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Flue gas and coal bed methane are two important sources of greenhouse gases. Pressure swing adsorption process has a wide range of application in the field of gas separation, and the selection of adsorbent is crucial. In this regard, in order to assess the better adsorbent for separating CO2 from flue gas and CH4 from coal bed methane, adsorption isotherms of CO2, CH4 and N2 on activated carbon and carbon molecular sieve are measured at 303.15, 318.15, and 333.15 K, and up to 250 kPa. The experimental data fits better with Langmuir 2 compared to Langmuir 3 and Langmuir-Freundlich models, and Clausius-Clapeyron equation was used to calculate the isosteric heat. Both the order of the adsorbed amount and the adsorption heat on the two adsorbents are CO2 > CH4 > N2. The adsorption kinetics are calculated by the pseudo-first kinetic model, and the order of adsorption rates on activated carbon is N2 ≥ CH4 > CO2, while on carbon molecular sieve it is CO2 ≥ N2 > CH4. It is shown that relative molecular mass and adsorption heat are the primary effect on kinetics for activated carbon, while kinetic diameter is the main resistance factor for carbon molecular sieve. Moreover, the adsorption selectivity of CH4/N2 and CO2/N2 were estimated with the ideal adsorption solution theory, and carbon molecular sieve performed best at 318.15 K for both CO2 and CH4 separation. Overall, the study suggested that carbon molecular sieve is a better option for separating flue gas and coal bed methane.

In the information interconnection scenario of the new generation wide-body aircraft, there is a large amount of real-time bi-directional data exchange between aircraft control domain and airline information services domain in civil aircraft avionics system, and its security isolation and information flow protection are facing increasingly serious information security threats. Therefore, a bi-directional secure communication architecture based on virtualization avionics platform is proposed in this study. The attribute-based access control for multiple avionics domain is modeling and the designs of protection for contract security critical data and real-time monitoring for security critical component effectiveness are given. Physical implementation and verification results based on the domestic ACoreOS operating system and avionics hardware platform show that the bi-directional secure communication method based on virtualization avionics platform achieves the spatial isolation of security critical components, the data transmit and receive time of ACD network is less than 50 ms, and the message transmit and receive rate of ACD network is greater than 70 Mb/s. These results can meet the performance requirements of secure communication between avionics network domains of wide-body aircraft, which have high practical value.

Due to the adjustable band gap, the excellent radiation stability, and the high electron mobility of InGaN, the InGaN-based blue-light photodetectors (PDs) show great potential in visible light communication (VLC) systems. However, the applications of InGaN-based blue-light PDs in VLC systems are limited by the poor performance caused by the poor crystalline quality of InGaN materials. Herein, we report on the fabrication of high responsivity and high response speed InGaN-based metal–semiconductor metal (MSM) blue-light PDs using high-quality InGaN epitaxial films grown on Si substrates by the combination of low-temperature pulsed laser deposition (LT-PLD) and high-temperature metal organic chemical deposition (HT-MOCVD). The technology can not only suppress the interfacial reactions between films and substrates by LT-PLD growth, but also promote the lateral overgrowth of InGaN and improve the crystalline quality of InGaN-based epitaxial films by HT-MOCVD growth. Based on the high-quality InGaN-based materials, high-performance InGaN-based blue-light PDs are fabricated accordingly with a high responsivity of 0.49 A W−1 and a short rise/fall response time of 1.25/1.74 ms at an applied bias of −3 V. The performance is better than the results for the InGaN-based PDs previously reported. The InGaN-based blue-light PDs shed light on the potential for VLC system applications.

Women experiencing primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) are more likely to experience infertility, and its incidence is increasing worldwide annually. Recently, the role of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) in the treatment of POI has been reported. However, details of the potential pharmacological targets and related molecular pathways of ALA remain unclear and need to be elucidated. Thus, this study aims to elucidate the potential therapeutic target and related molecular mechanism of ALA on POI. First, the potential targets of POI and ALA related targets were downloaded from online public databases. Subsequently, the overlapped target genes between POI and ALA were acquired, and Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) networks were performed and constructed. Finally, molecular docking was performed to verify protein-to-protein effect. A total of 152 potential therapeutic targets were identified. The biological processes of the intersecting targets were mainly involved in the cellular response to peptides, response to xenobiotic stimuli, and response to peptide hormones. The highly enriched pathways were the cAMP, PI3K/AKT, estrogen, progesterone mediated oocyte maturation, and apoptosis signaling pathways. The top ten hub targets for ALA in the treatment of POI were STAT3, STAT1, CASP3, MTOR, PTGS2, CASP8, HSP90AA1, PIK3CA, MAPK1, and ESR1. The binding between ALA and all top hub targets were verified using the molecular docking analysis. In summary, using the systematic integrated pharmacology network and bioinformatics analysis, this study illustrated that ALA participates in the treatment of POI via multiple-targets and multiple-pathways mechanisms.

Due to the wavelength-selective absorption characteristic of indium gallium nitride (InGaN) ternary alloy, the InGaN-based photodetectors (PDs) show great potential as high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) receivers in the visible light communication (VLC) system. However, the application of InGaN-based PDs with simple structure in the VLC system is limited by slow speed. Integration of graphene (Gr) with InGaN is an effective strategy for overcoming the limitation. Herein, we report on a high responsivity and fast response PDs based on Gr/InGaN heterojunctions. It finds that the three-layer Gr (T-Gr) can effectively improve the InGaN-based PDs photoelectric properties. The T-Gr/InGaN PDs show a high responsivity of 1.39 A/W@−3 V and a short rise/fall time of 60/200 µs, which are attributed to the combination of the high-quality InGaN epitaxial films and finite density of states of three-layer graphene. The fast response with high responsivity endows the T-Gr/InGaN PDs with great potential for selective detection of the VLC system.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of cell therapy using human amniotic epithelial stem cells (hAESCs) for the treatment of premature rupture of membranes (PROM) in vitro. Design: Using the amniotic pore culture technique (APCT), we mimicked the environment of PROM in vitro, thus enabling the observation of the healing process of hAESC-treated amniotic membranes. Materials: Amniotic membrane samples were collected from placentas of pregnant women who underwent elective cesarean sections. APCT model and isolated hAESCs were used in this study. All patients who participated in this study provided their written informed consent prior to the commencement of the study. Settings: To create the APCT model in vitro, isolated amniotic membranes were punched to create 5 mm diameter circles and re-punched to form a 1-mm pore at the center. Membranes were cultured in α-minimal essential medium, and the hAESCs were collected and cultured as well. Subsequently, the APCT models were divided into two groups: hAESC treated and control. Methods: Within the culture period, pore sizes were calculated to evaluate the degree of tissue regeneration in both groups. We then evaluated the histology, cell density, and epithelial thickness of the regenerated tissues. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software ver. 20.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) with repeated-measures one-way analysis of variance or paired samples t test. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. Results: As per the evaluation of the APCT model in vitro, the pore size in the hAESC-treated group reduced by 62.2% on day 6 (62.2 ± 0.19, n = 24), whereas in the control group, it shrank by only 36.8% (p < 0.05) (36.8 ± 0.19, n = 24). Furthermore, the epithelial thickness in the amniotic epithelial stem cell-treated group (10.08 ± 1.26 μm, n = 8) was significantly higher than that in the control group (5.87 ± 0.94 μm, n = 8). Cell density in the regenerated tissue in the amniotic epithelial stem cell-treated group (57 ± 2.77, n = 8) was significantly higher than that in the control group (49 ± 2.23, n = 8). Limitations: In this study, we did not explore the molecular mechanisms by which hAESCs participate in membrane healing in the APCT model. Although our results showed a significant difference, this difference was not too obvious. Therefore, further research on the mechanisms of hAESCs is needed, with more amniotic tissues and APCT samples being tested. Conclusions: We developed an APCT model to investigate the PROM conditions in vitro. By implanting donor hAESCs in the pores of the APCT model, we observed that hAESCs seeding accelerated pore healing in vitro. Thus, hAESCs may be a valuable source of cells for cell therapies in regenerative medicine.

Backgrounds Long non-coding RNA is a novel group of non-protein coding transcripts over 200 nt in length. Recent studies have found that they are widely involved in many pathological and physiological processes. In our previous study, we found that lnc-GULP1–2:1 was significantly down-regulated in the ovarian cortical tissue of patients with primary ovarian insufficiency and predicted that lnc-GULP1–2:1 has a regulatory effect on COL3A1. Results In this study, we found that lnc-GULP1–2:1 was mainly localized in the cytoplasm of luteinized granulosa cells. The expression of lnc-GULP1–2:1 was lower in patients with diminished ovarian reserve but substantially elevated in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome. Overexpression of lnc-GULP1–2:1 in KGN cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, likely through cell cycle related genes CCND2 and p16. Moreover, lnc-GULP1–2:1 expression was positively correlated with the level of COL3A in luteinized granulosa cells from patients with different ovarian functions as well as in multiple cell lines. Overexpression of lnc-GULP1–2:1 in KGN cells promoted the expression of COL3A1 and its translocation into the nucleus. Consistently, silencing COL3A1 in KGN cells also significantly inhibited cell proliferation. Conclusions Lnc-GULP1–2:1 affects the proliferation of granulosa cells by regulating the expression and localization of COL3A1 protein, and may participate in the regulation of ovarian follicle development. This study will provide new insight into molecular mechanisms underlying ovarian follicular development, which will help generate novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for diseases related to ovarian follicular development disorders.

Additional file 2: Supplementary Table 1. The sequences of primers used for real-time PCR

Additional file 1. Sequence and chromosome localization information of Lnc-GULP1–2:1

A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 1 (ADAMTS1) is an extracellular matrix metalloproteinase that plays an important role in the process of ovulation. According to previous studies, the expression level of ADAMTS1 in the granulosa cells of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients and the mechanism for regulating oocyte quality and embryonic development potential are still unclear. Our research clarified that ADAMTS1 was significantly increased in granulosa cells of PCOS patients as compared to ovulatory controls. After silencing ADAMTS1 in granulosa cells, cell proliferation and E2 secretion were significantly inhibited, which may be related to the down-regulation of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) family genes and key genes involved in E2 synthesis. Through retrospective analysis of the clinical data, it was found that the expression level of ADAMTS1 was significantly positively correlated to the oocyte maturation rate and good-quality embryo rate in PCOS patients. The downregulation of ADAMTS1 in primary granulosa cells lead to the changes in the expression of marker genes for oocyte and embryonic quality. By using immunofluorescence staining, it was found ADAMTS1 was expressed in various stages of pre-implantation embryo but its expression level gradually decreases with the development of the embryo. In addition, the silence of ADAMTS1 in 3PN zygotes significantly prolonged the development time of the zygote to the morula stage. This is, to our knowledge, the first time to explored the mechanism by which ADAMST1 is involved in affecting the quality of oocytes and embryonic development potential, which will provide new evidence for further understanding of the follicular microenvironment and embryo development.

Palm vein hidden under the skin and its distribution feature is hard to be stolen, which makes the palm vein recognition to be a high security biometric authentication method. Contact-less palm vein imaging can avoid the spread of disease, thus expanding the application range of palm vein biometric authentication devices. However, due to the different un-derstanding of the right imaging position and the change of fingers open degree, contact-less palm vein image acquisi-tion led to a certain degree of translation, rotation, scaling and shear, that is, the image deformation. Image deformation causes the imaging feature unstable. In this paper, the effect of image deformation to the stability of palm vein features is studied by some similarity parameters. First, feature points in the palm were marked, contact-less imaging and con-tact imaging of palm vein were acquired. Then, this paper calculated the similarity parameters of the contact-less imag-ing to contact imaging and gave corresponding analysis. Experimental results show that contact-less palm vein imagingwas stable, and derived the linear regression equation of relationship between sample space and the recognition rate: y =?0.000903x + 1.0332, coefficient of determination R2 = 0.9824. This research provided effective and detailed data to the study of contact-less palm vein recognition and gave powerful support to contact-less multi-feature fusion recogni-tion based on hand.