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Compared to young people and adults, there are differences in the ability of elderly people to resist diseases or injuries, with some noticeable features being gender-dependent. However, gender differences in age-related viscera alterations are not clear. To evaluate a potential possibility of gender differences during the natural aging process, we used three age groups to investigate the impact on spleens, kidneys, and adrenal glands. The immunofluorescence results showed that male-specific p21 proteins were concentrated in the renal tubule epithelial cells of the kidney. Histological staining revealed an increase in the frequencies of fat vacuoles located in the renal tubule epithelial cells of the cortex, under the renal capsule in the kidneys of male mice with age. In female mice, we found that the width of the globular zone in the adrenal gland cortex was unchanged with age. On the contrary, the male displayed a reduction in width. Compared to females, the content of epinephrine in adrenal gland tissue according to ELISA analysis was higher in adults, and a greater decline was observed in aged males particularly. These data confirmed the age-dependent differences between female and male mice; therefore, gender should be considered one of the major factors for personalized treatment in clinical diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cells are the basic unit of human organs that are not fully understood. The revolutionary advancements of optical imaging allowed us to observe single cells in whole organs, revealing the complicated composition of cells with spatial information. Therefore, in this review, we revisit the principles of optical contrast related to those biomolecules and the optical techniques that transform optical contrast into detectable optical signals. Then, we describe optical imaging to achieve three-dimensional spatial discrimination for biological tissues. Due to the milky appearance of tissues, the spatial information blurred deep in the whole organ. Fortunately, strategies developed in the last decade could circumvent this issue and lead us into a new era of investigation of the cells with their original spatial information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robust and accurate implicit direct discontinuous Galerkin (DDG) method for simulating laminar and turbulent flows. The Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with negative Spalart-Allmaras (SA) turbulence model are solved by using GMRES method with LU-SGS preconditioner to improve the convergence and efficiency. A distinguished feature of this implicit method is that the exact Jacobian matrix, derived analytically from the Harten-Lax-van Leer-Contact convective flux accompanied with DDG viscous flux and negative SA turbulence source term with no approximation and simplification, is used for the linear system of equations resulted by the implicit temporal discretization. The robustness of the implicit method is greatly enhanced due to using the exact Jacobian matrix. A number of benchmark test cases are selected to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method for simulating laminar and complex turbulent flows. Through the numerical experiments, the implicit DDG method clearly demonstrates its robustness for solving complex turbulent flows with highly stretched and curved grids and thus indicates its potential for real engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) degrades due to the turbidity of the skull that introduces attenuation and distortion of both laser and stimulated ultrasound. In this manuscript, we demonstrated that a newly developed skull optical clearing solution (SOCS) could enhance not only the transmittance of light, but also that of ultrasound in the skull in vitro. Thus the photoacoustic signal was effectively elevated, and the relative strength of the artifacts induced by the skull could be suppressed. Furthermore in vivo studies demonstrated that SOCS could drastically enhance the performance of photoacoustic microscopy for cerebral microvasculature imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buzz-saw noise is a main component of the noise measured in the forward-arc of transonic fans during the take-off and climbing of aircraft. Full resolving of this noise component is computationally expensive because it is very sensitive to random blade variations, such as manufacturing tolerance, deformations or defects. To avoid this, artificially-synthesized irregular buzz-saw noise source is widely used for the prediction and further study. However, the irregularities of the synthesized source are hardly linked to the blade geometry and the so-induced flow structures. In this study, it is found that blade stagger, axial and azimuth variations maintain a quasi-linear relation with the so-induced static pressure perturbations. Based on this quasi-linear relation, the disturbances induced by blade variations are represented by a set of acoustic modal perturbations generated by several pairs of "basic" rotors. By superposing such modal perturbations, the buzz-saw noise source and the static pressure field generated by a fan with multiple arbitrary blade variations can be achieved instantly. This method is programmed to develop a code package named the Mode-based Fast Reconstruction (MFR). It is validated from simple to complex application scenarios based NASA rotor 67. An accuracy level of 0.9 dB is achieved for the multiple pure tones generated by rotors with multiple blade variations that satisfy the quasi-linear assumptions. This enables high-accuracy fast reconstruction of buzz-saw noise source and pressure field in more real transonic fans. Additionally, the impact of blade variations on buzz-saw noise is much stronger than the influence on rotor aerodynamic performances. So, the effects of small blade variations should be considered during the design and optimization of transonic fan rotors, even though the aerodynamic performances may not benefit much from this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the published works related to noise generation in high-lift devices only consider clean idealized geometries, whereas real aircraft wings contain important parts called the slat tracks that connect the slat and the main wing. To investigate the effects of slat tracks on the ambient flow and noise, simulations are performed for wings based on the 30P30N airfoil. Two configurations are considered, i.e., the 30P30N wing with and without a slat track. Improved detached-eddy simulation is carried out to compute the unsteady near-field flow. The far-field noise propagation is calculated using the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation. The results show that the installation of the slat track has observable effects on the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic performances of the high-lift devices. The maximum lift coefficient of the high-lift device and the stall angle of attack is reduced. Low-frequency broadband noise radiated from the main wing is significantly increased and the directivity of the overall sound pressure level is changed due to the slat track. The far-field noise from the configuration with the slat track displays noticeable sensitivity to the angle of attack. The slat track has an amplification effect on the high-pressure fluctuation on the main wing, especially at a small angle of attack. This leads to nearly 10 dB in the far-field noise based on the discussed wing section. To reveal the relative noise mechanism, vortical structures near the slat track, large-scale spanwise flows above the main wing, and the vortex dynamics are investigated. A spiral vortex pair is captured as the most important flow structure. It is generated in the spanwise direction by the interaction of slat wakes with the boundary layer on the upper surface of the main wing. The pressure fluctuations on the main wing are highly correlated with this flow structure, which cannot be ignored for the study of noise in a real aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been widely adopted in cell research for protein trafficking and reporter gene expression studies, as well as to study other biological processes. However, biological tissue has high light scattering and high absorption coefficients of visible light; hence, using FPs in small animal imaging remains a challenge, especially when the FPs are located deep in the tissue. In small animals, fluorescence molecular imaging could potentially address this difficulty. We constructed fluorescence molecular imaging systems that have two modes: a planner mode (projection imaging) and a multimodality mode (fluorescence molecular tomography and micro-CT). The planner mode can provide projection images of a fluorophore in the whole body of a small animal, whereas three-dimensional information can be offered by multimodality mode. The planner imaging system works in the reflection mode and is designed to provide fast imaging. The multimodality imaging system is designed to allow quantification and three-dimensional localization of fluorophores. A nude mouse with a tumour targeted with a far-red FP, which is appropriate for in vivo imaging, was adopted to validate the two systems. The results indicate that the planner imaging system is probably suitable for high throughput molecular imaging, whereas the multimodality imaging system is fit for quantitative research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The noise of slat in the high-lift device of large aircraft is one of the main noise sources of large aircraft during take-off and landing. This paper investigates a noise reduction measure which consists in droop nose for high-lift device of three-dimensional sweep wing instead of leading-edge slat. The unsteady flow field and the far-field noise are predicted by a hybrid SA-IDDES method coupled with the integration of the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings equation (FW-H). Based on the optimal droop nose configuration from 2D airfoil, the results of the 3D swept wing model with the droop nose on the leading edge of the inner wing are given. Numerical results show that the droop nose configuration can reduce the overall sound pressure level (OASPL) of the intermediate frequency noise, and the peak noise can be reduced by 15 dB, and the sound pressure level of the broadband noise at low and high frequencies is also partially suppressed. The maximum lift-to-drag ratio of the droop nose configuration increased by 2.7 %. In addition, the noise reduction mechanism of leading-edge droop is analyzed by combining the vortex sound theory and the generation and evolution process of the vortex structure. The leading-edge droop nose configuration fundamentally not only eliminates the vortex structure of the slat cove of the leading-edge slat configuration, but also avoids the interaction between the slat slot flow and the upper surface of the main wing. These directly lead to a thinner boundary layer vortex near the top of the main wing, and the wall pressure pulsation is smaller than that of the leading-edge slat high-lift device, thereby reducing noise. The reduction of the BEF distribution on the upper surface boundary shows again that the droop nose inhibits the vortex on the upper surface of the main wing. The change of the Lamb vector divergence reveals the noise reduction mechanism of the drooping leading edge configuration directly from the sound source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable water in water (W/W) emulsions of guar rich droplets dispersed in an amylopectin rich continuous phase (G/A) and the inverse (A/G) can be achieved by adding gelatin and inducing microphase separation of the latter by cooling. In this research, the effect of gelatin on the emulsion stability was further studied by storing the emulsions at 10, 20 and 25 °C. The visual aspect, the microstructure, and the viscosity of the emulsions were investigated at different times during storage at different temperatures and pH. It was found that depending on the conditions, the gelatin phase wetted the interface or formed small discrete microdomains that adsorbed at the interface and dispersed in the bulk phases. The observed differences in morphology and stability are related to the interplay of the rates of aggregation, phase separation of gelatin, which itself depend on the gelatin concentration, temperature and pH. Emulsions could be prepared in this manner that were stable for at least one week and remained visually homogeneous. We believe that this is a promising method to stabilize W/W emulsions as long as the components of the emulsion are incompatible with aggregated gelatin. • Water in water (W/W) emulsions were stabilized by adding gelatin. • Microphase separation of gelatin in the W/W emulsions was induced by cooling. • Either a gelatin layer or discrete gelatin domains formed at the W/W interface. • The stability is related to the rates of gelatin aggregation and phase separation. • The stability could be tuned by gelatin concentration, temperature and pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissection of the anatomical information at the single-cell level is crucial for understanding the organization rule and pathological mechanism of biological tissues. Mapping the whole organ in numerous groups with multiple conditions brings the challenges in imaging and analysis. Here, we describe an approach, named array fluorescent micro-optical sectioning tomography (array-fMOST), to identify the three-dimensional information at single-cell resolution from multi-samples. The pipeline contains array embedding, large-scale imaging, post-imaging staining and data analysis, which could image over 24 mouse brains simultaneously and collect the slices for further analysis. With transgenic mice, we acquired the distribution information of neuropeptide somatostatin neurons during natural aging and compared the changes in the microenvironments by multi-component labeling of serial sections with precise co-registration of serial datasets quantitatively. With viral labeling, we also analyzed the input circuits of the medial prefrontal cortex in the whole brain of Alzheimer's disease and autism model mice. This pipeline is highly scalable to be applied to anatomical alterations screening and identification. It provides new opportunities for combining multi-sample whole-organ imaging and molecular phenotypes identification analysis together. Such integrated high-dimensional information acquisition method may accelerate our understanding of pathogenesis and progression of disease in situ at multiple levels. A new method, named array fluorescent micro-optical sectioning tomography (array-fMOST), is developed for identifying the three-dimensional information at single-cell resolution from multi-samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Responsive dual-structured emulsions and gel emulsions have attracted more and more attention due to their complex microstructures, on-demand responsive properties, and controlled release of active cargoes. In this work, the effect of monoglyceride (MG)-based oil phase structuring on the formation and stability, structural properties, and thermoresponsive and cargo release behavior of gel emulsions stabilized by glycyrrhizic acid (GA) nanofibrils were investigated. Owing to the formation of GA fibrillar networks in the aqueous phase and MG crystalline networks in the oil phase, a stable dual-structured gel emulsion can be successfully developed. The microstructure of the dual-structured gel emulsions largely depended on the concentration of MG in the oil phase. At low MG concentrations (1–2 wt%), the larger formed and lamellar MG crystals may pierce the interfacial fibrillar film, inducing the formation of partially coalesced droplets. In contrast, at high MG concentrations (4 wt% or above), the smaller MG crystals with enhanced interfacial activity can lead to the formation of a bilayer shell of GA nanofibrils and MG crystals, thus efficiently inhibiting the interfacial film damage and forming a jamming structure with homogeneously distributed small droplets. Compared to pure GA nanofibril gel emulsions, the GA−MG dual-structured gel emulsions showed significantly improved mechanical performance as well as good thermoresponsive behavior. Moreover, these stable GA−MG gel emulsions can be used as food-grade delivery vehicles for encapsulating and protecting hydrophobic and hydrophilic bioactive cargoes. They also have great potential as novel and efficient aroma delivery systems showing highly controlled volatile release. The dual-structured emulsion strategy is expected to broaden the applications of natural saponin GA-based gel emulsions in the food, pharmaceutical, and personal care industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, oleogels were prepared from zein-tea saponin complex nanoparticles (ZTCNP)-stabilized Pickering emulsions template and evaluated their potential as animal fat replacers for application in the beef burger. We utilized tea saponin (TS) to enhance the water solubility of zein, and then soluble ZTCNP involved in hydrogen-bonding interactions were fabricated by means of microfluidization. The addition of TS (0∼7.5 mM) tuned near-neutral wettability and increased zein adsorption at the oil-water interface, which contributed to form Pickering emulsions with smaller droplet size. Furthermore, oleogels without any oil leakage could be obtained from Pickering emulsions stabilized by ZTCNP with higher TS concentrations (7.5 mM) as templates through evaporation of water in freeze-drying process. The resulting oleogels exhibited higher viscoelastic attributes, which could be useful in animal fat (beef tallow) replacement. Beef burger prepared with oleogels displayed lower cooking loss, softer texture than that prepared with beef tallow. These findings can enhance the development of emerging and technical supports for utilizing zein-based oleogels as favorable substitutes for animal fat. • Soluble complex nanoparticles of insoluble zein and tea saponin (ZTCNP) were formed. • Oleogel could be obtained from emulsions stabilized by ZTCNP with 7.5 mM tea saponin. • Oleogel could be useful in animal fat replacement for beef burger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Gliadin-shielded AgNPs nanoparticles (Gliadin@AgNPs) were developed successfully. • Gliadin@AgNPs have potent, last-term, and broad-spectrum antibacterial activity. • Gliadin@AgNPs could eliminate 6.7-log MRSA at ultralow Ag content (0.125 ppm). • Gliadin@AgNPs were used to design antimicrobial protein porous materials for the first time. • Antimicrobial protein porous materials promoted HaCaT cell adhesion and proliferation. The accelerated rise of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains presents a significant challenge to both global health and the economy. Although silver-based materials have already been successfully developed in dealing with the infections of drug-resistant bacteria, there has been much controversy over the applications of them because the waste silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are potentially harmful to humanity and the environment. To address this issue, gliadin@AgNPs hybrid nanoparticles with ultralow minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were designed via growing AgNPs on amphiphilic gliadin molecule, followed by co-assembly-induced nanoencapsulation of AgNPs. The highly monodispersed gliadin nanoparticles (∼120 nm) infused with ultrasmall AgNPs (2–3 nm) were synthesized successfully. This strategy protected AgNPs from aggregation and fast oxidation, exerted programmed release profiles. In vitro antibacterial experiments demonstrate the hybrids could kill a broad-spectrum bacteria at an ultralow Ag equivalent, with MBCs of 0.0312 and 0.125 μg/mL for E. coli and MRSA, respectively. More importantly, its MBC against E. coli below the safety threshold established by the WHO for drinking water (0.1 ppm). Using the hybrid nanostructure as building blocks, we fabricated unprecedented protein-based antimicrobial porous materials for the first time through Pickering HIPEs templates, which was characterized by the formation of gliadin@AgNPs-decorated nanostructures on the pore wall of porous materials. They have a complex interlaced tubular porous structure with over 96 % porosity, presenting programmed release behavior of Ag+, and were able to inhibit the growth of tested bacteria at concentrations that did not affect the viability of HaCaT human cells, confirming that hierarchical nanomaterials possess valid antibacterial activity within the cellular viability concentration range. Particularly, the antimicrobial protein porous material promoted HaCaT cell adhesion and proliferation within its hierarchical nanostructure. This work provides new insights into the rational design of advanced gliadin@AgNPs as a potent antibacterial nanoplatform with a much smaller environmental impact and health concerns and a building block for constructing protein-based porous materials with outstanding antimicrobial performance and biocompatibility for emerging applications in catalysis, tissue engineering, and environmental engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel online method based on the symmetry property of the sum of projections (SOP) is proposed to obtain the geometric parameters in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). This method requires no calibration phantom and can be used in circular trajectory CBCT with arbitrary cone angles. An objective function is deduced to illustrate the dependence of the symmetry of SOP on geometric parameters, which will converge to its minimum when the geometric parameters achieve their true values. Thus, by minimizing the objective function, we can obtain the geometric parameters for image reconstruction. To validate this method, numerical phantom studies with different noise levels are simulated. The results show that our method is insensitive to the noise and can determine the skew (in-plane rotation angle of the detector), the roll (rotation angle around the projection of the rotation axis on the detector), and the rotation axis with high accuracy, while the mid-plane and source-to-detector distance will be obtained with slightly lower accuracy. However, our simulation studies validate that the errors of the latter two parameters brought by our method will hardly degrade the quality of reconstructed images. The small animal studies show that our method is able to deal with arbitrary imaging objects. In addition, the results of the reconstructed images in different slices demonstrate that we have achieved comparable image quality in the reconstructions as some offline methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The naturally occurring saponins exhibit remarkable interfacial activity and also possess many biological activities linking to human health benefits, which make them particularly attractive as bifunctional building blocks for formulation of colloidal multiphase food systems. This review focuses on two commonly used food-grade saponins, Quillaja saponins (QS) and glycyrrhizic acid (GA), with the aim of clarifying the relationship between the structural features of saponin molecules and their subsequent self-assembly and interfacial properties. The recent applications of these two saponins in various colloidal multiphase systems, including liquid emulsions, gel emulsions, aqueous foams and complex emulsion foams, are then discussed. A particular emphasis is on the unique use of GA and GA nanofibrils as sole stabilizers for fabricating various multiphase food systems with many advanced qualities including simplicity, ultrastability, stimulability, structural viscoelasticity and processability. These natural saponin and saponin-based colloids are expected to be used as sustainable, plant-based ingredients for designing future foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wall treatment method, termed as the Slat Cove Wavy Wall (SCWW), is proposed to improve both the aero-acoustic and the aerodynamic performances of high-lift devices. By this treatment, a wavy pattern is imposed on the wall in the slat cove. In the present work, slats with three different SCWWs are designed and applied to a straight wing composed by 30P30N airfoil. Numerical simulations and analyses are conducted to unveil the underlying mechanisms of noise reduction. The unsteady flow field and the far-field noise are predicted by a hybrid SA-IDDES method followed by the integration of the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings equation. The modified high-lift device is proved to be able to improve the aero-acoustic performance by reducing the low-frequency components of the radiated noise. Meanwhile, the aerodynamic performance is maintained or improved under proper design parameters. The boundary layer separation in the slat cove is accelerated by the SCWW, which transforms low-frequency periodic vortex shedding to high-frequency turbulent flow. This results in the sound energy shift from low-frequency noise to high-frequency broadband noise. The SCWW method is proved to be effective in redistribution of boundary vorticity flux on the slat lower surface. To reveal the mechanism of the SCWW's drag and noise reduction, the vortex dynamic processes near the slat lower surface in terms of the Lamb vector divergence are further investigated. It is found that the Lamb vector divergence is directly related to both the noise source and the drag. The interaction area of positive and negative Lamb vector divergence can be balanced and decreased by SCWW, resulting in the drag and noise reduction. As expressed by the vortex dynamic processes, this feature implies the SCWW method is of great potential in noise attenuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic chemotherapy is still the primary treatment for advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), but only limited therapeutic success has been achieved in the past decade because of drug resistance and systemic toxicity. Curcumin (Cur) is an effective alternative to chemotherapeutics because it showed remarkable therapeutic potential in the treatment of NPC. However, lack of tissue specificity and poor penetration in solid tumors are the major obstacles to effective therapy. Therefore, in this work, a self-assembled sub-30 nm therapeutic lipid nanoparticle loaded with Cur, named as Cur@α-NTP-LN, was constructed, specifically targeting scavenger receptor class B member 1 (SR-B1) and enhancing its therapeutic effects on NPC in vivo. Our results showed that Cur@α-NTP-LNs were effective and superior to free Cur on NPC cell-specific targeting, suppressing cell proliferation and inducing cell apoptosis. In vivo and ex vivo optical imaging revealed that Cur@α-NTP-LNs exerted high targeting efficiency, specifically accumulating in NPC xenograft tumors and delivering Cur into the tumor center after systemic administration. Furthermore, Cur@α-NTP-LNs exhibited a remarkable inhibitory effect on the growth of NPC subcutaneous tumors, with over 71 and 47% inhibition compared to Cur- and α-NTP-LNs-treated groups, respectively. In addition, Cur@α-NTP-LNs almost blocked NPC metastasis in a lung metastasis model of NPC and significantly improved the survival rate. Thus, the sub-30 nm Cur@α-NTP-LNs enhanced the solubility of Cur and demonstrated the ability of targeted Cur delivery into the center of the solid NPC tumor, performing synergistic inhibitory effects on the growth of NPC tumor and its metastasis with high efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural saponin glycyrrhizic acid (GA) and GA nanofibrils (GNFs) are effective foaming agents for formulation of aqueous food-grade foams. Through the synergistic combination of soft semiflexible GNFs with rigid nanofiller cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), it should be possible to create advanced composite foams with a more complex structure and diverse properties including high stability and stimuli responsiveness. Foams containing mixtures of GNFs and CNCs were prepared, and their formation and stability were investigated. A range of microscopy techniques and small deformation oscillatory shear were adopted to examine the microstructure and viscoelasticity of foams, and a stabilization mechanism for highly stable foams was then established. Further, the temperature-responsive destabilization of foams was evaluated. CNCs are homogeneously distributed in the architecture and mechanically reinforce the GNF fibrillar network, leading to a highly viscoelastic composite network in the continuous phase of foams, which is the key factor responsible for their high stability. Such ultra-stable gel foams display tunable thermo-responsive behavior and a rapid on-demand destabilization upon heating by inducing a phase transition of the bulk composite network. Our work opens up new scenarios on the use of a novel combination of all-natural, sustainable nanoscale building blocks to develop aqueous "superfoams" which are highly stable, stimulable and processable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is a promising biomedical imaging technique that relies on sequential excitation to generate three-dimensional images. It combines the high contrast of optical imaging with high penetration depth of ultrasound imaging. The normal respiration rate of mice is greater than 3 Hz, which leads to motion artifacts in most reported PAM for in vivo imaging. Methods: Here, we introduce a prospective respiratory gating (PRG) method for PAM to address this problem. We captured the mouse's respiratory signal with a laser displacement sensor, and the photoacoustic signal was acquired at specific phase points of the respiratory signal. The scanning mode and the scanning timing were also designed and evaluated. We combined this method with our PAM to demonstrate its feasibility. Results: Our experiments show that the proposed method can help remove motion artifacts well, and the subcutaneous vascular imaging results of the mouse abdominal region with PRG are much better than those without any gating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(VHLPPP) n=1,3 binds to the DPPC membrane model and promotes the formation of LE phase in DPPC monolayer. γ -zein peptides (VHLPPP) n present great potential as efficient molecule carriers across the cell membrane. To further understand the binding behavior of peptides with cell membrane, simplified models consisting of peptides and mono/bi-layer membranes (Langmuir monolayer and liposome) were used to studied the resulting response in the structure of peptide and cell membrane in the present work. The results showed that (VHLPPP) n=1,3 bound to dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) liposomes and was induced to self-assemble into polyproline II (PP II) structure. The incorporation of (VHLPPP) n=1,3 in the DPPC Langmuir monolayers resulted in an increase in the surface pressure and a decrease in the collapse pressure, suggesting the increase of lipid monolayer fluidity. Fluorescence images further confirmed that the presence of (VHLPPP) n=1,3 promoted the formation of liquid-expanded (LE, dis-ordered) phases in lipid monolayers. Atomic force microscopy images found that (VHLPPP) n=1,3 preferred to penetrate in LE phase domains. In addition, (VHLPPP) 3 possesses higher binding affinity with DPPC membrane models compared to (VHLPPP) 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manual phenotyping of rice tillers is time consuming and labor intensive, and lags behind the rapid development of rice functional genomics. Thus, automated, non-destructive methods of phenotyping rice tiller traits at a high spatial resolution and high throughput for large-scale assessment of rice accessions are urgently needed. In this study, we developed a high-throughput micro-CT-RGB imaging system to non-destructively extract 739 traits from 234 rice accessions at nine time points. We could explain 30% of the grain yield variance from two tiller traits assessed in the early growth stages. A total of 402 significantly associated loci were identified by genome-wide association study, and dynamic and static genetic components were found across the nine time points. A major locus associated with tiller angle was detected at time point 9, which contained a major gene, TAC1. Significant variants associated with tiller angle were enriched in the 3ʹ-untranslated region of TAC1. Three haplotypes for the gene were found, and rice accessions containing haplotype H3 displayed much smaller tiller angles. Further, we found two loci containing associations with both vigor-related traits identified by high-throughput micro-CT-RGB imaging and yield. The superior alleles would be beneficial for breeding for high yield and dense planting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of hybrid imaging scanners, micro-CT is widely used in locating abnormalities, studying drug metabolism, and providing structural priors to aid image reconstruction in functional imaging. Due to the low contrast of soft tissues, segmentation of soft tissue organs from mouse micro-CT images is a challenging problem. In this paper, we propose a mouse segmentation scheme based on dynamic contrast enhanced micro-CT images. With a homemade fast scanning micro-CT scanner, dynamic contrast enhanced images were acquired before and after injection of non-ionic iodinated contrast agents (iohexol). Then the feature vector of each voxel was extracted from the signal intensities at different time points. Based on these features, the heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney could be classified into different categories and extracted from separate categories by morphological processing. The bone structure was segmented using a thresholding method. Our method was validated on seven BALB/c mice using two different classifiers: a support vector machine classifier with a radial basis function kernel and a random forest classifier. The results were compared to manual segmentation, and the performance was assessed using the Dice similarity coefficient, false positive ratio, and false negative ratio. The results showed high accuracy with the Dice similarity coefficient ranging from 0.709 ± 0.078 for the spleen to 0.929 ± 0.006 for the kidney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significance: The multimodality imaging system has become a powerful tool for in-vivo biomedical research. However, a conventional multimodality system generally employs two independent detectors, which is costly and bulky. Meanwhile, the geometric cocalibration and image registration between the imaging modalities are also complicated. Aim: To acquire the multimodality images for small animals with only one visible light sensed single-pixel detector. Approach: The system is built based on a structured detection Fourier single-pixel imaging architecture. A cesium iodide doped with thallium [CsI(Tl)] scintillator plate is placed behind the sample in x-ray imaging, so the x-ray images can be converted to be visible and sensed with the same single-pixel detector as applied in fluorescence imaging. Results: The spatial resolution of x-ray imaging was measured to be 1.81 mm, the sensitivity and the imaging depth of fluorescence imaging was evaluated to be ∼1.48 nmol / ml and 4 mm, respectively. In vivo multimodality imaging of a C57BL/6 female mouse bearing tumor targeted with mCherry was carried out. Conclusions: We proposed an x-ray and fluorescence multimodality imaging system for small animals via the structured detection FSI architecture. The system is low cost, with a more compact structure, and free of image registration from different modalities. In vivo multimodality imaging results of a mouse bearing tumor demonstrate its capability for small animal research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Discovery of a new indirect bandgap phosphorus-based 2 D materials with a super photothermal conversion efficiency of 68.6 %. • Multimodal-imaging-Guided drug delivery of GeP nanosheets based platform for cancer. • GeP nanosheets based platform with excellent biodegradation and biocompatibility. • Stimulative responsive drug releasing and tumor inhibition of the GeP nanosheets based hybrid platform. Germanium phosphide (GeP), a new member of phosphorus-based 2D materials, is a semiconductor with indirect and narrowed band gap, which theoretically would have great potential to serve as near-infrared (NIR) photothermal agent (PTA) with high photothermal conversion efficiency (PTCE). However, the photothermal conversion performance and biomedical application of GeP-based nanocarriers has not been explored yet. Herein, we demonstrate the GeP nanosheets as high-performance PTA with PTCE of 68.6% in NIR region, which is much higher than many of other 2D PTA such as graphene, Mxenes, transition metal dichalcogenides, and black phosphorus (BP), and explore its application in multimodal cancer theranostics. Similar to BP nanosheets, the GeP nanosheets are biodegradable with excellent biocompatibility. With the merit of large specific surface area, the GeP nanosheets have high loading capacity (134 wt%) for anticancer drug Doxorubicin (DOX). The NH 2 -PEG-FA modified GeP-DOX hybrids show pH-responsive, heat-stimulative and sustained-drug-release performance as chemo-photothermal synergistic cancer therapy platform, and demonstrate remarkable tumor ablation ability both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, multimodal imaging capability including photoacoustic imaging and photothermal imaging is also realized on basis of the excellent photothermal performance of GeP nanosheets. This study highlights the great promise of 2D GeP nanosheets as multifunctional platform for cancer theranostics application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research work was objectively targeted to synthesize highly pure diacylglycerol (DAG) with glycerolysis of soybean oil in a solvent medium of t-butanol. Three commercial immobilized lipases (Lipozyme RM IM, Lipozyme TL IM and Novozym 435) were screened, and Novozym 435 was the best out of three candidates. Batch reaction conditions of the enzymatic glycerolysis, the substrate mass ratio, the reaction temperature and the substrate concentration, were studied. The optimal reaction conditions were achieved as 6.23:1 mass ratio of soybean oil to glycerol, 40% (w/v) of substrate concentration in t-butanol and reaction temperature of 50°C. A two-stage molecular distillation was employed for purification of DAG from reaction products. Scale-up was attempted based on the optimized reaction conditions, 98.7% (24h) for the conversion rate of soybean oil, 48.5% of DAG in the glycerolysis products and 96.1% for the content of DAG in the final products were taken in account as the results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to ensure the safety of traffic, asphalt pavement is commonly required to utilize aggregates with excellent anti-abrasion property. This results in the lack of high-quality aggregates. The incorporation of solid waste in the aggregates is regarded as a high potential alternative for solving this problem. Since its material properties, such as rough surface, high Polished Stone Value (PSV) and the excellent adhesion property of asphalt, Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) slag can effectively improve the skid resistance of asphalt mixtures. First, the material properties of BOF slag are reviewed in this study. Then, the skid resistance of asphalt mixtures and aggregates are commendably evaluated by the Polished Stone Value test, Wehner/Schulze Tester, Aachen Polishing Machine, British Pendulum Test and Sand Patch test. The physical and mechanical properties of BOF slag play a key role in asphalt mixtures. This review found that the skid resistance mechanism of the BOF slag asphalt mixture is governed by factors such as BOF slag properties, incorporation methods and gradation types. Finally, the economic and environmental benefits of BOF slag asphalt mixtures were discussed. In addition, the function of gas catalysis and the melting of ice and snow can be added to the BOF slag asphalt mixture for a cleaner development in engineering. Furthermore, the existing problems, research directions and corresponding measures in this field are directed towards more durable and functional asphalt pavement construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A model for particle breakup was developed by considering deformation properties. • Contribution of effective turbulent eddies to total breakage rate was clarified. • M-shaped and Λ-shaped daughter size distribution were obtained. This work explores the mechanism of bubble and droplet breakup caused by turbulence in turbulent dispersions. Considering the deformation properties of the particle during the particle-eddy interaction process, a breakup model for bubbles and droplets of the Taylor length scale size is developed. The particle-eddy interaction frequency is modeled based on bubbles/droplets interacting with both larger and smaller eddies, in contrast with the usual collision frequency. Breakup criteria are demonstrated to depend on the degree of surface deformation prior to breakup. The relationship between the local characteristics of surrounding flows, such as the turbulent eddies' variance and dissipation rate and the breakage rate as well as the daughter size distribution is then established and quantified. In particular, the contribution of turbulent eddies to the total breakage rate is clarified. This work provides a further understanding of breakup observations in complex turbulent fields and offers a more fundamental breakup kernel for the population balance model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]