Search

Herein, we reported a successful cross coupling of aryl sulfonyl chlorides to forge thioether skeleton via Pd catalysis. This transformation proceeded in the presence of Xantphos. Preliminary mechanism studies demonstrated dual roles of Xantphos: (i) a reductant that reduced sulfonyl radical to thio radical; (ii) a ligand that promotes coupling reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Worldwide, cervical cancer (CC) remains the most prevalent malignancy of the female reproductive system, posing a threat to women's life and health, and increasing the medical and economic burden on society. Therefore, the search for tumor biomarkers for CC remains an important research direction. Immunotherapy has significantly improved patient outcomes, and genes related to tumor immune infiltration have been clinically relevant and highly reproducible biomarkers that affect the prognosis and response to treatment of CC. 2,4‐dienoyl‐CoA reductase 1 (DECR1) was considered to be an oncogene in a previous study, but relationship between DECR1 and immune infiltration was not mentioned. Our study aimed to reveal the clinical value of DECR1 in CC and to investigate its relationship with immune infiltration. Methods: Human Protein Atlas was used to identify the localization of DECR1. The Ualcan database, TCGA, and IHC were used to assess the prognostic value of DECR1. GSEA was used to assess the possible signaling pathways of DECR1 in CC. The TIMER database was applied to reveal the relevance between DECR1 and immune infiltration. GEPIA was conducted to detect the co‐relationship among DECR1, immune markers, and typical molecules of apoptosis. Results: DECR1 was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm and overlapped with the endoplasmic reticulum. DECR1 was downregulated in CC compared to adjacent tissue. Survival analysis showed that patients with lower expression of DECR1 have a worse prognosis in CC. GSEA suggested that DECR1 was closely related to apoptosis signaling. TIMER showed that DECR1 was positively correlated with CD8+ T cell and CD4+ T cell but not with B cell in CC. Conclusion: DECR1 may be a potential cancer suppressor in CC and may be involved in apoptotic pathways and associated with immune infiltration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miscanthus spp. show excellent application prospects due to its bioenergy potential and multiple ecological services. Annual N export with biomass harvest from Miscanthus, even without fertilizer supplement, do not reduce soil N levels. The question arises regarding how Miscanthus can maintain stable soil N levels. Metagenomic strategies were used to reveal soil N‐cycling‐related microbiome and their functional contributions to processes of soil N‐cycling based on the comparison among the bare land, cropland, 10‐year Miscanthus × giganteus, and 15‐year Miscanthus sacchariflorus fields. The results showed that, after long‐term cropland‐to‐Miscanthus conversion (LCMC), 16 of 21 bacterial phyla and all the archaeal phyla exhibited significant changes. Soil microbial denitrification and nitrification functions were significantly weakened, and N fixation (NF) was significantly enhanced. The biosynthesis of amino acids, especially alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism, in soil N‐cycling‐related microbiome was dramatically promoted. The genus Anaeromyxobacter contributed largely to the NF process after LCMC. Variations in the soil available potassium, available N, organic C, and total N contents drove a functional shift of soil microbiome from cropland to Miscanthus pattern. We conclude that Miscanthus can recruit Anaeromyxobacter communities to enhance NF benefiting its biomass sustainability and soil N balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to compare the hot deformation behavior and microstructure evolution of the rack steels with and without segregation, hot compression tests are carried out in the temperature range of 1173–1423 K and the strain rate range of 0.01–10 s−1 on a DIL805A/D quenching and deformation dilatometer. The flow stress, constitutive relation, processing map, and microstructure characterization are investigated. The results show that the flow stress increases with the increase of strain rate and the decrease of deformation temperature. The calculated activation energy (Q) and stress exponent (n) for the segregated samples are 395.245 kJ mol−1 and 6.046, which are higher than segregated samples, showing 376.815 kJ mol−1 and 5.930. The processing maps show that the workability of the nonsegregated steel is significantly more excellent than segregated steel. The segregated steel shows a higher kernel average misorientation angle and local strain. Complete dynamic recrystallization occurs at a high strain rate, and high deformation temperature can refine the grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multistep quench−lamellarization−tempering treatment (QLT) is designed for a low‐carbon high‐Ni martensitic steel to obtain extra high strength, low yield‐to‐tensile ratio, and extra high cryogenic toughness. A mixed microstructure composed of intercritical ferrite, tempered martensite, and Ni‐rich retained austenite (RA) is obtained under the QLT treatment process. The volume fraction of Ni‐rich RA is 13.6% in the QL655T sample. The QL655T sample has a yield strength of 915 MPa and tensile strength of 1080 MPa, leading to a lower yield‐to‐tensile ratio of 0.85. In addition, a total elongation to failure of 19.9% and Charpy impact toughness of 190 J at −196 °C are encouraging in comparison with the conventional counterparts. During tensile deforming, the blocky RA grains can transform easily with increasing strain, while the strain leads to rotations of the film‐like RA grains before the transformation. The RA grains with high thermal stability are attributed to the enrichment of Ni and the effect of size, which makes the ≈11.6% RA grains remain at −196 °C in the QL655T sample. During impact, the transformation‐induced plasticity (TRIP) effect of RA leads to the excellent cryogenic toughness of the QL655T sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recretohalophyte Karelinia caspia is of forage and medical value and can remediate saline soils. We here assess the contribution of primary/secondary metabolism to osmotic adjustment and ROS homeostasis in Karelinia caspia under salt stress using multi‐omic approaches. Computerized phenomic assessments, tests for cellular osmotic changes and lipid peroxidation indicated that salt treatment had no detectable physical effect on K. caspia. Metabolomic analysis indicated that amino acids, saccharides, organic acids, polyamine, phenolic acids, and vitamins accumulated significantly with salt treatment. Transcriptomic assessment identified differentially expressed genes closely linked to the changes in above primary/secondary metabolites under salt stress. In particular, shifts in carbohydrate metabolism (TCA cycle, starch and sucrose metabolism, glycolysis) as well as arginine and proline metabolism were observed to maintain a low osmotic potential. Chlorogenic acid/vitamin E biosynthesis was also enhanced, which would aid in ROS scavenging in the response of K. caspia to salt. Overall, our findings define key changes in primary/secondary metabolism that are coordinated to modulate the osmotic balance and ROS homeostasis to contribute to the salt tolerance of K. caspia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine corporate investment decisions in a model with short selling. We show that high short‐selling activities can cause firms to overinvest and that the agency problems between managers and shareholders drive this overinvestment. Empirically, we find that short interest is positively associated with subsequent corporate investment and that the effect of short‐selling activities on investment is stronger when the sensitivity of chief executive officer compensation to stock price performance is greater. The results are not explained by short‐sale constraints or firm overvaluation. Additionally, short‐selling‐induced corporate investments can partly explain the negative relation between both short interest and corporate investment with subsequent stock returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keeping through‐thickness homogeneity of mechanical properties has been a great challenge for producing heavy gauge steel plates. Herein, a superior homogeneity of microstructure and hence strength and toughness achieved in a quenched and tempered (QT) 210 mm‐thickness steel plate produced by advanced electroslag remelting casting and roller quenching (ESR–RQ) technologies are reported. Some comparisons are made with a QT 178 mm steel plate produced by conventional mold casting and immersion quenching in the water tank (MC‐IQ). The martensite of the as‐quenched ESR–RQ steel is distributed homogeneously across the thickness with a fraction of 39% at the 1/2 thickness, remarkable higher 34% than that of MC‐IQ steel. ESR–RQ steel appears excellent comprehensive mechanical properties even for the as‐quenched samples, as well as QT samples. Comparing with the MC‐IQ steel, the Charpy impact energy at −60 °C is 150 J (278%) higher for the samples tempered at 650 °C, and the yield strength is 137 MPa (18%) higher for the samples tempered at 600 °C than those of MC‐IQ steel, respectively. The considerable improvement can be attributed to homogeneous through‐thickness microstructures, including refined prior austenite grains, effective grain size, and carbide precipitates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how conflicts within a lending syndicate affect loan contract and syndicate formation. We argue that loan provisions serve an important dual function: In addition to moderating borrower–lender conflicts, they reduce within‐syndicate conflicts. We show that greater potential for within‐syndicate conflicts is associated with more and stricter covenants. Loans are less restrictive when the interests of participants and the lead arrangers are better aligned, for example, when participant–banks have stronger relationships with the lead arranger or hold borrower's equity (indirectly). Overall, our results show that covenant choice, syndicate formation, and lead arranger's loan allocation all play an important role in reducing within‐syndicate conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNA YAP1 (circYAP1) was reported to participate in progression of gastric cancer. However, the role of circYAP1 in acute kidney injury (AKI) remains obscure. We attempted to examine the effects of circYAP1 on ischaemia/reperfusion‐stimulated renal injury. AKI model was established by treating HK‐2 cells in ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) environment. CircYAP1 expression in blood of AKI patients and I/R‐treated HK‐2 cells was evaluated via RT‐qPCR. CCK‐8, flow cytometry, ELISA and ROS assay were executed to test the impact of circYAP1 on cell viability, apoptosis, inflammatory cytokines and ROS generation. Bioinformatic analysis was executed to explore miRNA targets. The relativity between circYAP1 and miR‐21‐5p was verified by RT‐qPCR and luciferase assay. The functions of miR‐21‐5p in I/R‐triggered injury were reassessed. PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was detected by Western blot. Down‐regulated circYAP1 was observed in AKI blood samples and I/R‐treated HK‐2 cells. CircYAP1 overexpression expedited cell growth and weakened secretion of inflammatory factors and ROS generation in I/R‐disposed cells. Besides, we found circYAP1 could sponge to miR‐21‐5p. Interestingly, miR‐21‐5p overexpression overturned the repressive effects of circYAP1 on cell injury. Moreover, PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was activated by circYAP1 via inhibiting miR‐21‐5p. We demonstrated that circYAP1 activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and secured HK‐2 cells from I/R injury via sponging miR‐21‐5p. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides the first direct evidence of the impact of enforcing insider regulations on the informativeness of insider trades and stock price efficiency across 44 countries with varying levels of insider trading regulations. Results suggest that insider purchases earn abnormal profits, especially in countries with active enforcement of insider trading regulations. We further show that while insiders trade less before earnings announcements in countries with active enforcement, their stock prices react more to earnings news than those in countries without active enforcement. Overall, our results support the view that effective insider trading regulation promotes price efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to enhance the solubility of chitosan in water and its corrosion inhibition performance on Q235 steel in 1 M HCl solution, N-vanillyl- O-2′-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride chitosan (VHTC) was synthesized. The structure of VHTC was characterized by FT-IR and H-NMR spectroscopy. The corrosion inhibition performance of VHTC on Q235 steel in 1 M HCl solution was studied by weight loss, polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and stereo microscope analysis. Experimental results indicate that VHTC shows better inhibition efficiency compared to chitosan. When the concentration of VHTC increases to 200 mg L, the inhibition efficiency reaches 90 %, which is almost equal to the conventional corrosion inhibitors (e.g., imidazoline). The polarization study demonstrates that VHTC is a mixed-type inhibitor caused by a geometrical blanketing effect. The charge transfer resistance is proportional to the inhibitor concentration as revealed by the EIS results, indicating that the protective film on the Q235 steel surface is formed by adsorption of the inhibitor molecules. The inhibition efficiency of VHTC achieves the maximum value within 24 h when the concentration of VHTC is 200 mg L. The morphology observation of the corroded steel surface indicates that the corrosion of Q235 steel in 1 M HCl solution is significantly inhibited after introducing VHTC into the acidic solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]