein, the synthesis of Eu2+ doped CsBr NCs with an average size of 51.5 nm via a facile hot‐injection method is reported. The prepared CsBr:Eu2+ NCs exhibit an emission peak at 440 nm with an FWHM of 31 nm and PLQY up to 32.8%, which is persistent for at least 60 d. Moreover, the size and FWHM of CsBr:Eu2+ NCs can be tuned to 18.9 and 29 nm, respectively, by co‐doping of Ca2+ ions into the NCs. It is also demonstrated that the prepared CsBr:Eu2+ NCs can be employed as efficient color conversion materials for fabricating white light‐emitting diodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-polarised, quadruple-ridged horn antenna with a coaxial feed operating over the frequency range of 75-500 MHz is presented. For the reduction of the antenna weight, a composite sandwich structure is used to build the antenna, which comprises solid aluminium and honeycomb materials. An adjustable shorting plate is put at the bottom of the antenna to prevent the occurrence of singularities created by standing waves. A Teflon plate is put at the centre position among the four symmetry ridges to mechanically support the huge antenna structure without breaking the symmetry of the ridges, leading to good electrical performance. Simulation and measured results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cover image, by Timothy Q Duong et al., is based on the Research Article Spatiotemporal changes in diffusion, T2 and susceptibility of white matter following mild traumatic brain injury, DOI: 10.1002/nbm.3536. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title compound, C(9)H(9)FN(2)O, was prepared by the reaction between 2-fluoro-benzophenone and acetohydrazide. In the crystal structure, inversion dimers linked by pairs of N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds occur, generating R(2) (2)(8) loops.