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For low fineness extrinsic Fabry-Perot inter-ferometer (EFPI) sensors, the discrete gap transform (DGT) algorithm can be usually adopted to acquire the cavity length, and the magnitude of its demodulation error is often larger than several hundred picometer. In this paper, three-parameter cosine fitting (TPCF) method is proposed to compensate for the EFPI cavity length error caused by traditional spectrum truncation, which can improve the demodulation accuracy by 3800 times of that of DGT. This method has a large cavity length demodulation range of 20 μm ∼30000 μm with a maximum error of 65 pm, which was proved by numerical simulation. The experiment shows that when the cavity length is 31 μm and 282.3 μm, the demodulation resolutions with a confidence interval of 68.27% are 15.142 pm and 27.582 pm, respectively, and its actual demodulation time is no more than 0.021 s. Compared with the traditional cavity length demodulation algorithms, the proposed algorithm has broader demodulation range, higher demodulation accuracy and resolution. Moreover, it will be unrestricted by wavelength shift for more than one period and can realize real-time fast demodulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compositions of volatile oil from Lagerstroemia indica L. were reported for the first time. Out of 114 components where 58, 63, 67 and 61 compounds were identified from the white, pink, mauve, carmine flower with yields of 0.92%, 1.15%, 1.12% and 1.08%, respectively. Main compounds of white flower were 2-methyl-cyclopentanone (9.41%), m-xylene (7.53%) while the pink, carmine flower contained octacosane (19.81% and 13.91%) and heneicosane (18.02% and 7.98%), respectively, and mauve flower contained cyclohexanone (8.13%), 1-octacosanol (7.87%). Only 23 components were common in four oils, representing 16.57–32.72% of the total oils. Composition classification of four oils included mainly alkanes, benzenes, ketones with 52.98–73.03% of the total oils. The results revealed the different characteristics in quality of these oils. The pink, mauve, carmine flower oils were found active against S. aureus and A. niger, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus, E. coli and B. subtilis with MIC value of 0.078 mg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, based on the existing literature, we extend a deterministic delayed SIS epidemic model with vaccination to the stochastic version. First, we show that the solution of system is globally unique, positive and stochastically bounded. Then, constructing suitable Lyapunov function, we study the stochastic stability of system at the disease-free equilibrium. Moreover, the threshold R ̂ 0 which determines the extinction or persistence in time mean of the disease is proposed. When R ̂ 0 is less than 1, the disease will disappear; while R ̂ 0 is greater than 1, the disease will persist. Moreover, we study the existence of the ergodicity and the stationary distribution of the model, which can help us better understand the dynamic behavior and statistical characteristics of stochastic delayed biological models. Finally, we apply the results to hepatitis B in Chinese mainland. Using the nonlinear Least-Square method, we estimate the parameter of the model and obtain the threshold R ̂ 0 = 0.0556. We forecast that hepatitis B infections in Chinese mainland will drop to about 20 million in 2100 from 90 million in 2015, and give the probability densities of Hepatitis B infections each year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Ultrathin FeNiOxHy nanoflake arrays with the thickness of only ~4.5 nm were prepared on Ni foam (NF) via a facile hydrothermal reaction. The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) properties of the obtained sample (FeNiOxHy/NF) were investigated under alkaline conditions (1.0 M KOH). The optimized FeNiOxHy/NF displays extremely small overpotentials of only 195 and 306 mV to achieve the current densities of 10 and 1000 mA cm−2, respectively, and shows almost no potential attenuation during the 160 hours of stability test even the current density is up to 1000 mA cm−2, demonstrating brilliant OER catalytic activity and durability. FeOOH and the NiOOH produced from the in situ oxidation of the surface Ni atoms of the NF substrate are the active sites. The synergistic effect between FeOOH and NiOOH is responsible for the high performances. To our knowledge, the high activity and stability of FeNiOxHy/NF catalyst outperform almost all of the OER catalysts reported to date. These informative findings are valuable not only for understanding the mechanism of OER but also for the design of cheap transition metal catalysts for industrial water electrolysis at high current densities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A series of non‐precious metal FexNC electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) were successfully synthesized using Fe(NO3)3, glucose, and melamine as the Fe, C, and N sources, respectively. The effects of the pyrolysis temperature and Fe/N contents on the catalytic performances are comprehensively investigated. Electrochemical results reveal that among the FexNC catalysts, Fe1.5NC‐900‐2 pyrolyzed at 900°C with the mass ratio of FeC to melamine being 1:10 proves the highest catalytic performance. The half‐wave potential (E1/2) of ORR was 821 mV (vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) and only 36 mV lower than that on commercial Pt/C catalyst (857 mV). More importantly, Fe1.5NC‐900‐2 catalyst shows excellent stability and methanol tolerance. After 1000 sequential cycles, the E1/2 on Pt/C catalyst shifts negatively by approximately 60 mV, while for Fe1.5NC‐900‐2 catalyst, this shift is only 28 mV although the number of sequential cycles is increased to 8000. In the presence of methanol, the current decay in the chronoamperometric response at 1000 seconds is only 8% and also much lower than that on Pt/C catalyst (46%). The high catalytic performances arise from the abundant Fe3N active sites embedded in the carbon matrix of the FexNC catalysts. These findings can be used to discuss the catalytic mechanism of ORR on the FexNC catalysts and design the nonprecious metal carbon‐based electrocatalysts for ORR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastasis is the main cause of lung cancer‐related death. The tumor microenvironment greatly contributes to tumor metastasis. Resistin, mainly secreted by tumor‐associated macrophages in tumor tissues, is a 12.5‐kDa cysteine‐rich secretory protein that is found at significantly higher levels in the serum or plasma of cancer patients compared with healthy controls. In this study, we explored the expression and role of resistin in lung adenocarcinoma. Our study showed that resistin was strongly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma tissues and promoted the migration and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma cells in a dose‐dependent manner. Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) was the functional receptor of resistin for migration and invasion in A549 cells. Src/epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was involved in resistin‐induced migration and invasion. Resistin increased the phosphorylation of EGFR through the TLR4/Src pathway. We also found that PI3K/nuclear factor (NF)‐κB were the intracellular downstream effectors mediating resistin‐induced migration and invasion. Taken together, our results suggested that resistin promoted lung adenocarcinoma metastasis through the TLR4/Src/EGFR/PI3K/NF‐κB pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, profiles of chemical characterization, oxidative stability, and in vitro antioxidant capacity of sesame oils obtained from supercritical and subcritical techniques and conventional methods are studied and compared. The results shows that a large proportion of fatty acid and triacylglycerol are not significantly influenced by the processing technologies (except for LLLn, SOA, C18:3n‐6, and C22:0). However, significant differences of minor component, oxidation stability, and free radical scavenging activity among the test oil samples are observed. Supercritical sesame oils are more excellent than the subcritical sesame oils and oils obtained from the traditional methods, especially in terms of γ‐tocopherol, lignan and polyphenol contents, and antioxidant capacity, thus indicating that CO2 fluid technology is a desirable alternative to extract sesame oils with rich nutrition and superb physiological activity. Further, oils obtained from roasted sesame seeds exhibited higher oxidative stability and antioxidant capacity, thus declaring that high temperature roasting was a critical issue that influenced the quality of the final sesame oil product. Practical Applications: This study used two burgeoning technologies, namely supercritical and subcritical techniques for the practical applications of the extraction process of sesame oils from sesame (Sesamum indicum, L.) seeds. Supercritical fluid was an excellent technology to selectively extract bioactive compounds from sesame by using CO2 as a carrier solvent. The use of CO2 supercritical fluid in the present study was associated with high efficiency and antioxidant activities of the obtained sesame oils. These results indicate that this technology was an efficient and rapid method for extracting phytochemicals when compared with the conventional methods (hot pressing, cold pressing, solvent extraction, and aqueous extraction), thus indicating that it had the potential to work as a satisfactory approach to produce specific sesame oil products for health care and cosmetic use. This method can be easily implemented on an industrial scale. In this study, profiles of chemical characterization, oxidative stability, and in vitro antioxidant capacity of sesame oils obtained from supercritical and subcritical techniques and conventional methods are studied and compared. PCA and HCA show apparent distinctions between the supercritical sesame oils and the other kinds, as well as between the roasted and unroasted sesame oils. Models deduced by MLR are all significant, which are recognized as satisfactory and acceptable for predicting the in vitro antioxidant abilities of the sesame oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel method for rapid and simultaneous analysis of three lignans and γ‐tocopherol in sesame oil has been established based on a one‐step solvent extraction followed by normal‐phase liquid chromatography. The briefness of the experimental procedure, use of 5 mL of n‐hexane/isopropanol (98:2, v/v) for extraction without any further cleanup process, short analysis time (10 min), and excellent sensitivity and selectivity demonstrated the advantages of this practical and efficient method. All the analytes exhibited satisfactory recoveries ranging from 95.4 to 103.4% at three spiked levels, with the relative SD ranging from 1.1 to 4.4%. The limits of quantitation of this method for four analytes were in the range of 0.3–1.0 μg g−1. The validated method was successfully applied to the coinstantaneous determination of lignan and γ‐tocopherol in five real sesame oil samples. Furthermore, the results of this study were compared with previously reported method and standard method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new biphenyl derivative 5,5′-dimethoxybiphenyl-2,2′-diol (1), together with five known compounds (2–5), was isolated from the mangrove endophytic fungusPhomopsis longicolla HL-2232. The structures of these compounds were elucidated using comprehensive spectroscopic methods. The absolute configuration of4was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction for the first time. The inhibitory activities of all compounds against twoVibriobacteria were evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) accounts for the most common histological subtype of lung cancer which remains the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The discovery of more sensitive and specific novel target biomarkers for predicting the development and progression of LUAD is imperative. Flotillin-1 (Flot-1) has been reported to have important roles in the progression of several tumor types but not been reported in the progression of LUAD. Here, we demonstrated that the expression of flotillin-1 was upregulated in 5 LUAD cells. Moreover, multiple approaches were used to explore the tumorigenicity of flotillin-1 in LUAD cell lines. The expression levels of flotillin-1 were analyzed by immunoblotting after overexpression and siRNA-based knockdown. Cell proliferation, scratch wound healing, transwell migration and matrigel invasion and xenograft tumor growth assays were used to determine the role of flotillin-1 in LUAD progression. Downregulation of flotillin-1 reversed, whereas upregulation of flotillin-1 enhanced, the malignant phenotype of LUAD cells in vitro. Consistently, cells with flotillin-1 knockdown formed smaller tumors in nude mice than cells transfected with the empty vector. Furthermore, the control group demonstrated significantly more tumorigenic effects compared to the flotillin-1-silenced group in the xenograft model of LUAD. In all, there draws a conclusion that flotillin-1 is a tumorigenic protein that plays an important role in promoting the proliferation and tumorigenicity of LUAD, suggesting that flotillin-1 may represent a novel the therapeutic target to LUAD. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Epidermal growth factor-like domain-containing protein 7 (EGFL7) is upregulated in human epithelial tumors and so is a potential biomarker for malignancy. Indeed, previous studies have shown that high EGFL7 expression promotes infiltration and metastasis of gastric carcinoma. The epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) initiates the metastatic cascade and endows cancer cells with invasive and migratory capacity; however, it is not known if EGFL7 promotes metastasis by triggering EMT. We found that EGFL7 was overexpressed in multiple human gastric cancer (GC) cell lines and that overexpression promoted cell invasion and migration as revealed by scratch wound and transwell migration assays. Conversely, shRNA-mediated EGFL7 knockdown reduced invasion and migration. Furthermore, EGFL7-overexpressing cells grew into larger tumors and were more likely to metastasize to the liver compared to underexpressing CG cells following subcutaneous injection in mice. EGFL7 overexpression protected GC cell lines against anoikis, providing a plausible mechanism for this enhanced metastatic capacity. In excised human gastric tumors, expression of EGFL7 was positively correlated with expression levels of the mesenchymal marker vimentin and the EMT-associated transcription repressor Snail, and negatively correlated with expression of the epithelial cell marker E-cadherin. In GC cell lines, EGFL7 knockdown reversed morphological signs of EMT and decreased both vimentin and Snail expression. In addition, EGFL7 overexpression promoted EGF receptor (EGFR) and protein kinase B (AKT) phospho-activation, effects markedly suppressed by the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor AG1478. Moreover, AG1478 also reduced the elevated invasive and migratory capacity of GC cell lines overexpressing EGFL7. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that EGFL7 promotes metastasis by activating EMT through an EGFR−AKT−Snail signaling pathway. Disruption of EGFL7−EGFR−AKT−Snail signaling may a promising therapeutic strategy for gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, efficient and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of a series of thiosemicarbazides containing 4-antipyrinyl group under microwave irradiation has been reported, no solvent and catalyst was used. Five of them are new compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, profiles of lipid characterization and free radical scavenging capacity of Torreya grandis ( T. grandis ) kernel oils obtained from two varieties ( T. grandis Fort. ex. Lindl. and T. grandis Fort. var. Merrillii) using three techniques (hot pressing, cold pressing and solvent extraction) were investigated and compared. The contents of the main fatty acids (linoleic, oleic, sciadonic and palmitic acids) in the T. grandis Fort. ex. Lindl. and T. grandis Fort. var. Merrillii kernel oils showed significant differences ( P  < 0.05). T. grandis Fort. ex. Lindl. kernel oils exhibited higher phytochemicals and free radical scavenging capacities. Meanwhile, hot pressed kernel oils presented much higher antioxidant abilities than the cold pressed and solvent extracted kernel oils, which were mainly correlated to the amounts of α-tocopherol, β-tocopherol, β-sitosterol and polyphenols. Chemometrics was employed in order to evaluating the certain contributions of the minor components to free radical scavenging capacity of the T. grandis kernel oils, as well as to indicating the differences and similarities of the T. grandis kernel oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]