Search

Osteoporosis is a systemic bone metabolism disorder, which increases the risk of fractures, and in severe cases it may cause disability or even death. An important factor contributing to osteoporosis is the imbalance between bone formation and resorption. Naringin was reported to promote osteoblast differentiation, thus enhancing bone formation and alleviating osteoporosis development. However, the signalling pathways related to the regulatory mechanism of naringin in osteoporosis development are not clear. Proliferation of bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) treated with naringin in vitro was detected by CCK-8. An osteogenesis differentiation medium supplemented with naringin was applied to explore the effects of naringin on BMSC osteogenic differentiation, as detected by Alizarin red staining. Ovariectomy (OVX)-induced postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP) rats were orally administered with naringin. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and micro-CT were applied to measure bone mineral density (BMD), bone volume/total volume (BV/TV), trabecula thickness (Tb.Th), trabecula number (Tb.N), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) and bone surface/bone volume (BS/BV). H&E staining was performed to show pathological changes of the femur in PMOP rats after naringin treatment. Bone metabolism indicators were assessed by ELISA. We found that naringin suppressed the activation of the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. Naringin promoted BMSC proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, naringin alleviates bone loss and improves abnormal bone metabolism of PMOP rats. Collectively, naringin promotes BMSC osteogenic differentiation to ameliorate osteoporosis development by targeting JAK2/STAT3 signalling.

The present study aimed to examine the expression of hyperuricemia (HUA)-related factors in the body fluids of HUA patients and in renal tissues and body fluids of HUA mice to elucidate the underlying mechanism of HUA and provide theoretical basis for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of this disease. A total of 51 HUA patients (HUA group), and 36 healthy subjects (control group) were included in the present study. The peripheral blood and urine were collected from all patients and healthy subjects. A total of 20 male Kunming mice were used to construct HUA model, and another 20 mice were used as controls. The kidney tissues, peripheral blood and urine were collected from all mice. ELISA was performed to determine the levels of interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) proteins in the serum and urine of human or mice, while western blotting was employed to determine the protein expression in the kidney tissues of mice. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the expression of mRNA and miR-30b in all sample types. Dual luciferase reporter assay was performed to identify the direct interaction between 3'-untranslated region of IL-6R mRNA and miR-30b. The expression of IL-6R mRNA and protein was increased in serum and urine of HUA patients, while the expression of miR-30b was reduced in HUA patients when compared with healthy subjects. The contents of uric acid, urea nitrogen and creatinine in the blood of HUA mice model were significantly elevated. Similarly, the expression of IL-6R mRNA and protein was increased in kidney, serum and urine of HUA mice model, while the expression of miR-30b was reduced in kidney tissues, serum and urine of HUA mice model. Dual luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-30b was able to bind with 3'-UTR seed region of IL-6R mRNA to regulate its expression. These findings demonstrated that the expression of IL-6R in patients and mouse with HUA is elevated, which is related with the down-regulation of miR-30b. Therefore, miR-30b might participate in the pathological process of HUA by regulating IL-6R.

Icariside II (ICAII) is a bioflavonoid compound which has demonstrated anti‑oxidative, anti‑inflammatory and anti‑apoptotic biological activities. However, to the best of our knowledge, whether ICAII can alleviate myocardial ischemia and reperfusion injury (MIRI) remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine whether ICAII exerted a protective effect on MIRI and to investigate the potential underlying mechanism of action. A rat MIRI model was established by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery for 30 min, followed by a 24 h reperfusion. Pretreatment with ICAII with or without a PI3K/AKT inhibitor was administered at the beginning of reperfusion. Morphological and histological analyses were detected using hematoxylin and eosin staining; the infarct size was measured using Evans blue and 2,3,5‑triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining; and plasma levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase‑myocardial band (CK‑MB) were analyzed using commercialized assay kits. In addition, the cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography and the levels of cardiomyocyte apoptosis were determined using a TUNEL staining. The protein expression levels of Bax, Bcl‑2, cleaved caspase‑3, interleukin‑6, tumor necrosis factor‑α, PI3K, phosphorylated (p)‑PI3K, AKT and p‑AKT were analyzed using western blotting analysis. ICAII significantly reduced the infarct size, decreased the release of LDH and CK‑MB and improved the cardiac function induced by IR injury. Moreover, ICAII pretreatment significantly inhibited myocardial apoptosis and the inflammatory response. ICAII also upregulated the expression levels of p‑PI3K and p‑AKT. However, the protective effects of ICAII were abolished by an inhibitor (LY294002) of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggested that ICAII may mitigate MIRI by activating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

A high-efficiency inverted-type CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) solar cell was fabricated by using a ultrathin poly[3-(4-carboxybutyl)thiophene-2,5-diyl]-Na (P3CT-Na) film as the hole transport layer. The averaged power conversion efficiency (PCE) can be largely increased from 11.72 to 18.92% with a double-filtering process of the P3CT-Na solution mainly due to the increase in short-circuit current density (JSC) from 19.43 to 23.88 mA/cm2, which means that the molecular packing structure of P3CT-Na thin film can influence the formation of the MAPbI3 thin film and the contact quality at the MAPbI3/P3CT-Na interface. Zeta potentials, atomic-force microscopic images, absorbance spectra, photoluminescence spectra, X-ray diffraction patterns, and Raman scattering spectra are used to understand the improvement in the JSC. Besides, the light intensity-dependent and wavelength-dependent photovoltaic performance of the MAPbI3 solar cells shows that the P3CT-Na thin film is not only used as the hole transport layer but also plays an important role during the formation of a high-quality MAPbI3 thin film. It is noted that the PCE values of the best P3CT-Na based MAPbI3 solar cell are higher than 30% in the yellow-to-near infrared wavelength range under low light intensities. On the other hand, it is predicted that the double-filtering method can be readily used to increase the PCE of polymer based solar cells.

Hydrogel serve as bone tissue engineering have lately received great attention for their good biocompatibility and structures similar to natural extracellular matrices. However, a single component polymer hydrogel is generally detrimental to cell adhesion due to the weaker mechanical properties, which limits their application considerably. In an effort to overcome this disadvantage, we adopt an unconventional dual network hydrogels consisting of the polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) covalent network, a thiolated chitosan (TCS) ion crosslinking network and thiolated halloysites (T-HNTs) as reinforcing filler. In addition, bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) was loaded into the prepared dual network (DN) hydrogel to improve the bone regeneration function of the DN hydrogel. The resulting PEGDA/TCS/T-HNTs hydrogels showed favourable mechanical property, higher crosslinking density, the lower swelling degree, excellent biocompatibility and cell adhesion ability. The histomorphometric and immunohistochemical analyses revealed the excellent bone regeneration ability for composite hydrogel after implant into rat skull defect. Thus, our results indicated that composite scaffold can be applied as a new bone regeneration biomaterial to be applied as a local drug delivery system with good bone induction performance.

Physical vapour deposition technique was used to deposit TiAlCrN coatings on the YT15 tungsten carbide inserts. The dry turning tests of 20CrMo steel were carried out to evaluate performances of TiAlCrN coated and uncoated tools on the CA6140A lathe. The effect of the two kinds of tools on cutting forces, cutting temperature, surface roughness and tool wear had been investigated to assess the performance of TiAlCrN coated tools. The results showed that the cutting force and cutting temperature obtained by TiAlCrN coated tools were decreased and the TiACrN coated tools produced a better surface finish in comparison with the uncoated tools. The TiAlCrN coated tools yield working life about 45 min, which was two times of that for uncoated tools. The wear mechanisms of the TiAlCrN coated tools were mainly oxidation and boundary wear, accompanied with diffusion wear.

The marine aerosols is mainly produced primary sea salt and secondary form of non-sea salt (nss) sulfate and organic species from marine emission, but get modified significantly by the anthropogenic and terrestrial materials, such as total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN), which transported by the atmospheric circulation from land to the ocean. Rarely studies focus on the TC and TN in marine aerosol in the open ocean due to the sampling difficulty, let alone the annual observation. Concentrations of TC and TN, and their isotope compositions (δ13C-TC and δ15N-TN) were measured in total suspended particulate (TSP) which sampled at Yongxing Island over the South China Sea from March 2014 to February 2015, and coastal mega-city Guangzhou in April/May and October/November 2014. The annual average concentrations of TC and TN at Yongxing Island were 4.20 ± 2.38 μg m−3 and 0.77 ± 0.47 μg m−3, respectively. Much higher concentration of TC and TN were observed at Guangzhou. Contributions of NO3− and NH4+ (inorganic nitrogen, IN) to TN at Yongxing Island averaged 55.7% and 6.8%, respectively, while they averaged 27.4% and 12.2% at Guangzhou, respectively. The average values of δ15N in TN were +0.7 ± 3.3‰, +6.8 ± 6.3‰ and −0.7 ± 2.7‰ during winter, transitional and warm seasons, respectively, with an annual average value of +1.1 ± 4.3‰. The δ13C of TC varied from −16.2 to −26.8‰, with an annual average value of −22.7‰. The average of values of δ13C were −22.9 ± 1.7‰, −22.9 ± 1.4‰, and −22.4 ± 2.6‰ during winter, transitional and warm seasons, respectively. The average values of δ15N in TN and δ13C of TC were +13.2 ± 0.9‰ and −25.8 ± 0.4‰ in winter season, +13.6 ± 0.8‰ and - 26.5 ± 0.3‰ in warm season at Guangzhou, respectively. Based on aerosol δ15N and δ13C values, the marine realm may be an important source of aerosol TN, while aerosol TC may dominantly contributed by the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass burning from continental mass over the South China Sea. The secondary aerosol formation and long-range transport on aerosol chemistry also varied the concentrations and isotopic composition of TN and TC at Yongxing Island.

Oleate graft copolyammonium (OGCA) was prepared and its performance as a shale inhibitor was evaluated by bentonite linear expansion test, anti-swelling experiments, mud ball experiments in water-based drilling fluid. Anti-swelling results shows that anti-swelling rate of OGCA reaches up to 89.7% and OGCA has strong inhibitive capability to bentonite hydration swelling confirmed by the result of mud ball experiment. From the results it was found that both OGCA and modified starch have an excellent synergetic defiltration effect on the water-based drilling fluid. The good performance of OGCA as a shale inhibitor should be contributed to its good capacity of controlling the particle size of bentonite. The inhibition mechanism of the polyamine salt was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscope.

Carbonatites are the most important sources of global niobium (Nb) and rare earth element (REE) resources, particularly the light REEs. The Huanglongpu carbonatite in central China is unique for the enrichment of molybdenum (Mo) and heavy REEs. Till now, the source nature of the Huanglongpu carbonatites is still poorly understood. In this contribution, we present elemental and C-O-Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data of calcite to constrain the source signatures of the Huanglongpu carbonatite. Elemental geochemistry and C-O isotopes of the calcite vein-networks in the carbonatite reveal that the Huanglongpu carbonatites is of igneous genesis and originated from mantle-derived carbonatitic melts. The negative eNd(t) values (−8.03–−5.05) and elevated initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.7049–0.7056) indicate considerable contribution of recycled crustal components in the mantle source. Combination of O-Sr-Nd-Pb isotopes suggests that over 10 wt% of recycled sediments might have been involved into the depleted mantle, accounting for the source of the Huanglongpu carbonatite. Considering the enrichment of heavy REE, REE distribution simulation indicates that the Huanglongpu carbonatite might be from the 30% partial melting of eclogite facies sediments. Accordingly, we infer that the Huanglongpu carbonatite might have been derived from the partial melting of a hybridized mantle source modified by recycled sediments of eclogite facies. The enrichment of Mo and heavy REEs plausibly resulted from the contribution of garnet/pyroxene from the eclogitic sediments within the subducted slab.

TiN coated and uncoated tools were used to conduct the dry cutting temperatures for AISI 304 stainless steel. Effects of cutting variables on cutting temperatures were investigated using single factor experiment method. The optimal cutting parameters of cutting temperatures were obtained through orthogonal experiment method. The forming process and temperature distribution of chips were analyzed using finite element method (FEM). The results show that cutting temperature generally increases with the increase of cutting speed and feed rate. When depth of cut increases at the range of 0.8-1.5 mm, the cutting temperature increases firstly and decreases subsequently. And the cutting temperature of TiN coated tool is lower than that of uncoated tool. The optimal parameters of cutting temperature are obtained by orthogonal experiment, which is A1B1C3. The highest temperature appears on the second deformation zone by the simulation.

A pterygium is an inflammatory, invasive and proliferative lesion on the ocular surface, which can decrease visual acuity, damage the ocular surface and affect the appearance of the eye. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis remain unclear. In the present study, the role of apoptosis-associated protein Livin in the occurrence and development of pterygium was investigated. Primary samples from quiescent or advanced clinical stages of pterygium and normal human conjunctival tissues were used to assess mRNA and protein expression levels of Livin using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. Livin was knocked down in pterygium epithelial cells (PECs) using small interfering RNA (siRNA), to investigate the role of Livin in PEC viability, migration, invasion ability and apoptosis. The cell viability, invasion ability and apoptosis of PECs following ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation alone or in combination with Livin silencing were also analyzed. Expression levels of Livin increased in the pterygium tissues compared with those in the normal conjunctiva at both the mRNA and protein levels. Livin expression levels in advanced pterygium were significantly higher compared with those in quiescent pterygium samples. Knockdown of Livin expression levels significantly reduced cell migration, invasion ability and cell viability, and induced apoptosis of PECs. Inhibition of Livin expression in PECs increased the expression levels of caspase-7, caspase-3 and E-cadherin, whereas expression levels of Snail were downregulated. Cell viability and invasion ability in PECs was enhanced following UVB radiation and Livin expression upregulated. UVB irradiation induced cell invasion ability of PECs and this was attenuated by Livin-silencing. Transfection with Livin siRNA also partially recovered the apoptosis rate of PECs, which was reduced by UVB irradiation. In conclusion, Livin was upregulated in pterygium, and UVB radiation functions in the development of pterygium by inducing Livin expression.

A new approach for the total synthesis of the active stilbene dimer dehydro-δ-viniferin has been achieved in 9 steps with methyl 4-hydroxybenzoate and 3,5-dihydroxyacetophenone as starting materials. The key feature of the method is the amberlyst 15-mediated cyclodehydration of α-aryloxyketone. [Formula: see text].

Biochar (BC) derived from Chinese herbal medicine residues has been investigated for its performance as a potential adsorbent in tetracycline (TC) removal. In the present study, a chemical co-precipitation method was carried out to prepare manganese dioxide modified biochar (Mn-BC) to increase its sorption capacity. The properties of the modified biochar were characterized for further enhancing TC removal from an aqueous solution. Mn-BC was successfully synthesized and resulted in a much higher specific surface area, total pore volume and pore diameter. The sorption kinetics of TC on Mn-BC was described by the pseudo-second-order model. The sorption data of Mn-BC were fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich models. The study findings revealed a maximum adsorption capacity of Mn-BC (1:10) to TC was up to 131.49 mg/g. The adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. The degradation of TC was further enhanced by MnO2 acting as an oxidizer on Mn-BC. Overall, the modified biochar derived from Chinese herbal medicine residues is a superior alternative for the removal of TC from an aqueous solution.

Resveratrol exerts an anti-inflammatory effect on collagen-induced arthritis and osteoarthritis in rats via activation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). Autophagy can be induced by resveratrol and leads to amelioration of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) release in vitro. We aimed to determine the anti-inflammatory mechanisms of resveratrol in patients with gout. Blood samples were obtained from patients with acute gout, intercritical gout (IG) and healthy controls (HC). The mRNA and protein levels of SIRT1 and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) p65 were determined in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) lysate from these patients. In the in vitro experiment, SIRT1, autophagy-related genes (beclin-1 and microtubule-associated protein 1 light-chain 3) and key genes involved in the gouty inflammatory pathway, including NF-κB p65, NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1 and IL-1β, were determined in PBMCs lysate or plasma from IG patients exposed to monosodium urate (MSU) crystals with or without resveratrol. The mRNA and protein levels of SIRT1 were downregulated in PBMCs from gout patients in comparison with HC. In the in vitro experiment, the protein levels of SIRT1 were downregulated in PBMCs from IG patients exposed to MSU crystals and were restored by resveratrol in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, high doses of resveratrol ameliorated the release of the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β. In addition, the mRNA levels of NLRP3 and NF-κB p65 were regulated by resveratrol, but caspase-1 and IL-1β were not. Furthermore, resveratrol promoted MSU-induced autophagy in PBMCs from patients with gout. These findings suggest that resveratrol ameliorates gouty inflammation via upregulation of SIRT1 to promote autophagy in patients with gout.

Rationale: Apatinib is a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, which has observed to be effective and safe in refractory radiation-induced brain edema, like Avastin did. Till now, there is no case report after apatinib came in the market. Patient concerns: Two patients who received brain radiotherapy developed clinical manifestations of brain edema, including dizziness, headache, limb activity disorder, and so on. Diagnoses: Two patients were both diagnosed as refractory radiation-induced brain edema. Interventions: Two patients received apatinib (500 mg/day) for 2 and 4 weeks. Outcomes: Two patients got symptomatic improvements from apatinib in different degrees. Magnetic resonance imaging after apatinib treatments showed that compared with pre-treatment imaging, the perilesional edema reduced dramatically. However, the toxicity of apatinib was controllable and tolerable. Lessons: Apatinib can obviously relieve the symptoms of refractory radiation-induced brain edema and improve the quality of life, which offers a new method for refractory radiation-induced brain edema in clinical practices. But that still warrants further investigation in the prospective study.

Gene expression changes that occur during mesocarp development are a major research focus in oil palm research due to the economic importance of this tissue and the relatively rapid increase in lipid content to very high levels at fruit ripeness. Here, we report the development of a transcriptome-based 105,000-probe oil palm mesocarp microarray. The expression of genes involved in fatty acid (FA) and triacylglycerol (TAG) assembly, along with the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and glycolysis pathway at 16 Weeks After Anthesis (WAA) exhibited significantly higher signals compared to those obtained from a cross-species hybridization to the Arabidopsis (p-value &lt, 0.01), and rice (p-value &lt, 0.01) arrays. The oil palm microarray data also showed comparable correlation of expression (r2 = 0.569, p &lt, 0.01) throughout mesocarp development to transcriptome (RNA sequencing) data, and improved correlation over quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) (r2 = 0.721, p &lt, 0.01) of the same RNA samples. The results confirm the advantage of the custom microarray over commercially available arrays derived from model species. We demonstrate the utility of this custom microarray to gain a better understanding of gene expression patterns in the oil palm mesocarp that may lead to increasing future oil yield.

The effects of mole ratio of formaldehyde and melamine (F/M), solution pH, reaction temperature and time on the foaming melamine-formaldehyde resin (MF resin) with caprolactam as modifier were investigated by orthogonal experiment design where the solid content and the viscosity of the resin, the density and the size uniformity of the foam resin were used as performance evaluation parameters. The results had shown that the optimal conditions for preparing the foaming MF resin were F/M= 3.25, pH=8.0, T=90°C, t=45min. The MF resin prepared under the optimal conditions could be foamed well and its storage time was prolonged to 16 days. The structure and thermal properties of MF resin under the optimal conditions were investigated.

This paper presents a effective approach for one new supermolecule function materia preparation, 25-(thioalkyl-alkoxy)-p-tertbutylcalix [4] arene with self-assembled monolayers character was synthesized by two-step nucleophilic substitute reaction in NaH-THF phase with p-tertbutylcalix [4] arene and dibromodecne . The structure of product was characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MALDI-TOF-MS. The self-assembly molecular imprinted film as the sensitive film was coated on the gold delay line of SAW sensors to detect for detecting organophosphorus compounds such as sarin, had important reference value in counter-terrorism.

In order to researching the microstructure of bioceramic coating on the surface medical titanium alloy (Ti–6Al–4V), the gradient bioceramic coatings are fabricated by wide-band laser cladding. The influence of multiple rare earths oxide La2O3 and CeO2 on microstructure of bioceramic coating were studied. The experimental results demonstrated that mixed La2O3 and CeO2 have an effect on forming-ability of HA\β-TCP in bioceramic coating and also refined the grain of bioceramic coatings. The largest amount of HA\β-TCP is presented among all the groups when the contents of La2O3 and CeO2 are 0.6wt.%, 0.4 wt.%, respectively.

To improve bioactivity of gradient bioceramic coating, the coating with two kinds of rare earth oxide was produced by wide band laser cladding technique. As the experimental results, whichadded0.6wt.% La2O3 fixedly, and increased the addition amount of the CeO2, when the addition of CeO2fulfill 0.4wt.%, the amount of HA-β-TCP is the largest in this experiment. Soaking the specimens in SBF for 14 days, the coating blended 0.6wt% La2O3 and 0.4wt% CeO2, then a great quantity of Ca-P white particles can be found on coating, which confirmation this bioceramic coating is of best bioactivity.

A novel magnetic affinity immunoassay (MAIA) strategy on the basis of enzyme-labeled phage displayed antibody was developed. The assay consisted of a sandwich format in which immobilized polyclonal antibody (pcAb) on magnetic microparticle was used as capture probe, and enzyme-labeled phage displayed antibody as specific detection probe to increase enzyme amount and enhance detection signal. By the proposed method, β-bungarotoxin (β-BGT) was successfully detected. A linear relationship between absorbance value and the concentration of β-BGT in the range of 0.016–62.5 μg L−1 was obtained. The linear regression equation was Y = 0.641X + 1.355 (R = 0.9925, n = 13, p

To obtain the coating with excellent properties, FeWCrMnCoCuTix(x=0.2, 0.4, 0.6) high entropy alloys coating on 45 steel were prepared by laser cladding. By means of OM, XRD and microhardness tester, the effect of Ti content on microstructure and properties of coating is investigated. The experimental result shows that the phase composition of HEAs coating is simple body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic. The microstructure of these alloys is mainly dendrite crystal with grains were fine and uniform. When Ti content increases tox=0.4, the hardness of the coating reaches a maximum (639HV0.2). Key words: HEAs; FeWCrMnCoCuTix; coating; laser cladding; microstructure and properties

The mesoporous anatase TiO2 material was prepared by ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method using tetrabutyl titanate as titanium source and ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimida-zolium tetrafluoroborate ((C4MIM)BF4) as template. The pH values of the starting suspensions were adjusted from 1 to 11 using HCl or NH3·H2O solution. The influence of pH on the ionic liquid-water system for the preparation of titanium dioxide was investigated. The obtained TiO2 samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N2 adsorption-desorption measure- ments, respectively. The results showed that the addition of ionic liquid inhibited the formation of the brookite TiO2, and increasing pH values enhanced the crystallization. When the pH was changed at a wide range (pH=1~9), the pore size distributions of the samples were relatively narrow, and the average pore diameter was reduced from 6.6 nm to 5.0 nm by increasing pH value. At the same time, the average size of the TiO2 nanoparticles in the samples was controlled at about 9 nm by using ionic liquid-assisted hydrothermal method. This is consistent with the results of the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses.

Poisoning by organophosphorus insecticides is a major global public health problem. Although atropine has been widely used to treat organophosphate (OP) poisoning, sometimes atropinization cannot be achieved, even with high doses of atropine. Hence, we aimed to assess the effect of anisodamine for organophosphorus poisoned patients for whom atropinization could not be achieved through high doses of atropine. In this study, sixty-four OP-poisoning patients, all of whom accepted routine treatments but who did not attain atropinization after high doses of atropine for 12 h, were enrolled. The result showed that the time to atropinization was 24.3±4.3 h in the anisodamine group, significantly shorter than in the atropine group (29.2±7.0 h, p

An ultrasensitive ectrochemiluminescense (ECL) immunoassay was proposed by using magnetic microbeads as the carrier of ECL labels for ECL signal amplification. First, polyclonal antibody (pcAb) of abrin was immobilized on a microplate. Then, abrin was bound to pcAb. Next, biotinylated monoclonal antibody (mcAb) was conjugated to abrin, yielding the sandwich immunocomplex on the plate. After that, Ru(bpy)32+ labeled magnetic microbeads were conjugated on the plate through specific biotin-streptavidin interaction. Finally, Ru(bpy)32+ labeled magnetic microbeads were released from the plate, and ECL of Ru(bpy)32+ was measured for abrin determination. A logarithmic linear relationship between ECL intensity and abrin concentration in the range of 2–200 ng L−1 was obtained. The linear regression equation was lgY = 1.295lgX + 0.201 (R = 0.995, n = 7, p < 0.0001), and the detection limit was 2 ng L−1. This new approach holds great promise for highly sensitive detection of target proteins in various fields such as biodiagnostics, environmental monitoring and biodefense.

Ni-B amorphous alloy particle is a newly promising candidate of catalyst for methanol electrooxidation in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC). For enhancing catalytic activity and increasing surface area, mesoporous Ni-B amorphous alloy nanoparticles was manufactured by chemical reduction of NiCl2 and KBH4 via surfactant hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as an soft template. The effects of the CTAB content and the feeding order on the phase evolution, microstructure, and surface area of the resulting products were investigated. Phase and structure of the samples were investigated using XRD, SEM and BET. Amorphous Ni-B nanoparticles with mesoporous structure were obtained in this study. The CTAB content great impacted the mesoporous structure of the resulting products, although the obviously effect on the phase was not found. The surface area, pore volume and pore diameter of samples improved with the increase of CTAB content. Compared to nanoparticles obtained by CTAB solution added to NiCl2 solution, nanoparticles obtained by NiCl2 solution added to CTAB solution exhibited better mesoporous structure.

Manganese and cerium based catalysts with different Mn/Ce molar ratios prepared by impregnation method for ethyl acetate oxidation. The activity tests of the samples were performed in a fixed-bed reactor. The effect of gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) and ethyl acetate concentration on the catalytic activity of the catalyst were also investigated. The results showed that these catalysts had high activity for the catalytic oxidation of ethyl acetate, of which the catalyst Mn0.9Ce0.1Ox/TiO2exhibitedthe bestactivity, and the temperature required for 90% conversion of ethyl acetate was at 216 °C. The catalyst Mn0.9Ce0.1Ox/TiO2still maintained high activity in the range of GHSV (16,500 to 48,500 h-1) and ethyl acetate concentration (4526 to 7092 mg/m3). In additional, experiments for measuring stability of Mn0.9Ce0.1Ox/TiO2were carried out, and experimental results showed that the good stability of Mn0.9Ce0.1Ox/TiO2was kept after it has run for 25 hours.

The study aimed at phosphorus and nitrogen removal by honeycomb cinder modified with Zinc chloride (ZnCl2). By bench-scale batch experiments, honeycomb cinders with different modification time and ZnCl2 dosage were modified and its adsorption capacities were evaluated by methylence blue as the adsorbate. Under the optimal modification conditions, large amount modified honeycomb cinders were prepared to remove the phosphorus and nitrogen from domestic sewage, which different operating conditions of honeycomb cinders dosage, and contact time were considered. The results show that removal efficiencies of total phosphate (TP), orthophosphate (PO43-P), total nitrogen (TN) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N) could reach 89.9%, 96.7%, 18.9% and 23.3% under the optimal conditions, respectively. Modified honeycomb cinders might be an effective and low cost adsorbent for phosphorus removal.

To improve bonding strength between Ti alloy and bioceramic coating and to eliminate thermal stress during laser cladding, gradient bioceramic coating materials is designed. The bioceramic coating is fabricated by wide band laser cladding technique. And the effect of adding single and multiple rare earth oxide on microstructure is investigated. The samples are soaked with SBF for 14 days, the experimental results indicate that when the content of single rare earth oxide is 0.6wt.%Y2O3, a large number of bioactivity phase and chrysanthemum shape microstructure can be observed. When the content of single rare earth oxide is 0.2wt.%Sm2O3, a lot of bioactivity phase and coral reef shape microstructure can be observed. When the content of multiple rare earth oxide is 0.3wt.%Sm2O3 and 0.4wt.%Y2O3, a large amount of bioactivity phase and more homogeneous and dense spherical particles can be observed on coating, which demonstrates the microstructure is of better bioactivity.

To improve the quality of bioceramic gradient coatings, wide band laser cladding technique was adopted to produce a kind of gradient composite bioceramic coating, which combines the good biocompatibility of HA and β-TCP with good toughness and strength of TC4 alloy. The rare earths oxide La2O3 was added to improve the properties of the bioceramic coating. The results indicate that when the adding of La2O3 is 0.6wt%, the ceramics coating is of the largest amount of HA and β-TCP catalyzed, and the number of cells proliferated and the ALP secreted on coatings is the biggest, which indicates that the biocompatibility and bioactivity of gradient bioceramic coating is the best. The biocompatibility and bioactivity are closely related to the amount of HA and β-TCP catalyzed by La2O3.

Zn(II)meso-tetra(α,β,α,β-o-pivalamidophenyl)-porphyrin was synthesized as a sensing material. It indicated an excellent film performance and significant optical response ability, which can be used for gas detection, such as: NO2, SO2and NH3.This material was characterized by IR, NMR, and AES, and its Langmuir-Blodgett films properties were also studied by means of UV-Vis-spectroscopy. The results showed that the zinc porphyrin’s UV spectrum and LB films properties occurred a great change compared with protoporphyrin, and it also had a good film forming capability and stability.

Nowadays, the piezoelectric materials are widely used in many areas. The piezoelectric materials will undergo an electrical degradation process during working causes the piezoelectricity and resistance of the piezoelectric materials degrade. The existence of the electrical degradation phenomenon severely limits the applications of the piezoelectric products. During the electrical degradation process, electrical breakdown often occurs and this electrical breakdown has been proposed [1, 2] induces the resistance decrease and local phase changing. In this paper, the electrical breakdown induced current transients are detailed investigated. Three types of current transients are presented and the time durations of current transients are suggested not constant and corresponding to the time duration of the local burn-out process, which is caused by the heat released from the electrical breakdown process.

In our present study, we investigated the mechanism of Cd(II) biosorption from aqueous solution by Pseudomonas plecoglossicida using different instrumental techniques. The adsorption kinetics fitted well with the pseudo second-order model, suggesting that the Cd(II) adsorption by P. plecoglossicida consisted of a chemisorption and a physisorption process. Compared with the dead P. plecoglossicida cells, the live cells demonstrated the same adsorption capacity of Cd(II). Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis revealed that the main mechanism of adsorption was the combination of Cd(II) with the organic functional groups in the cell wall of P. plecoglossicida. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis of the metal-loaded biosorbent confirmed the participation of -NH, -OH, -CH, and -CONH groups in the uptake of Cd(II). Moreover, cation transport test revealed that ionic exchange interactions were involved in the Cd(II) adsorption. However, it only played a minor role in the Cd(II) biosorption process.

Repetition pulses with sub-microsecond arising time, high voltage and large current, have been widely utilized in the field of production and scientific research, in which the gas spark switch is usually selected because of the large state current and the high operating voltage. However, due to the recovery property of gas ionization, it is hard to get the repeated switch-on and switch-off at a high rate towards the conventional gas spark switch. Owing to the reliably triggering and faster arising time, the hydrogen thyratron is found to be more suitable for the switch to generate the repetition pulses at a high rate. In this paper we proposed a novel design of repetition pulses, in which it gets a several times high voltage output based on the inductive-adder, by using the hydrogen thyratron switch with a low operating voltage, and then we analyze the magnetic field distribution under the structure of the coaxial cable and describe the design of high voltage repetition pulses in details

The effects of curing electric field frequency on the electro-optic property of Polymer-Stabilized Cholesteric Texture(PSCT) is investigated.PSCT samples were prepared by means of polymerization induced phase separation(PIPS).By changing the curing electric field frequency,we can control the network morphology of PSCT and improve the electro-optic property.It was demonstrated that the diffusion of monomer and network morphology were related with curing electric field frequency.In addition,lower frequency promotes the diffusion of monomer and generally results in a open network with large void inside which often shows fast response,high closed transmittance,low threshold and low saturated voltage.On the adverse,higher frequency inhibits the diffusion and generally results in a closed network with smaller void inside which often shows slower response,lower transmittance,higher threshold and higher saturated voltage.

Utilize different solvents to extract and salt out soluble protein from the Cordyceps rich in selenium which is artificially cultivated, thus obtaining different types of selenoproteins contained in it, and then pyrogallol autoxidation method is applied to determine their antioxidant activity, meanwhile, double-channel atomic fluorescence is used to detect the materials and their selenium content. The results show that: various proteins of Cordyceps rich in selenium all contain selenium, followed by alkali-soluble selenoprotein > alcohol-soluble selenoprotein > salt-soluble selenoprotein > water-soluble selenoprotein; their ability to remove superoxide anion is followed by water-soluble protein> alkali-soluble protein > salt-soluble protein> alcohol-soluble protein, the clearance rate of selenoprotein with different salting points on superoxide anion is shown as follows: salting selenoprotein with the rate of 70% > salting selenoprotein with the rate of 100% > salting selenoprotein with the rate of 90% > salting selenoprotein with the rate of 80%> salting selenoprotein with the rate of 50%> salting selenoprotein with the rate of 60% ; therefore, selenoprotein of Cordyceps rich in selenium is a kind of natural resource with good antioxidant activity as well as broad application prospects.

The ratio between the reactivity of HC and NOx, i.e., \(\Phi = \sum {k_{OH + HC_i } [HC_i ]/(k_{OH + NO} [NO] + k_{OH + NO_2 } [NO_2 ])} \), is used to study the chemistry of HOx radicals (HO2 and OH) in the marine boundary layer (MBL). Data analysis shows that HOx production and OH/HO2 ratio strongly depend on Φ. The OH radical concentration presents an ascending tendency in low Φ region but a declining one in high Φ region, while HO2 radical increases with increasing Φ under low Φ conditions but appears to be nearly constant with the variation of Φ under high Φ conditions. The observed OH/HO2 ratio shows a continuous decrease with the increase of Φ. Model studies are conducted to illuminate the behavior of HOx radicals in different Φ regions, and the results represent general agreement with the observed variations of HOx radicals and can well explain the observed behavior of HOx radicals. This study demonstrates that Φ could be used as an efficient parameter to ascertain the behavior of HOx radicals in the clean marine boundary layer.

The mechanical property of X80 longitudinally welded pipe, as part pipeline for second west-east natural gas transmission pipeline project, is disadvantageously affected by normal coating process of three layer polyethylene coating(3LPE). The low application temperature process of three layer polyethylene coating coated at 185~195°C was studied to meet the requirement of the coating temperature of X80 longitudinally welded pipe. The suitable epoxy powders and coating process were determined by evaluating coating properties of varied epoxy powders. The properties of 3LPE, which was coated by using suitable low temperature cured epoxy powder at temperature of 185~195°C, were nearly same to the ones of 3LPE at the normal coating temperature (200~230°C) and meet the requirement of external anti-corrosion properties of X80 longitudinally welded pipe. According to the results, a criteria was provided to CNPC and applied to project of second west-east natural gas transmission pipeline.

Gout patients have a high incidence of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease. Low serum paraoxonase (PON) activity is considered a risk factor for atherosclerosis. The relationships among paraoxonase-1 (PON1) activity, oxidative stress parameters, and atherosclerosis in gout is not known. Therefore, we determined the plasma levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL), and activities of PON1/superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in 49 gout patients (mean age 44.2 ± 7.0 years) and 42 healthy, age-matched controls (mean age 45.0 ± 9.3 years). PON1 was measured spectrophotometrically, MDA by thiobarbituric acid method, SOD by Griess reaction, and Ox-LDL by sandwich ELISA. Lipid and other biochemical parameters were determined by routine laboratory methods. In gout patients, PON1/SOD activities and MDA/Ox-LDL levels were 131.3 ± 25.3/75.3 ± 28.9 kU l(-1) and 6.12 ± 1.67 nmol ml(-1)/690.1 ± 180.2 μg l(-1), respectively. In controls, these were 172.5 ± 27.8/94.0 ± 26.3 kU l(-1) and 4.10 ± 1.25 nmol ml(-1)/452.3 ± 152.1 μg l(-1), respectively. Thus, in gout patients, there was a significant decrease in PON1 (P < 0.01) and SOD (P < 0.05) activities, and an increase in MDA (P < 0.01) and Ox-LDL (P < 0.01) levels compared with controls. PON1 activity correlated positively with SOD (P < 0.05), and negatively with MDA (P < 0.01) and Ox-LDL (P < 0.01). These results suggest that gout patients were in a state of oxidative stress and the protective effects of HDL against atherosclerosis maybe dependent on PON1 activity. These findings may explain in part the reported increase in cardiovascular mortality in gout patients.

Novel magnetic field sensors are based on a “cross-shape” ferromagnetic film (FMF) attached to a silicon diaphragm and piezoresistive membrane. The interaction between the magnetic field and the (FMF) generates a deflection of the diaphragm, which changes the piezoresistance and unbalances a Wheatstone bridge. The effect of FMF and silicon diaphragm thickness on the sensor performance is studied by the finite element simulation. The performance of sensor can be improved by optimizing the size of “cross-shape” FMF. These low-cost, low-power sensors are easily integrated with electronic circuits.

To increase the mechanical properties of the metal rollers, Mo and Mo+Y2O3alloy powders were designed. And a kind of coating fabricated by a continuous wave CO2laser surface alloying(LSA) on 40Cr steel roller was obtained. The effect of Mo and Mo+Y2O3on microstructure, hardness and wearing resistance of alloying coating were studied by OM, SEM, XRD, microhardness tester and wearing tester. The experimental results indicate that the grain size in alloying coating is obviously fined, and the grain boundary is strengthened. The uniformity and density of microstructure are improved. The microhardness and wear resistance of alloying coating are significantly increased.

Three new thiodiketopiperazines, geospallins A⁻C (1⁻3), together with nine known analogues (4⁻12), were isolated from the culture of the deep-sea sediment-derived fungus Geosmithia pallida FS140. Among them, geospallins A and B (1 and 2) represent rare examples of thiodiketopiperazines featuring an S-methyl group at C-10 and a tertiary hydroxyl group at C-11. Their structures were determined by high-resolution electrospray mass spectrometry (HRESIMS), spectroscopic analyses, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. Their angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was reported, and geospallins A⁻C (1⁻3) showed inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 29⁻35 µM.

Iron plays many critical roles in human biology, such as aiding the transport of oxygen and mediating redox reactions. Iron is essential for life, yet little is known about how iron is taken up into mitochondria to impact the labile iron pool. Iron deficiency is one of the most prevalent human nutrient-deficiency diseases in the world and is a major cause of anemia that affects >25% of the world’s population, but unfortunately the current treatment (oral iron supplementation) is inefficient and has many side effects. A greater understanding of iron uptake, and discovery of molecules that aid in this process, may lead to more effective treatments for iron deficiency. In this study, we uncovered a unique and surprising role for an Escherichia coli-produced siderophore enterobactin (Ent) that facilitates iron uptake by the host, observed in both C. elegans and mammalian cells. Although siderophores are well-known Fe+3 scavengers, this activity has previously been described to only benefit iron acquisition by bacteria, not the host. This unexpected function is dependent on the binding of Ent to the host’s ATP synthase α-subunit but is independent of other subunits of the ATP synthase. This finding marks a major shift regarding the role of this siderophore in the “iron tug-of-war” paradigm, which is often used to describe the fight between the bacteria and the host for this essential micronutrient. Instead, this study presents E. coli as a commensal “friend” that provides a molecule that supports the host’s iron homeostasis. This work reveals a novel, beneficial role of a bacteria-generated molecule in aiding the host’s iron homeostasis, and points to surprising new benefits from commensal bacteria.

The water effect on peroxy radical measurement by chemical amplification was determined experimentally for HO2 and HO2+OH, respectively at room temperature (298±2) K and atmospheric pressure (1×105 Pa). No significant difference in water effect was observed with the type of radicals. A theoretical study of the reaction of HO2·H2O adduct with NO was performed using density functional theory at CCSD(T)/6-311 G(2d, 2p)//B3LYP/6-311 G(2d, 2p) level of theory. It was found that the primary reaction channel for the reaction is HO2·H2O+NO→HNO3+H2O (R4a). On the basis of the theoretical study, the rate constant for (R4a) was calculated using Polyrate Version 8.02 program. The fitted Arrenhnius equation for (R4a) is k = 5.49×107 T 1.03exp(−14798/T) between 200 and 2000 K. A chemical model incorporated with (R4a) was used to simulate the water effect. The water effect curve obtained by the model is in accordance with that of the experiment, suggesting that the water effect is probably caused mainly by (R4a).

The polymorphic markers of nuclear SSR (simple sequence repeat), SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism)/InDel (insertion–deletion length polymorphism), and cpSSR (chloroplast SSR) were used to evaluate the genetic diversity of 52 trifoliate oranges and their relatives. The two genomic DNA-based markers produced high values of PIC (polymorphic information content) at 0.45 for SNP/InDel and 0.32 for nuclear SSR, indicating that there is a large diversity of genetic variation within the trifoliate oranges. Three UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic means) dendrograms were generated based on the results of three marker systems. At 0.76 of coefficient, all of Poncirus accessions were clustered into one group, except the 74-1 Early Poncirus, one of the three precocious trifoliate oranges, which was placed separately into another group by nuclear SSR. At a higher coefficient, the trifoliate oranges were discriminated into 4, 6 and 6 groups by nuclear SSR (0.86), SNP/InDel (0.95), and cpSSR (0.95), respectively. The results revealed that three precocious trifoliate oranges were originated from different sources. Hubei Early Poncirus and Beibei Early Poncirus were the asexual mutants of different trifoliate oranges, and 74-1 was probably a sexual hybrid. The present study also indicated that ‘Zhiwenzhou,’ a diploid chimera of trifoliate orange and Satsuma is more closely related to Satsuma rather than to trifoliate orange, which is in concordance with the results of morphological observation.