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Ag2WO4 is a typically noble metal based photocatalyst with highly efficient photocatalytic activity. However, due to photocorrosion, the pristine Ag2WO4 is prone to inactivation during illumination. Constructing composite photocatalyst may be a useful method to promote the stability of Ag2WO4. In this work, Ag2WO4/graphitic carbon nitride nanotubes (g-C3N4 NTs) composite photocatalyst was prepared by adopting an in-situ composite strategy. The photocatalytic performance of the samples was discussed by the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light, and the catalytic mechanism was also analyzed. The characterization results show that the photocatalytic efficiency of the as-prepared Ag2WO4/g-C3N4 NTs composite increases firstly and then decreases along with the increase of the Ag2WO4 content. When the theoretical molar ratio of Ag2WO4:g-C3N4 NTs reaches 3:2, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency achieves the optimal value, that is 92.4% within 20 min, which obviously exceeds 2.8% of pure Ag2WO4 and 48.9% of pure g-C3N4 NTs. Moreover, the separation and migration efficiency of photoelectron–hole pairs of the composites can be accelerated in comparison with pure samples. In addition, superoxide radicals and hydroxyl radicals play major roles in the photocatalytic degradation process.

The SnO2 quantum dots (SnO2QDs)/ZnS nanosheets (ZnSNs) heterojunction was fabricated via an in-situ synthetic method at room temperature. Rhodamine B, potassium dichromate, and tetracycline were used to discuss the photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples under the visible light illumination. The photocatalytic mechanism of the as-prepared samples was also proposed. The experimental results indicate that the degradation efficiency of the as-prepared SnO2QDs/ZnSNs heterojunction first increases and then decreases with increasing the usage of ZnSNs. When the mass ratio of SnO2QDs to ZnSNs is 1: 2 in 180 min, the asprepared samples have the highest degradation efficiency of 89.1% for rhodamine B, 97.7% for potassium dichromate, and 83.8% for tetracycline, which are much higher than 51.7%, 26.8%, and 0.9% of pure SnO2QDs as well as 37.9%, 87.1%, and 19.1% of pure ZnSNs, respectively. After it is repeatedly degraded for 3 times, it possesses the degradation efficiency of 62.5% for rhodamine B, which increases by 200.5% in comparison with 20.8% of the pure SnO2QDs. Moreover, the enhanced photocatalytic performances of the as-prepared hybrids are attributed to the formation of heterojunction between the SnO2QDs and ZnSNs. In addition, hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anion radicals play major roles during the photocatalytic degradation process, while holes play a minor role.

Objective: Tyrosine-protein kinase MET (c-MET) has been reported to be a prognostic marker and suitable therapeutic target for ovarian cancer. BMS-777607, a small molecule, can inhibit MET and other protein kinase activities. The present study was conducted to investigate the mechanism of action and antitumor effect of BMS-777607 on ovarian cancer cells with constitutively activated c-MET. Materials and methods: Ovarian cancer cells with constitutively activated c-MET were first identified through Western blot analysis. Bio-behaviors, including signal transduction, proliferation, apoptosis, and migration, of the cells with constitutively activated c-MET were evaluated after BMS-777607 treatment. Liu's stain and immunological staining of α-tubuline were performed to evaluate the ploidy of the cells. A xenograft mouse model was also used to evaluate the antitumor effects of BMS-777607 on ovarian cancer cells with constitutively activated c-MET. Results: BMS-777607 could induce the highest inhibition of cell growth in ovarian cancer cells constitutively expressing c-MET. Treating SKOV3 cells with BMS-777607 could reduce c-MET activation and inhibit downstream cell signaling, thus causing cell apoptosis and polyploidy as well as cell cycle and cell migration inhibition. This molecule also inhibited tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model of SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells in vivo. Conclusion: BMS-777607 exhibits antitumor effects on ovarian cancer cells that constitutively express c-MET through c-MET signaling blockade and the inhibition of Aurora B activity. Combination treatments to enhance the effects of BMS-777607 warrant investigation in the future. Keywords: Ovarian cancer, Tyrosine kinase, c-MET

Accumulating studies have shown that the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway plays an essential role in mediating cellular entry of numerous viruses. In this study, we report that bovine herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1) productive infection in both the human lung carcinoma cell line A549 and bovine kidney (MDBK) cells leads to activation of EGFR, as demonstrated by the increased phosphorylation of EGFR at Tyr1068 (Y1068), which in turn plays important roles in virus infection. A time-of-addition assay supported that virus replication at post-entry stages was affected by the EGFR specific inhibitor Gefitinib. Interestingly, both phospholipase C-&gamma, 1 (PLC-&gamma, 1) and Akt, canonical downstream effectors of EGFR, were activated following virus infection in A549 cells, while Gefitinib could inhibit the activation of PLC-&gamma, 1 but not Akt. In addition, virus titers in A549 cells was inhibited by chemical inhibition of PLC-&gamma, 1, but not by the inhibition of Akt. However, the Akt specific inhibitor Ly294002 could significantly reduce the virus titer in MDBK cells. Taken together, our data suggest that PLC-&gamma, 1 is stimulated in part through EGFR for efficient replication in A549 cells, whereas Akt can be stimulated by virus infection independent of EGFR, and is not essential for virus productive infection, indicating that Akt modulates BoHV-1 replication in a cell type-dependent manner. This study provides novel insights on how BoHV-1 infection activates EGFR signaling transduction to facilitate virus replication.

Debulking surgery followed by systemic chemotherapy&mdash, including three-weekly intravenous paclitaxel and carboplatin (GOG-158)&mdash, is the cornerstone for advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tubal, and peritoneal cancer (EOC) treatment. In this scenario, Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, cell types, completeness of surgery, lymph nodes (LN) status, adjuvant chemotherapy regimens, survival status, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) of 192 patients diagnosed as having stage IIIA1&ndash, IVB EOC over January 2008&ndash, December 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. Of them, 100 (52.1%) patients had been debulked optimally. Of all cases, 64.1% and 10.9% demonstrated serous and clear-cell carcinoma. Moreover, the FIGO stage, surgery completeness, and LN status affected recurrence/persistence and mortality (all p &lt, 0.001). Clear cell carcinoma led to shorter survival than serous carcinoma (p = 0.002). Adjuvant chemotherapy regimens were divided into five main groups according to previous clinical trials. However, choice of chemotherapy failed to demonstrate significant differences in patient outcomes. Similar results were found in the sub-analysis of optimally debulked cases, except that intraperitoneal chemotherapy could reduce mortality risk when compared with GOG-158 (p = 0.042). Notably, retroperitoneal LN dissection in all cases or optimally debulked cases reduced risks of recurrence/persistence and mortality, and prolonged PFS and OS significantly (all p &lt, 0.05). Without optimal debulking, LN dissection led to little improvement in outcomes. Various modified chemotherapy regimens did not prolong PFS and OS or reduce recurrence/persistence and mortality risks. LN dissection is strongly recommended to improve the completeness of surgery and patient outcome. Clear cell type has a poorer outcome than serous type, which requires more aggressive treatment and follow-up.

To explore the potential mechanisms of glutamate and its receptors in stress-induced hyperalgesia.The stress-induced hyperalgesia, glutamate and its receptors are listed as key items in the pubmed database and the related articles are searched.Glutamate level is increased under stress and associated with stress-induced hyperalgesia. Moreover, the role of glutamate in stress-induced hyperalgesia depends on its subtypes of its receptors.Increased glutamate during stress connect with ionotropic glutamate receptors can prompt hyperalgesia, but connect with metabotropic glutamate receptors can inhibit hyperalgesia.

Visible-light-driven WO3and#183;0.33H2O/Ag2MoO4 composites have been prepared by using an in-situ growth of Ag2MoO4 nanoparticles on the surfaces of WO3and#183;0.33H2O. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were studied by degradation of rhodamine B and levofloxacin dilute solution. The synergistic photocatalytic mechanism was also analyzed. Experimental results reveal that the as-developed hybrids have higher photocatalytic activity than pure samples. When the theoretical molar ratio of WO3and#183;0.33H2O to Na2MoO4and#183;2H2O is 1:0.15, the as-developed hybrids have the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 99.0% for rhodamine B in 45 min and 40.9% for levofloxacin in 120 min. Furthermore, there are chemical bonds between WO3and#183;0.33H2O and Ag2MoO4. In addition, the super oxide radicals play the leading role during the photocatalytic degradation process of the samples. This work will provide reference for treatment of organic dyes and antibiotics pollution in water with using solar energy.

Pouch lithium ion batteries are applied in electronic vehicles far and wide, due to their high energy density, smaller internal resistance and convenient transportation. However, pouch-type batteries are easier inducing thermal inhomogeneities and cause safety problems, especially for large-sized batteries. Therefore, in order to study the thermal behaviors of Pouch Lithium Ion Battery, a distributed electro-thermal model is established in this paper, which is developed by coupling the network equivalent circuit model and the 2D thermal model. Using this model, we can obtain the distributions of temperature, local SOC and current density on the cell plates. Then, a simulation analysis based on this model has been given for the thermal behavior of a pouch cell under different discharge rates (1C, 2C, 3C, 4C). Results verify that the larger discharge rate always causes a higher temperature rise, what's more, the highest temperature area is not invariable in the process of discharge.

Chia-Sui Weng,1,* Chao-Chih Wu,2,* Tze-Chien Chen,1 Jen-Ruei Chen,1 Chueh-Yi Huang,1 Chih-Long Chang1–3 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 2Department of Medical Research, MacKay Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan; 3Department of Medicine, Mackay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Chih-Long ChangDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mackay Memorial Hospital, 92, Section 2, Chung-Shan North Road, Taipei, TaiwanTel +886-2-25433535 Fax +886-2-25232448Email clchang@mmc.edu.twPurpose: The aim of this study is to analyze the outcomes of platinum-sensitive (PS) recurrent ovarian cancer treated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and carboplatin (CD) versus paclitaxel and carboplatin (CP). Clinical features were examined to characterize the patient population that would benefit from CD.Materials and methods: This is a retrospective review of 122 cases at a tertiary hospital. Patients with PS recurrent ovarian cancer who received CD or CP were included. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated through the Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to examine PFS predictors.Results: In total, 122 patients (75% with first recurrence and 25% with second recurrence) were included. The majority of the patients were diagnosed at an advanced stage and with the histology of serous carcinoma. Median PFS and OS were 14.8 and 55.5 months in the CD group and 13.5 and 56.8 months in the CP group. Subgroup analysis of patients revealed that the CD group had longer median PFS than the CP group among patients with PFI>12 months. Additionally, during the second recurrence, longer PFS was observed in the CD group than in the CP group (medians 22.3 and 13.5 months, respectively, p = 0.019).Conclusion: Comparable outcomes in recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer treated with CD versus CP were presented in this study. Longer PFS in CD group was observed among patients with PFI for more than 12 months or in second recurrence.Keywords: Lipo-Dox, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer &nbsp

Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4)/barium titanate (BaTiO3) particulate composites exhibiting high magnetoelectric coefficients were synthesized from low-cost commercial precursors using mechanical ball milling followed by high-temperature annealing. CoFe2O4 (20 nm–50 nm) and either cubic or tetragonal BaTiO3 nanoparticle powders were used for the synthesis. It was found that utilizing a 50 nm cubic BaTiO3 powder as a precursor results in a composite with a magnetoelectric coupling coefficient value as high as 4.3 mV/Oe cm, which is comparable to those of chemically synthesized core–shell CoFe2O4–BaTiO3 nanoparticles. The microstructure of these composites is dramatically different from the composite synthesized using 200 nm tetragonal BaTiO3 powder. CoFe2O4 grains in the composite prepared using cubic BaTiO3 powder are larger (by at least an order of magnitude) and significantly better electrically insulated from each other by the surrounding BaTiO3 matrix, which results in a high electrical resistivity material. It is hypothesized that mechanical coupling between larger CoFe2O4 grains well embedded in a BaTiO3 matrix in combination with high electrical resistivity of the material enhances the observed magnetoelectric effect.

Objective: To dissect the correlated hematologic markers that reflect the clinical outcome or treatment response in patients receiving dose-dense chemotherapy with a combination of platinum (cisplatin or carboplatin) and paclitaxel. Materials and Methods: From 2009 to 2014, we enrolled 55 ovarian cancer patients (total 67 courses) including first-line, persistent, platinum-sensitive, or platinum-resistant disease in MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Weekly pretreatment complete blood counts and calculated ratios [platelet/neutrophil ratio, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil/monocyte ratio, platelet/monocyte ratio, lymphocyte/monocyte ratio] during dose-dense chemotherapy were collected. By grouping these hematologic biomarkers into three different response subgroups (responsive, stable, and nonresponsive) according to CA125 trend, the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance, and using post hoc-Tukey test for comparing each other. A p value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Absolute counts of lymphocytes and platelets, PLR, platelet/neutrophil ratio, platelet/monocyte ratio (all p < 0.001), and NLR (p=0.013) had statistically significant differences. Moreover, using box-and-whisker plot, absolute count of lymphocyte, PLR, and NLR showed most remarkable discrepancy in responsive, stable, and nonresponsive patients. Subgroup analysis for primary, platinum-sensitive, and platinum-resistant patients further revealed that PLR and NLR were significantly correlated to the outcome of dose-dense chemotherapy. Conclusion: Lower PLR or lower NLR had better treatment response for dose-dense chemotherapy and are possible markers for representing treatment response in dose-dense chemotherapy. For a clinician, this is useful for timing when to switch to another chemotherapy regimen.

The present study investigated the uptake, translocation, and accumulation of chromium (Cr 6+ ) and aluminum (Al 3+ ) in maize and their induced variations in morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes as well as growth behavior and yield formation. Plants were grown in pots supplied with heavy metals, alone and in combination (chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al) and chromium + aluminum (Cr + Al)) while pots without adding Cr or Al were regarded as control. Metal stress considerably reduced growth and yield related attributes as well as photosynthetic pigments of maize. However, production of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), thiobarbituric acid and activities of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase, and ascorbic acid were substantially increased under Cr and Al stress. A significant increase in soluble sugars and total phenolic contents were recorded in plants exposed to Cr and Al stress. Furthermore, all physiological attributes were increased with plant age except chlorophyll. Interestingly, Cr alone was proved more toxic to maize than Al alone. Cr and Al accumulation varied significantly (p ≤ 0.05) among different plant organs as roots > stem > leaves > corn ear > grains, whereas degrees of translocations were higher from stem to other plant parts than roots to stem. Accumulation of Cr and Al in either above- or below-ground plant parts are negatively correlated with grains and biological yield. The overall trend of metal stress on plant growth and yield were perceived as: Cr + Al > Cr > Al > control. Furthermore, synergistic effects of Cr + Al were more prominent than the individual effects of Cr and Al alone.

The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGCR) acts as a potential genetic modifier for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous reports identified that HMGCR rs3846662 polymorphism is associated with biosynthesis of cholesterol in AD pathology. In order to assess the involvement of the HMGCR polymorphism in the risk of late-onset AD (LOAD) in northern Han Chinese, we performed a case-control study of 2334 unrelated subjects (984 cases and 1350 age- and gender-matched controls) to evaluate the genotype and allele distributions of the HMGCR rs3846662 with LOAD. The genotype distribution (GG, AG, AA) of rs3846662 was significantly different between LOAD patients and controls (P = 0.003), but the allele distribution did not reach a significant difference (P = 0.614). After adjusting for age, gender and the APOE e4 status, the minor A allele of rs3846662 was validated as a protective factor for LOAD in dominant model (OR = 0.796, P = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.657-0.965). Interestingly, we observed rs3846662 polymorphism was only significantly associated with LOAD in APOE e4 non-carriers (OR = 0.735, P = 0.005, 95% CI = [0.593, 0.912]). In conclusion, our study demonstrates A allele of HMGCR rs3846662 acts as a protective factor for LOAD in northern Han Chinese.

It remains a great challenge to overcome the problems of poor conductivity and rapid charge recombination in bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr). Herein, for the first time we report the synergistic effect of oxygen vacancies (Ov) and p-n heterojunction to improve photoelectrochemical performance of BiOBr. Benefitting from the new electron donor level caused by oxygen vacancies, the visible-light absorption region, carrier concentration and exposure of {001} facets of BiOBr are all increased. In the meantime, the 2D p-n heterojunction between BiOBr and BiOI leads to a built-in electric field and thus significantly accelerating the charge separation and transfer. Upon visible light irradiation, the resulted BiOBr-Ov/BiOI photoanode presents robust photoelectrochemical performance, achieving a photocurrent density of 1.33 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V vs. RHE. This work not only provides new insight for designing efficient photoelectrodes but also highlights the importance of oxygen defect-engineering strategy in photoelectrochemical water splitting.

Retired lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles provide considerable social, economic and environmental benefits in second-use applications especially for energy storage. However, the effective capacity estimation is a key technique and difficulty for second-life of large-scale retired cells. To address the issue, this paper provides a fast novel capacity estimation method from a new perspective of current distribution within parallel-connected cells. Firstly, using the parallel-connected cells analytical model, the correlation between capacity and current distribution is deduced. According to the correlation, the capacity of each cell is simultaneously estimated for the n parallel-connected cells by measured the current curves in only one complete discharge cycle, which is more efficient than one after another. Then an experimental device and procedure are designed to verify the method. Results demonstrate that the method is feasible and accurate. Meanwhile, through comparing the results of packs with three different battery types, the main factors affecting accuracy are found including open circuit voltage, parameter difference of cell and loads. Finally, comparison of different methods shows that the method has the advantages of high efficiency, low calculation, low accumulative errors and good consistency of state-of-charge, which is helpful for regrouping of retired cells and promoting second-life battery applications.

Over the decades, unremitting efforts have been made to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction throughout the world. While for a vehicle engine, a great deal of the fuel energy is wasted as exhaust heat. Based on a novel exhaust heat recovery system devised and modified on a vehicle exhaust channel, the chief objective of this study is to improve the vehicle economy and emissions under cold start. Therefore, a detailed experimental investigation was conducted on the chassis dynamometer (CD) under cold start NEDC at 25 °C and −7 °C temperatures. And the method of comparative analyses of the coolant temperature, gasoline fuel consumption and exhaust emissions including total hydrocarbon (THC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxide (NOX) have been obtained to reveal the effects of EHRS on vehicle economy and emissions under cold start. The results show that, since the coolant temperature can be quickly increased with EHRS to shorten engine warm-up time under cold start, vehicle economy is enhanced during NEDC. Moreover, the device of EHRS can effectively alleviate the combustion deterioration and wall frame quenching effect in the cylinders under cold start, which greatly decreases THC emission. Although the excess air coefficient cannot be changed by EHRS, it can improve the combustion environment in cylinders, which contributes to the reduction of CO emission. It is unexpected to find that NOX emission is also decreased with EHRS actuation, which can be explained by a new theory called Fenimore mechanism. All these aims to provide helpful preliminary work for vehicles to meet the upcoming stringent limit of the real driving emission (RDE) of CHINA 6.

Objective: c-Met is expressed in human ovarian cancer tissues, and its phosphorylation activates signaling cascades that might affect the behavior of cancer cells. In this study, we evaluated the association of c-Met and phosphorylated c-Met (phospho-c-Met) expressions with the clinical outcomes of ovarian cancer patients. Materials and methods: Archived tissue from surgical specimens of 269 ovarian cancer patients who underwent a debulking operation in MacKay Memorial Hospital between 2004 and 2012 were collected. Tissue microarrays were stained with anti-Met and anti-phospho-Met (Tyr1234/1235) monoclonal antibodies. Immunostaining intensity was scored on a scale of 0–3+. High expression was defined as more than 50% of moderate and intense staining. Patients’ clinical data were reviewed until April 2017 for analysis. Results: The proportion of high c-Met expression was significantly higher in patients with cancer in early stages (Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages I and II) and low histologic grades (grades 1 and 2) (79.70%, p = 0.0008 and 80.15%, p ≤ 0.0001, respectively). However, no association was found between phospho-c-Met and FIGO stage or the histologic grade. Ovarian clear cell carcinoma and mucinous carcinoma had much higher c-Met expression (95.16% and 87.10%, p ≤ 0.0001 and p = 0.0292, respectively). Although the overall survival did not differ significantly, low expressions of c-Met and phospho-c-Met were obviously associated with poor progression-free survival respectively (p = 0.0034, HR: 0.5264, 95% CI: 0.3326–0.8330 and p = 0.0136, HR: 0.5626, 95% CI: 0.3709–0.8535). Conclusion: Low c-Met expression was associated with poor clinical outcomes. Keywords: c-Met, phospho-c-Met, Ovarian cancer

GMR-based magnetic sensors remain to be one of the best candidates to detect biomolecules since it was first introduced by the Naval Research Laboratory group in 1998 [1].

Temperature monitoring was done on microwave curing of epoxy resin system consisting of di-glycidyl ether of bisphenol-A(DGEBA) E-51 and curing agent 4,4’diamino-diphenyl-methane (DDM). The study shows that microwave curing of epoxy resin system is an exothermic reaction and the temperature variation during microwave processing has the obvious characteristics of “temperature increment - heat release - temperature falling”. Analysis on the infrared thermal images indicates that each moulding body has its own temperature distribution and differs from others. The non-uniform temperature distribution reveals the uneven electric field distribution in the domestic microwave oven.

The single crystalline palladium nano-squares with an average side length of ~10 nm were successfully prepared by using a one-step, one-pot polyol-hydrothermal process, in an aqueous mixture of PdCl2, ethylene glycol (EG), poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) and KBr. From the results of powder X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction analyses, we confirm that the synthesized nano-squares are highly uniform in both size and shape containing (100) planes. The roles of PVP, KBr and EG in forming of palladium nano-squares were also studied. Compared with previous methods, the newly developed way is convenient, environment friendly and low-cost.

A high-throughput top-down nanomanufacturing approach for making metal–polymer nanoparticles with tunable magnetic properties using nanoimprint lithography is reported. The nanoparticles comprise of a layered structure that includes a Co/Ru/Co synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) and a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or a hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) layer. The Co/Ru/Co structure deposited by magnetron sputtering was tuned to achieve antiferromagnetic coupling between Co layers, desired magnetic susceptibility, and saturation magnetization. Ultrahigh density positive tone thermal nanoimprint lithography molds designed to maximize the depth and minimize the thickness of imprint trenches in nanoimprint resist (PMMA or HSQ) were fabricated. The molds were used to pattern large arrays of 200 nm × 200 nm, 400 nm × 400 nm, and 600 nm × 600 nm SAF nanostructures with superparamagneticlike magnetic characteristics. The nanostructures were released from the wafers into an aqueous suspension by dissolving the sacrificial underlayers, Cu for SAF/PMMA nanoparticles and PMMA for SAF/HSQ nanoparticles.A high-throughput top-down nanomanufacturing approach for making metal–polymer nanoparticles with tunable magnetic properties using nanoimprint lithography is reported. The nanoparticles comprise of a layered structure that includes a Co/Ru/Co synthetic antiferromagnet (SAF) and a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or a hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) layer. The Co/Ru/Co structure deposited by magnetron sputtering was tuned to achieve antiferromagnetic coupling between Co layers, desired magnetic susceptibility, and saturation magnetization. Ultrahigh density positive tone thermal nanoimprint lithography molds designed to maximize the depth and minimize the thickness of imprint trenches in nanoimprint resist (PMMA or HSQ) were fabricated. The molds were used to pattern large arrays of 200 nm × 200 nm, 400 nm × 400 nm, and 600 nm × 600 nm SAF nanostructures with superparamagneticlike magnetic characteristics. The nanostructures were released from the wafers into an aqueous suspension by dissolving the sacrificia...

Rotating liner cementing technology can significantly improve the cementing quality, which has gained more and more attention from domestic cementing industry. Through sufficient ground tests and underground simulation tests, it has been proved that all technical parameters of the rotating liner cementing tool developed by SINOPEC Shelfoil Petroleum Equipment & Services Co., Ltd were consistent with the design and that the tool could be put into industrial application. Taking 11NC-1 well in Shengli Chengbei Offshore Oilfield for example, this paper analyzes its cementation and completion scheme and technical difficulties, site preparation and construction situation. The superior cementing quality marks the successful application of Shelf® rotating liner cementing technology in Chengbei Oil Field.

Different mechanisms have been suggested to contribute to isoflurane-mediated neuroprotection. Previous studies have suggested that the protein Slit can abrogate neuronal death in mixed neuronal-glial cultures exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) and reperfusion (OGD/R). We hypothesized that isoflurane increases the expression of Slit and its receptor Robo when cortical neurons are exposed to OGD/R. To test this hypothesis, we exposed primary cortical neurons to OGD for 90 min and reperfusion for 24h and investigated how isoflurane post-conditioning affected cell survival and expression of Slit2 and receptors Robo1 and Robo4. Cell survival increased after administration of isoflurane, as assessed by the lactate dehydrogenase assay, trypan blue analysis, and propidium iodide staining. Western blot analysis showed that cleaved caspase-3 was increased after OGD/R(P

By water extraction, precipitation method we can extract tea saponin from tea seed cake and design and synthesize the new green tea soap based chelating agent in the synthesis design (tea saponin sodium sulfate). Study on the surface properties, the surface tension is lower than the tea saponin, and the value of HLB, foaming ability and foam stability are better than that of tea saponin. At the same time, considering the effects of heavy metal rate oscillation time, chelating agent concentration, pH and ionic strength on the chelating agent to remove, the results show that with the increase of oscillation, the removal rate and time of heavy metal concentration increase, and decrease with the increase of ionic strength and pH, thus concluding the optimum process of the removal of pb2+, cd2+ ions: the oscillation time is 12h, the mass fraction is 7%,the concentration of Ca (NO3)2 is 5.0, 0.01mol/L. Under this condition, ion removal rate of pb2+, cd2+ ions is the highest. The removal rate of tea saponin sodium sulfate ion on Cd2 is higher than Pb2 + ions, and these two kinds of tea saponin sodium sulfate ion removal rate are higher than that of tea saponin, improvement effect is obvious especially for Pb2 + ion removal rate.

In order to develop the effective vectors that had high gene transfection capability and low cytotoxicity in the neuronal cells, we tested the star-shaped polymer consisting of β-cyclodextrin core and poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendron arms [β-CD-(D3)7] as the vector to transfect the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. The physicochemical properties of the β-CD-(D3)7/plasmid DNA (pDNA) complexes were characterized by using gel electrophoresis, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy and zeta-potential experiments. Among the human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, β-CD-(D3)7/pDNA complex demonstrated a lower toxicity compared to those of PAMAM (G=4, with an ethylenediamine core)/pDNA complex. When the N/P ratio was over 20, it was observed that PAMAM had a faster increment in toxicity compared to β-CD-(D3)7. Fluorescent image, confocal microscopy image and flow cytometry showed that β-CD-(D3)7/pDNA complexes had significantly higher transgene activity than that of PAMAM/pDNA complexes. For example, the transfection efficiency was 20% and 7.5% for β-CD-(D3)7/pDNA and PAMAM/pDNA complexes, respectively. These results indicated that β-CD-(D3)7 might be a promising candidate for neurotypic cells gene delivery with the characteristics of good biocompatibility, relatively high gene transfection capability and potential in vivo gene delivery ability.

ARC1 and EXO70A1 are important signal elements of self-incompatibility in Brassica . To characterize the interaction of ARC1-EXO70A1 during the course of self-incompatibility, the coding sequences of ARC1 and EXO70A1 were cloned from Brassica napus L. and B. oleracea L. var. acephala . Sequence analysis showed that ARC1 consisted of 663 amino acids in B. oleracea and 661 amino acids in B. napus , with a 45-amino-acid difference between them. Sequence alignment showed 95.9% similarity, with 93.9% exact match between BoARC1 and BnARC1. Only a 6-amino-acid difference was detected between BoEXO70A1 and BnEXO70A1, with 99.4% similarity and 98.9% exact match according to further sequence alignment. The homology between EXO70A1 alleles was higher than that between ARC1 alleles. Yeast 2-hybrid results indicated that a strong interaction existed between ARC1 and EXO70A1, which could activate the expressions of 4 reporter genes ( ADE2 , HIS3 , AUR1-C , and MEL1 ) in diploid yeast. However, there was very weak interaction between EXO70A1 and a 316-C-terminal-deletion mutant of ARC1 (ARC1 N ), which only activated the expressions from 3 reporter genes ( ADE2 , AUR1-C , and MEL1 ). This indicated that the interaction interface between ARC1 and EXO70A1 might not reside within the Armadillo (ARM) repeat domains of ARC1. The N-terminal domains of ARC1 play an essential role in the interaction of ARC1 with EXO70A1. The influence of the differences in amino-acid composition between BoARC1 and BnARC1 on the interaction between ARC1-EXO70A1 was not detected with a yeast 2-hybrid system, which may indicate that the binding interface between ARC1 and EXO70A1 was not altered by sequence differences between the 2 proteins in these Brassica species.

BACKGROUND: Polygonum viviparum L. (PV) is a member of the family Polygonaceae and is widely distributed in high-elevation areas. It is used as a folk remedy to treat inflammation-related diseases. This study was focused on the anti-inflammatory response of PV against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in RAW264.7 macrophages. RESULTS: Treatment with PV did not cause cytotoxicity at 0–50 µg mL−1 in RAW264.7 macrophages, and the IC50 value was 270 µg mL−1. PV inhibited LPS-stimulated nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin (PG)E2, interleukin (IL)-1β and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α release and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 protein expression. In addition, PV suppressed the LPS-induced p65 expression of nuclear factor (NF)-κB, which is associated with the inhibition of IκB-α degradation. These results suggest that, among mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory response, PV inhibits the production of NO and these cytokines by down-regulating iNOS and COX-2 gene expression. Furthermore, PV can induce haem oxygenase (HO)-1 protein expression through nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activation. A specific inhibitor of HO-1, zinc(II) protoporphyrin IX, inhibited the suppression of iNOS and COX-2 expression by PV. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that PV possesses anti-inflammatory actions in macrophages and works through a novel mechanism involving Nrf2 actions and HO-1. Thus PV could be considered for application as a potential therapeutic approach for inflammation-associated disorders. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry

In addition to producing hydrogen gas, biohydrogen production is also used to process wastewater. Therefore, this study specifically conducted value analyses of two different scenarios of fermentative hydrogen production from a biomass system: to increase the value of a wastewater treatment system and to specifically carry out hydrogen production. The analytical results showed that fermentative hydrogen production from a biomass system would increase the value of a wastewater treatment system and make its commercialization more feasible. In contrast, fermentative hydrogen production from a biomass system designed specifically for producing hydrogen gas would have a lower system value, which indicated that it is not yet ready for commercialization. The main obstacle to be overcome in promoting biohydrogen production technology and system application is the lack of sales channels for the system's products such as hydrogen gas and electricity. Thus, in order to realize its commercialization, this paper suggests that governments provide investment subsidies for the use of biohydrogen production technology and establish a buy-back tariff system for fuel cells.

The strength of the aging structure deteriorates mainly as a result of corrosion and fatigue damage. In this paper, the life prediction methods of corroded and corrosion fatigued aluminum alloy structure were proposed. The stress multiplication of aluminum alloy structure subjected to corrosion damage was simulated by ANSYS software. We proposed the AFGROW software simulation method to predicate the numerical simulation of corrosion fatigue crack growth. At last, the life cycles of structures subjected to corrosion damage and corrosion fatigue were estimated, and a very good performance of the proposed methods are achieved after validation with the experimental data.

In this paper, the detailed numerical simulations were performed in the hydrogen fuel combustion chamber with some different structure cavities. Through the analysis found that the effect of stabilized fire burning at supersonic flowing and mixed fuel and air are quite different. The research results will preferably represent the burning field in scramjet combustion so that the better performance flame stabilizer can be designed.

In this paper, the detail numerical simulations were performed on the flow field of the scramjet combustor chamber with the hydrogen fuel, when the cavity parameters changed. The research results indicate that the effect of gas and air mixing and flame stability are altered when the parameter of cavity changed. From the research we will better understand the supersonic combustion. The high efficiency flame stabilities can be designed in future.

In this study, we performed micro-scale dynamic laminar flow extraction and site-specific in situ chloride concentration measurements. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was utilized to investigate the diffusion process of chloride ions from an oil phase to a water phase under laminar flow. In contrast to common logic, we used SERS intensity gradients of Rhodamine 6G to quantitatively calculate the concentration of chloride ions at specific positions on a microfluidic chip. By varying the fluid flow rates, we achieved different extraction times and therefore different chloride concentrations at specific positions along the microchannel. SERS spectra from the water phase were recorded at these different positions and the spatial distribution of the SERS signals was used to map the degree of nanoparticle aggregation. The concentration of chloride ions in the channel could therefore be obtained. We conclude that this method can be used to explore the extraction behaviour and efficiency of some ions or molecules that enhance the SERS intensity in water or oil by inducing nanoparticle aggregation.

Passivation of InGaAs/InP double heterostructure bipolar transistors (DHBTs) with room temperature SiNx deposition was investigated. Due to reduction of surface damages during SiNx deposition, current gain improvement was observed at low bias voltage region. According to our analysis, a drastic decrease of surface recombination related current component at base-emitter junction occurred after passivation, which is crucial for improving the device reliability.

In this study, fresh water methane-producing bacterium (MPB), strain FJ10, which used H 2 as an electron donor and CO 2 as an electron acceptor, was isolated and chosen as the primary methanogen for the conversion of CO 2 into CH 4 . Improvements to culture medium to increase methane production were investigated using a fractional factorial design in 32 experiments with six variables under consumption of H 2 /CO 2 at ratios of 4 and 1. The tested nutrient compositions were NaCl, NH 4 Cl, FeSO 4 , MgCl 2 , H 2 PO 4 and yeast extract. Experimental results indicate that yeast extract was essential for the growth of strain FJ10 to impact the conversion of CO 2 into CH 4 . Strain FJ10 generated maximum CH 4 production with 5.0 g/l of yeast extract. Moreover, optimal culture conditions for methane production by strain FJ10 were 40 °C and pH 8. Approximately 22–25% of CO 2 conversion into CH 4 was achieved at an H 2 /CO 2 ratio of 4 and roughly 2.5–6% of CO 2 conversion into CH 4 was obtained at an H 2 /CO 2 ratio of 1 under different pressurized conditions of 1 atm, 50 atm and 100 atm. Under 100 atm, about 6780 μM CH 4 was produced with an H 2 /CO 2 ratio of 4 and 4240 μM CH 4 was produced with an H 2 /CO 2 ratio of 1 under the steady state condition. The kinetic model for H 2 /CO 2 utilization and CH 4 production under different pressures was verified by experimental data. Model predictions are in good agreement with experimental results. The experimental and modeling approaches in this study can be applied to evaluate the conversion of CO 2 into CH 4 as an energy source by geo-microorganisms in geological sequestration.

Drought is considered as one of the major constraints to crop production worldwide. Methyl jasmonate (MJ) is a plant-signaling molecule that elicits a wide variety of plant responses ranging from morphological to molecular level. A pot-culture study was undertaken to investigate the possible role of MJ-treatment on growth, gas exchange and chlorophyll contents in soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill.) plants subjected to water stress. The soybean plants were grown under normal water supply conditions till blooming and were then subjected to moisture stress by withholding water followed by foliar application of MJ at the rate of 50 μM. Drought stress severely hampered the growth, leaf gas-exchange attributes as well as the photosynthetic pigment contents. It was evident from the experimental results that, MJ-treatment led to further impairment in growth by inhibiting the leaf gas exchange attributes and chlorophyll contents. It is worth noted that, MJ-treatment also hampered the performance of soybean crop under well-watered conditions. In all, MJ-treatment appeared to arrest the growth, impaired leaf gas-exchange attributes and caused the loss of chlorophyll contents of soybean plants under water deficit conditions. Key words : Chlorophyll contents, drought stress, growth, gas exchange, soybean (Glycine max L. Merrill.).

Objectives To elucidate a novel anti-inflammatory mechanism of myrrh against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation. Methods RAW264.7 macrophages were cultured in DMEM and then cells were treated with LPS or LPS plus a myrrh methanol extract (MME) for 24 h. The culture medium was collected for determination of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin (PG)E2, interleukin (IL)-1β, and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and cells were harvested by lysis buffer for Western blot analysis. Key findings Our data showed that treatment with the MME (1∼100 µg/ml) did not cause cytotoxicity or activate haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1) protein synthesis in RAW264.7 macrophages. Furthermore, the MME inhibited LPS-stimulated NO, PGE2, IL-1β and TNF-α release and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 protein expression. Zn(II) protoporphyrin IX, a specific inhibitor of HO-1, blocked the inhibition of iNOS and COX-2 expression by the MME. Conclusions These results suggest that among mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory response, the MME inhibited the production of NO, PGE2, IL-1β and TNF-α by downregulating iNOS and COX-2 gene expression in macrophages and worked through the action of HO-1.

We examined the effects and mechanisms of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) administration on mitochondrial morphology and function in an in vitro steatotic hepatocyte model created using HepG2 cells. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses were performed to determine the expression levels of mitofusin 2 (Mfn2), and immunofluorescent MitoTracker Mitochondrion-Selective Probes were used to detect changes in mitochondrial morphology. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were measured to assess mitochondrial function. Mitofusin 2 expression was significantly suppressed (P < .05), ATP levels were decreased (P < .05), ROS production was increased (P < .05), and the normal tubular network of mitochondria was fragmented into short rods or spheres. Model cells were incubated with eicosapentaenoic acid or docosahexaenoic acid at a final concentration of 50 μmol/L for 1 hour. Both eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid increased the expression of Mfn2 (P < .01) and caused an increase in the length of mitochondrial tubules. The omega-3 PUFAs also increased the levels of ATP (P < .05) and decreased the ROS production (P < .05). However, these changes were not seen in Mfn2-depleted steatotic HepG2 cells, created by RNA interference before incubation with the omega-3 PUFAs. This study demonstrated that, in steatotic hepatocytes, omega-3 PUFAs may change mitochondrial morphology and have beneficial effects on recovery of mitochondrial function by increasing the expression of Mfn2.

In this study the metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structure ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) based on Mg"xZn"1"-"xO thin films were fabricated. The Mg"xZn"1"-"xO thin films were grown on glass substrates by sol-gel method. The results show that the optical absorption has a blue shift and higher transmittance with increasing Mg dopant. The optical band gap were modified by 3.28-3.52eV, which corresponded to x=0 and x=0.16. For a 10V applied bias, the dark currents of the Mg"xZn"1"-"xO MSM-PDs were 637nA (x=0) to 0.185nA (x=0.16) and showed good Schottky contacts. This UV-visible rejection ratio of the Mg"xZn"1"-"xO UV PDs at x=0, 0.16, 0.21 and 0.33 were 18.82, 35.36, 40.91 and 42.92, respectively.

Understanding the properties that determine the distribution and behavior of trace impurities in Si wafers is critical to defining and controlling the performance, reliability, and yields of integrated microelectronic devices. It remains, however, an intrinsically difficult task to determine trace impurities in Si because of the minute concentrations and extremely high levels of matrix involved. In this study, we used an electrodialyzer for the simultaneous on-line removal of the silicate and acid matrices through the neutralization of the excessive hydrogen ion and selectively separation of acid and silicate ions by the combination of electrode reaction as a source of hydroxide ions with the anion exchange membrane separation. To retain the analyte ions in the sample stream, we found that the presence of moderate amounts of nitric acid and hydrazine were necessary to improve the retention efficiency, not only for Zn(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), and Co(2+) ions but also for CrO(4)(2-) ion. Under the optimized conditions, the interference that resulted from the sample matrix was suppressed significantly to provide satisfactory analytical signals. The precision of this method was ca. 5% when we used an electrodialyzer equipped with an anion exchange membrane to remove the sample matrix prior to performing inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS); the good agreement between the data obtained using our proposed method and those obtained using a batchwise wet chemical technique confirmed its accuracy. Our method permits the determination of Zn, Ni, Cu, Co, and Cr in Si wafers at detection limits within the range from 2.2 x 10(15) to 9.0 x 10(15) atoms cm(-3).

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are a widely-used point-of care diagnostic format, but suffer from limited analytical sensitivity, especially when read by eye. It has recently been reported that LFA performance can be improved by using magnetic reporter particles and an external magnetic field applied at the test line. The mechanism of sensitivity/performance enhancement was suggested to be concentration/retardation of reporter particles at the test line. Here we demonstrate an additional mechanism of particle relocation where reporter particles from the lower depths of the translucent LFA strip relocate to more-visible locations nearer to the top surface, producing a more visible signal. With a magnetic field we observed an improvement in sensitivity of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) detection from 1.25 ng/mL to 0.31 ng/mL. We also observed an increase of the color intensity per particle in test lines when the magnetic field was present. © 2018 Jacinto et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized by chemical-liquid deposition techniques on Mg x Zn 1− x O ( x = 0, 0.07 and 0.15) buffer layers. It is found that varying the Mg concentration could control the diameter, vertical alignment, crystallization, and density of the ZnO nanorods. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) data show the ZnO nanorods prefer to grow in the (0 0 2) c -axis direction better with a larger Mg concentration. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of ZnO nanorods exhibit that the ultraviolet (UV) emission becomes stronger and the defect emission becomes weaker by increasing the Mg concentration in Mg x Zn 1− x O buffer layers.

Plant hormone auxin elicits diverse responses in plant growth and development. Accumulated data indicate that the ubiquitin-mediated proteolytic pathway plays a crucial role in transducing auxin signaling. To gain more understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying auxin action, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis of auxin responsive genes between Arabidopsis Columbia ecotype and the auxin insensitive mutant eta2 by cDNA-AFLP. Using 256 primer combinations, about 5900 transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were amplified. Sixty-six differentially expressed TDFs were confirmed by DNA dot blot analysis. Sequence analysis indicated that, a large number of genes involved in transcription regulation or RNA metabolism were identified as auxin-regulated genes. Northern blot analyses confirmed transcription levels of 16 auxin-regulated genes. These genes include various forms of transcription regulators, defense related, RING-type ubiquitin ligases, and glycosyl hydrolase. This study demonstrates that auxin exerts its effect in complex transcriptional networks.

Background Few studies have focused on the health status of the incarcerated population in Taiwan. The purpose of this study was to assess disease risk factors in incarcerated men. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. All 1129 newly sentenced men older than 20 years received routine blood checkups and completed a face-to-face interview from November 2004 to February 2005. Results The mean age was 35.6 ± 9.9 years old (range, 20–69). Of 1129 enrollees, there were 558 subjects who had never used illicit drugs (49.4%), 149 subjects who inhaled amphetamine (13.2%), and 422 subjects who injected heroin (37.4%). The overall prevalence rates were 15.0% for obesity, 9.3% for diabetes mellitus, 19.3% for hypercholesterolemia, 48.0% for hypertriglyceridemia, 62.7% for abnormal alanine aminotransferase, and 16.6% for hyperuricemia. With a control group as a comparison, the incarcerated group was less likely to have hypercholesterolemia and hyperuricemia, but more likely to have hypertriglyceridemia and abnormal alanine aminotransferase. Conclusions Compared with nonincarcerated group, the incarcerated men are different in certain disease risk factors and smoking habit.

The marine microalgal strain Isochrysis galbana CCMP 1324 was cultured in Walne medium to examine the changes in lipid bodies and fatty acid composition, with special emphasis on different iron, nitrogen, and phosphorus sources associated changes in the growth kinetic parameters and fatty acid composition. All the experiments were performed at 20 °C, with the culture medium at pH 9.0, a specific rate of air supply of 1.0 vv−1 m−1 and a continuous illumination of 68 μEm−2 s−1. Lipid bodies in I. galbana CCMP 1324 were observed at different growth phase in Walne medium by light and transmission electron microscopy. Lipid granules from 0.4 to 2.0 μm were observed from exponential growth stage to stationary stage. The I. galbana CCMP 1324 had the highest contents of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFA + MUFA) as well as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the early stationary phase. The n-3/n-6 value reached a maximal value of 4.9 in the late stationary phase. The Walne medium could be a good iron, nitrogen and phosphorus sources to culture I. galbana to maximize PUFA production and harvesting the biomass at stationary phase may enable better yields in lipid and PUFA composition. The ratio of SFA + MUFA to PUFA was highest in NH4NO3 modified Walne culture and minimal in Walne culture. The n-3 PUFA was predominant in Walne culture. A compromise between the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) production and growth kinetics can be achieved by using NH4NO3 as N-source in modified Walne medium, which provides the greatest value of DHA production (15.6% of total fatty acids) with the highest maximum specific growth rate (2.34 per day) even though the microalgal cell productivity (43.1 mg l−1 per day) is not the highly attained. The approaches presented in this study could be employed for the design of pilot or full-scale photoreactor for PUFA commercial productions by I. galbana CCMP 1324.

The purpose of the study is to establish a model of cold-induced stroke in hypertensive rats, and to study the preventive effect of dl-3n-butylphthalide ( NBP ) on stroke. Stroke-prone renovascular hypertension(RHRSP) was created in Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were assigned randomly to NBP, aspirin treated and vehicle control group, with administration of the medications for 7 days, and then subjected to cold treatment in an environmentally controlled chamber for 3 days to induce the occurrence of stroke. The incidence of stroke, the volume of the brain lesion, patency of the microvessels by FITC-dextran perfusion and the number of microvessels by immunohisochemical detection of vwF were investigated. Cold induced different types of stroke in RHRSP. The incidence of ischemic stroke and the volume of the infarct were decreased, and the perfused microvessels were increased with NBP pretreatment. Our data suggest that NBP prevents cold-induced ischemic stroke via improvement of cerebral microvessels.

Background: The application of non-invasive proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) could potentially identify changes in cerebral metabolites in the patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, whether these metabolites can serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis of AD remains unclear. Objective: Using meta-analysis, we aimed to investigate the patterns of cerebral metabolite changes in several cerebral regions that are strongly associated with cognitive decline in AD patients. Methods: Using Hedges’ g effect size, a systematic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Ovid, Embase, and EBSCO, and 38 studies were integrated into the final meta-analysis. Results: According to the observational studies, N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) in AD patients was significantly reduced in the posterior cingulate (PC) (effect size (ES) = −0.924, p < 0.005) and bilateral hippocampus (left hippocampus: ES = −1.329, p < 0.005; right hippocampus: ES = −1.287, p < 0.005). NAA/Cr (creatine) ratio decreased markedly in the PC (ES = −1.052, p < 0.005). Simultaneously, significant elevated myo-inositol (mI)/Cr ratio was found not only in the PC but also in the parietal gray matter. For lack of sufficient data, we failed to elucidate the efficacy of pharmacological interventions with the metabolites changes. Conclusion: The available data indicates that NAA, mI, and the NAA/Cr ratio might be potential biomarkers of brain dysfunction in AD subjects. Choline (Cho)/Cr and mI/NAA changes might also contribute toward the diagnostic process. Thus, large, welldesigned studies correlated with cerebral metabolism are needed to better estimate the cerebral extent of alterations in brain metabolite levels in AD patients.