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Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are commonly heterogeneous and require extensive assessment of exposure-efficacy and exposure-safety relationships in preclinical and clinical studies. In this study, we report the generation of a monoclonal antibody against monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE) and the development, validation, and application of sensitive and high-throughput enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to measure the concentrations of MMAE-conjugated ADCs and total antibodies (tAb, antibodies in ADC plus unconjugated antibodies) in cynomolgus monkey sera. These assays were successfully applied to in vitro plasma stability and pharmacokinetic (PK) studies of SMADC001, an MMAE-conjugated ADC against trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (TROP-2). The plasma stability of SMADC001 was better than that of similar ADCs coupled with PEG4-Val-Cit, Lys (m-dPEG24)-Cit, and Val-Cit linkers. The developed ELISA methods for the calibration standards of ADC and tAb revealed a correlation between serum concentrations and the OD450 values, with R2 at 1.000, and the dynamic range was 0.3–35.0 ng/mL and 0.2–22.0 ng/mL, respectively; the intra- and inter-assay accuracy bias% ranged from −12.2% to −5.2%, precision ranged from −12.4% to −1.4%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 6.6% and 8.7%, respectively. The total error was less than 20.4%. The development and validation steps of these two assays fulfilled the acceptance criteria for all addressed validation parameters, which suggested that these can be applied to quantify MMAE-conjugated ADCs, as well as in PK studies. Furthermore, these assays can be easily adopted for development of other similar immunoassays.

A novel kind of CF2H-containing dispiro[benzo[b]thiophene-oxindole-pyrrolidine] has been achieved via an organocatalyzed 1,3-dipole reaction.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are recognized as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage devices, but their practical application is greatly limited by several obstacles, such as the highly insulating nature and sluggish redox kinetics of sulfur and the dissolution of lithium polysulfides. Herein, three-dimensional carbon nanosheet frameworks anchored with Ni@Ni3N heterostructure nanoparticles (denoted Ni@Ni3N/CNS) are designed and fabricated by a chemical blowing and thermal nitridation strategy. It is demonstrated that the Ni@Ni3N heterostructure can effectively accelerate polysulfide conversion and promote the chemical trapping of polysulfides. Meanwhile, the carbon nanosheet frameworks of Ni@Ni3N/CNS establish a highly conductive network for fast electron transportation. The cells with Ni@Ni3N heterostructures as the catalyst in the cathode show excellent electrochemical performance, revealing stable cycling over 600 cycles with a low-capacity fading rate of 0.04% per cycle at 0.5 C and high-rate capability (594 mAh g-1 at 3 C). Furthermore, Ni@Ni3N/CNS can also work well in room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT-Na/S) batteries, delivering a high specific capacity (454 mAh g-1 after 400 cycles at 0.5 C). This work provides a rational way to prepare the metal-metal nitride heterostructures to enhance the performance both of Li-S and RT-Na/S batteries.

By combining the structural properties and characteristics of phosphogypsum whiskers, a preliminary study on the modification of phosphogypsum whiskers and their application in papermaking was carried out. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, and reaction concentration on the solubility and retention of modified phosphogypsum whiskers and the effects of phosphogypsum whiskers on the physical properties of paper under different modified conditions were explored. The research results show that, after the phosphogypsum whiskers are modified with calcium stearate, a coating layer will be formed on the surface of the whiskers, which effectively reduces the solubility of the phosphogypsum whiskers. The best modification conditions are: the amount of calcium stearate relative to the absolute dry mass of the phosphogypsum whisker is 2.00%; the modification time is 30 min, and the modification temperature is 60°C. The use of modified phosphogypsum whiskers for paper filling will slightly reduce the whiteness, folding resistance, burst resistance, and tensile strength of the paper, but the tearing degree and retention of the filler will be increased to some extent.

The eutrophication of a body of water is a globally serious water-polluting problem caused by the excess discharge of nutrients. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from wastewater is extremely necessary. The biological method is the major technology used for nitrogen removal. With the increasingly strict discharging standard worldwide, the problems of insufficient efficiency, considerable energy consumption, and secondary pollution involved in the traditional nitrogen removal process have become increasingly apparent, resulting in an urgent need for an economic, efficient, and sustainable technology. The widely investigated anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process discovered in the 1990s is regarded as the most energy-efficient technology for nitrogen removal without aeration and organic carbon demand. However, it has not been widely adopted because for a long time now, it has faced bottlenecks in stable substrate nitrite (NO2−) acquisition. Recent studies have demonstrated that the NO2−-produced partial denitrification (PD) process provides a completely novel concept for solving this problem. China takes the lead in the investigation and practice of the discovery, development, and microbial mechanism of this process. A novel technology combining PD and Anammox is opening a new window for the low-carbon and high-efficiency treatment of municipal wastewater, which has been regarded as a hot and cutting-edge topic in this field. Compared with the conventional nitrification/denitrification process, it could save aeration energy by 100% and organic carbon source by 80% and reduce the sludge production and greenhouse gas (CO2, N2O) emission in the simultaneous treatment of municipal wastewater and nitrate (NO3−) contained in wastewater. In comparison with the present Anammox process, it is little affected by the substrate concentrate, temperature, and other environmental factors, could break the top limit of nitrogen removal efficiency by Anammox (89%), and reach up to 100% of the total nitrogen removal efficiency, thereby exhibiting great significance and applicable value. In the future, the separation, purification, and molecular metabolic mechanism of the PD and Anammox bacteria should be focused on. Furthermore, the engineering application of the novel technology should also be promoted.

Aristolochic acid (AA) are persistent soil pollutants in the agricultural fields of the Balkan Peninsula. Preparations containing aristolochic acid are widely used for anti-inflammatory, diuretic, etc. To study the hepatotoxicity of aristolochic acid, 80 healthy SD rats were selected and divided into 20 mg/kg- AA group, 4 mg/kg-AA group, and 2 mg/kg-AA group and blank group, 20 rats per group. Mainly tested the body weight, liver function, liver tissue oxidative stress and pathological changes of liver tissue in rats. The ALT and AST activities in the serum of the rats in the administration groups were increased compared with the blank group. The activity of MDA in the administration groups was higher than that in the blank group; the activities of SOD, T-AOC and GSH-PX were significantly lower than those in the blank group. HE tissue sections also found that the administration groups showed varying degrees of hepatocyte boundary blur, nuclear fragmentation, and fibrosis tendency. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the mitochondria of the rat liver became more and more severely damaged with the increase of dose. Compared with the blank group, the mRNA expression of Bax, Caspase-9 and Caspase-3 in the administration groups were determined, while the mRNA expression of the Bcl-2 was increased. And compared with the blank control group, the expression levels of apoptotic proteins caspase-9 and caspase-3 increased significantly in the 20 mg/kg-AA group. Aristolochic acid can induce liver injury in rats through oxidative stress pathway and mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.

Gossypol has been reported to exhibit antitumor effects against several human cancers. However, the anticancer effects of gossypol on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) have not been investigated. Against this backdrop, the present study was designed to evaluate the anticancer effects of gossypol against NPC cells and to identify the signaling pathways involved through bioinformatic analysis. Gossypol-inhibited death of NPC cells is concentration-dependent. To explore the underlying mechanism for gossypol's antitumor effect, microarray of gossypol-treated and -untreated NPC cells was performed. A total of 836 differentially expressing genes (DEGs) were identified in gossypol-treated NPC cells, of which 461 genes were upregulated and 375 genes were downregulated. The cellular components, molecular functions, biological processes, and signal pathways, in which the DEGs were involved, were identified by gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) predicted upstream transcription factors (TF) ETS2 and E2F1 that regulate DEGs. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify a class of modules and genes related to DNA repair and cell cycle. TNFRSF10B, a receptor for death in NPC cells, was knocked down. The results suggested that the ability of NPC cells to resist gossypol killing was enhanced. In addition, to further investigate the possible molecular mechanisms, we constructed a transcriptional regulatory network of TNFRSF10B containing 109 miRNAs and 47 TFs. Taken together, our results demonstrated that gossypol triggered antitumor effects against NPC cells, indicating its applicability for the management of NPC.

In this study, the biotransformation of ursolic acid by Circinella muscae CGMCC 3.2695 was investigated. Scaled-up biotransformation reactions yielded ten metabolites. Their structures were established based on extensive NMR and HR-ESI-MS data analyses, and four of them are new compounds. C. muscae could selectively catalyze hydroxylation, lactonisation, carbonylation and carboxyl reduction reactions. Furthermore, all the identified metabolites were evaluated for their anti-neuroinflammatory activities in LPS-induced BV-2 cells. Most metabolites displayed pronounced inhibitory effect on nitric oxide (NO) production. The results suggested that biotransformed derivatives of ursolic acid might be served as potential neuroinflammatory inhibitors.

The in-situ synthesis of calcium silicate in the fiber can not only meet the requirements for high loading of paper, but also make up and improve the reduction of paper performance caused by filling. In this investigation, the effects of pulp type, beating degree, fiber ratio, reaction time, rotational speed, dosage of lime milk and dispersant on calcium silicate loading and paper properties were investigated. The results showed that when the beating degree was 40 °SR, the ratio of softwood and hardwood pulp was 1:1, the reaction time was 60 min, the rotation speed was 600 r·min−1, the dosage of lime milk was 1.33 times of the theoretical amount, and the dosage of cationic polyacrylamide was 0.3 % (absolutely dry pulp), the ash content of hand-made sheet was 41.2 %, and the loading amount of calcium silicate was 26.3 %. Under this condition, the comprehensive performance of paper was the best.

Refractory lining is an important part of microwave heating equipment, and its wave-transparent effect significantly influences microwave heating efficiency. The complex dielectric constant of the material is the main factor determining its wave-transparent properties. In this study, with aluminium silicate fibreboard (ASF) as the study object, the complex dielectric constant of this material was investigated at temperatures ranging from 25 °C to 1000 °C at 915 MHz and 2450 MHz, respectively. Based on the theory of transmission lines, the wave-transparent properties of the material during the entire microwave heating process were calculated and analysed. It has been found that the dielectric constant and loss factor at both frequencies increase significantly when the temperature exceeds 700 °C; the wave-transparent properties of this material decrease with increasing temperature and present a fluctuating trend as the material thickness increases, with maximum and minimum values; in TM polarization mode, there is an optimal angle of incidence for total transmission, which contributes to a better overall wave-transparent effect of the material in TM polarization mode than that in TE polarization mode. Finally, this study provides the preferred thickness values at different working frequencies and temperatures under vertical incidence of electromagnetic waves for reference. This study is of certain theoretical significance to the research on the change mechanism of the material's dielectric and wave-transparent properties and has practical guidance on the optimization of microwave heating equipment and the selection of the technological parameters of furnace linings.

As an effective targeted therapy for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), sorafenib resistance has been frequently reported in recent years, with the activation of autophagy by cancer cells under drug stress being one of the crucial reasons. Sorafenib treatment could enhance autophagy in HCC cells and autophagy is also considered as an important mechanisms of drug resistance. Therefore, the inhibition of autophagy is a potential way to improve the sensitivity and eliminate drug resistance to restore their efficacy. To determine whether autophagy is involved in sorafenib resistance and investigate its role in the regulation of HepG2 cells’ (an HCC cell line) chemosensitivity to sorafenib, we simultaneously treated HepG2 with sorafenib and 3-Methyladenine (3-MA) (a common autophagy inhibitor). First, by performing cell counting kit 8 cell viability assay, Hoechst 33342 apoptosis staining, and Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide apoptosis kit detection, we found that both sorafenib and 3-MA effectively inhibitted the proliferative activity of HepG2 cells and induced their apoptosis to a certain extent. This effect was significantly enhanced after these two drugs were combined, which was also confirmed by the increased expression of apoptosis-related proteins. Subsequently, by using AAV-GFP-LC3 transfection methods and transmission electron microscopy, we found that both the number and activity of autophagosomes in HepG2 cells in sorafenib and 3-MA group were significantly reduced, suggesting that autophagy activity was inhibited, and this result was consistent with the expression results of autophagy-related proteins. Therefore, we conclude that 3-MA may attenuate the acquired drug resistance of sorafenib by counteracting its induction of autophagy activity, thus enhancing its sensitivity to advanced HCC therapy.

Background The hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α)/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/VEGF receptor subtype 2 (VEGFR-2) pathway has been implicated in ischemia/reperfusion injury. The aim of this study was to clarify whether whole-body hypothermic targeted temperature management (HTTM) inhibits the HIF-1α/VEGF/VEGFR-2 pathway in a swine model of cardiac arrest (CA) and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Methods Twenty-four domestic male Beijing Landrace pigs were used in this study. CA was electrically induced with ventricular fibrillation and left untreated for 8 min. Return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) was achieved in 16 pigs, which were randomly assigned either to normothermia at 38 °C or to HTTM at 33 °C (each group: n = 8). HTTM was intravascularly induced immediately after ROSC. The core temperature was reduced to 33 °C and maintained for 12 h after ROSC. The serum levels of HIF-1α, VEGF, VEGFR-2, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were measured with enzyme immunoassay kits 0.5, 6, 12, and 24 h after ROSC. The expression of HIF-1α, VEGF, and VEGFR-2 in cerebral cortical tissue was measured by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis 24 h after ROSC. Neurological deficit scores and brain cortical tissue water content were evaluated 24 h after ROSC. Results The serum levels of HIF-1α, VEGF, and VEGFR-2 were significantly increased under normothermia within 24 h after ROSC. However, these increases were significantly reduced by HTTM. HTTM also decreased cerebral cortical HIF-1α, VEGF, and VEGFR-2 mRNA and protein expression 24 h after ROSC (all p

The starch used to enhance the paper surface dissolves in water during the production process and forms pollutants that accumulate in water when old corrugated cardboard (OCC) is returned to a paper mill for pulping and reuse. At present, anaerobic fermentation is widely used in the paper industry to treat starch-containing wastewater, producing biogas energy, or oxidative decomposition, which is a huge waste of valuable starch resources. Phosphomolybdic acid (PMo12) is a highly selective catalyst for the oxidation of carbohydrates; therefore, PMo12 can be envisaged as a suitable catalyst to convert waste starch into glycolic acid, an important high added-value chemical. In this paper, the catalytic oxidation technology of PMo12 was explored to produce glycolic acid from starch contained in OCC papermaking wastewater, and the kinetics and influencing factors of the catalytic oxidation reaction were studied. The results indicated that the PMo12-catalyzed oxidation of starch followed a first-order reaction; the reaction rate constant increased with increasing the temperature, the apparent activation energy of starch to monosaccharide was 104.7 kJ mol−1, the apparent activation energies of starch and monosaccharide to humins were 126.5 and 140.5 kJ mol−1, and the apparent activation energy of monosaccharide to glycolic acid was 117.2 kJ mol−1. The yields of monosaccharide and glycolic acid were 80.7 wt% and 12.9 wt%, respectively, and the utilization of starch resources was about 90.0 wt% under the following reaction conditions: temperature, 145 °C; reaction time, 120 min; pH, 2. Therefore, the feasibility of the PMo12-catalyzed oxidation of starch to produce high value-added glycolic acid is demonstrated, which has theoretical guiding significance and potential application value for the clean production and resource utilization of waste starch in the OCC papermaking process.

The performance of asymmetric supercapacitors (ASCs) is limited by the poorly matched electrochemical kinetics of available electrode materials, which generally results in reduced energy density and inadequate voltage utilization. Herein, a porous conductive graphene aerogel (GA) scaffold was decorated with copper cobalt selenide ((CuCo)Se2) or iron selenide (FeSe2) to construct positive and negative electrodes, respectively. The (CuCo)Se2/GA and FeSe2/GA electrodes exhibited high specific capacitances of 672 and 940 F g−1, respectively, at 1 A g−1. The capacitance contributions from the Co3+/Co2+ and Fe3+/Fe2+ redox couple for the positive and negative electrodes were determined to elucidate the energy storage mechanism. Furthermore, the kinetics study of the two electrodes was performed, revealing b values ranging between 0.7 and 1 at various scan rates and demonstrating that the surface-controlled processes played the dominant role, leading to fast charge storage capability for both electrodes. Fabrication of an ASC device with a configuration of (CuCo)Se2/GA//FeSe2/GA resulted in a voltage of 1.6 V, a high energy density of 39 W h kg−1, and a power density of 702 W kg−1. The excellent electrochemical performances of the (CuCo)Se2/GA and FeSe2/GA electrodes demonstrate their potential applications in energy storage devices.

The evolution of the electronic structure and optical transition upon n-doping of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) films is elucidated with photoelectron spectroscopy, optical absorption, density functional theory (DFT), and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) calculations. Optical absorption measurements extending into near infrared show two low-energy absorption features at low doping ratios and an additional peak at a higher energy of similar to 2.2 eV that disappears with increasing doping ratios. A gap state (i.e., polaronic state) close to the Fermi level and a significantly destabilized highest valence band appear in the experimentally measured ultraviolet photoelectron spectra. These experimental results are interpreted by the TD-DFT calculations, which show that the lower energy peaks originate from the excitation from polaronic states to the conduction band, while the higher energy peak mainly originates from the destabilized valence band to conduction band transitions and only appears at low doping ratios (c(red) Funding Agencies|Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation project "Tail of the Sun"; Swedish Foundation for Strategic ResearchSwedish Foundation for Strategic Research [SE13-0060]; Swedish Research CouncilSwedish Research CouncilEuropean Commission [2016-05498, 2016-05990]; Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linkoping University [2009 00971]

The aim of this study was to detect the novel copy number variation (CNV) locus of NCAM2 gene in Chinese Holstein, and to analyze the effect of the novel CNV locus in NCAM2 gene on milk composition...

Natural rubber (NR) was reinforced in situ with nano CaCO3 that had been modified with methacrylic acid (MAA)(M-CaCO3). The structures and properties of the resulting composites were studied using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR-FTIR), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), and Mooney viscometer and mechanical tests. The results show that when NR is physically blended with CaCO3 and MAA, (Ca2+)-(−OOC) is formed in situ. When dicumyl peroxide (DCP) is added, the (Ca2+)-(−OOC) self-homopolymerizes, and during the curing process poly-(Ca2+)-(−OOC) is formed and grafts to the molecular chains of the NR via carbon-carbon double bonds. The NR/M-CaCO3 composites formed have close interfacial interaction and are well dispersed. Compared with the NR composites reinforced with unmodified nano CaCO3, the NR/M-CaCO3 composites have very different cure characteristics, rheological behavior, and mechanical properties, and these characteristics and properties show a significant relationship with the loading of M-CaCO3.

Developing dopant-free hole transporting materials (HTMs) is of vital importance for addressing the notorious stability issue of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, efficient dopant-free HTMs are scarce. Herein, we improve the performance of dopant-free HTMs featuring with a quinoxaline core via rational π-extension. Upon incorporating rotatable or chemically fixed thienyl substitutes on the pyrazine ring, the resulting molecular HTMs TQ3 and TQ4 show completely different molecular arrangement as well as charge transporting capabilities. Comparing with TQ3, the coplanar π-extended quinoxaline based TQ4 endows enriched intermolecular interactions and stronger π-π stacking, thus achieving a higher hole mobility of 2.08×10-4 cm2 V-1 s-1 . It also shows matched energy levels and high thermal stability for application in PSCs. Planar n-i-p structured PSCs employing dopant-free TQ4 as HTM exhibits power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 21 % with excellent long-term stability.

Therapeutic angiogenesis with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is promising for the clinical treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD). However, the heterogeneous proangiogenic nature of MSCs is a key challenge in developing more effective treatments with MSCs for therapeutic angiogenesis purposes. Here, we propose to enhance the therapeutic function of human placenta-derived MSCs (hP-MSCs) in hindlimb ischemia therapy by using nitric oxide (NO)-releasing chitosan hydrogel (CS-NO). Our data showed that the co-transplantation of CS-NO hydrogel with hP-MSCs remarkably improved the grafting of hP-MSCs and ameliorated the functional recovery of ischemic hindlimbs. Moreover, we found that the neovascularization of damaged hindlimbs was significantly increased after co-transplanting CS-NO hydrogel and hP-MSCs, as confirmed by bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Further analysis revealed an endothelial-like status transformation of hP-MSCs in the presence of NO, which was identified as a potential mechanism contributing to the enhanced endothelium-protective and proangiogenic capacities of hP-MSCs that promote angiogenesis in mouse models of hindlimb ischemia. In conclusion, this study provides a promising approach for using NO hydrogel to improve the proangiogenic potency of MSCs in ischemic diseases, and the strategy used here facilitates the development of controlled-release scaffolds for enhancing the therapeutic efficiency of MSCs in angiogenic therapy. Statement of significance The heterogeneous proangiogenic nature of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is a key challenge in developing more effective treatments with MSCs for therapeutic angiogenesis purposes. In this study, we investigated whether nitric oxide (NO)-releasing chitosan hydrogel (CS-NO) could improve the proangiogenic potency of MSCs in ischemic diseases. Our results revealed an endothelial-like status transformation of human placenta-derived MSCs (hP-MSCs) in the presence of NO, which was identified as a potential mechanism contributing to the enhanced endothelium-protective and proangiogenic capacities of hP-MSCs that promote angiogenesis in mouse models of hindlimb ischemia. The strategy for enhancing the pro-angiogenic activity of MSCs with biomaterials provides a practical idea for overcoming the challenges associated with the clinical application of MSCs in therapeutic angiogenesis.

Nanocarbon materials have become a class of ideal supports for surface molecularly imprinted materials because of their low density, high strength, environment-friendliness, controllable structure and modifiable surface. Thus, nanocarbon-based surface molecularly imprinted polymer adsorbents (C-SMIPs) have achieved satisfactory performance for the removal and enrichment of organic compound pollutants in liquids. This review summarizes C-SMIPs based on various nanocarbon materials for the treatment of ecological environmental pollutants in water during the last five years. The structural characteristics and adsorption features of these C-SMIPshave been comprehensively and systematically analyzed and compared. It is found that the low limit of adsorption capacity is usually decided by the carbon support while the upper limit depends more on the imprinted layer. Specifically, C-SMIPs based on porous carbon nanospheres or graphene oxide usually have large adsorption capacities. It can also be inferred that the essence of C-SMIP adsorption towards target molecules is physical adsorption at the solid-liquid interfaces, the chemical-like adsorption found in the literature is caused by an extremely strong interaction between active sites and the adsorbate by multiple non-covalent bonds like ionic bonds, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions, and van der Waals forces, which settles the long-standing controversy on the nature of adsorption for C-SMIPs. Moreover, analysis and discussion of the literature provide some theoretical and practical evidence for support optimization, imprinting method amelioration, and adsorption parameter selection, which may promote the development and applications of C-SMIPs.

Background: Paclitaxel plays a pivotal role in the chemotherapy of breast cancer, but resistance to this drug is an important obstacle in the treatment. It is reported that microRNA-152-3p (miR-152-3p) is involved in tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer, but whether it is involved in paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer remains unknown. Materials and methods: We examined the expression of miR-152-3p in breast cancer tissues and cells by qRT-PCR. After transfecting paclitaxel-resistant MCF-7/TAX cells with miR-152-3p mimics, we analyzed the function of miR-152-3p in these cells by MTT assay and flow cytometry. We screened the target gene, endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 (EPAS1), using bioinformatics analysis and verified it with the dual luciferase reporter gene experiment. The relationship between EPAS1 and miR-152-3p and their roles in paclitaxel resistance of breast cancer were further investigated using RNA interference and transfection techniques. Results: The expression of miR-152-3p in normal breast tissues and cells was markedly higher than that in breast cancer. Overexpression of miR-152-3p decreased the survival rate and increased the apoptosis rate and sensitivity of MCF-7/TAX cells to paclitaxel. We confirmed that EPAS1 is the target of miR-152-3p and is negatively regulated by this miRNA. Moreover, transfection with EPAS1 siRNA enhanced the susceptibility and apoptosis rate of MCF-7/TAX cells to paclitaxel. Co-transfection of miR-152-3p mimics and EPAS1 increased paclitaxel sensitivity and apoptosis induced by the drug. Conclusion: miR-152-3p inhibits the survival of MCF-7/TAX cells and promotes their apoptosis by targeting the expression of EPAS1, thereby, enhancing the sensitivity of these breast cancer cells to paclitaxel.

Herein, following the strategy of sustainable, environment protection, circular economy development, carboxylate-modification lignosulfonate polymer (M-LSP) was synthesized from lignosulfonate by solvent-free esterifying with maleic anhydride (MA) by one step, and was used to remove the dyes by adsorption. FT-IR and XPS were used to confirm successful preparation of M-LSP. The result is that: M-LSP is apt to adsorb cationic dye. In single system, the super adsorption performance of M-LSP for methylene blue (MB) is depended on the carboxyl content in M-LSP. M-LSP performs its remarkable adsorption performance for MB stably at pH 7.0 ~ 10.0, and the maximum adsorption capacity of M-LSP for MB is up to 613.5 mg/g according to Langmuir isotherm model. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models are more suitable to descript adsorption process of M-LSP for MB. In binary and ternary system, the M-LSP adsorbs the cationic dyes simultaneously, but selectively adsorbs MB. M-LSP can effectively remove cationic dyes in simulate dyestuff water. Moreover, the removal percentage of regenerated M-LSP decreases only 8.4% after 4 desorption-resorption cycles. The results indicated that M-LSP could be a candidate for remediation of real printing and dyeing or textile wastewater containing cationic dyes.

Sulfane sulfur activates actinorhodin production and sporulation in Streptomyces coelicolor. A gene cluster controlling intracellular sulfane sulfur levels is identified. Genetically modifying this gene cluster can change sulfane sulfur levels, thereby altering the actinorhodin production and sporulation., Summary Sulfane sulfur, including polysulfide and persulfide, is a newly identified cellular component present in microorganisms; however, its physiological functions are unclear. Streptomyces coelicolor M145 is a model strain of actinomycetes, which produces several polyketides, including actinorhodin. Herein, we found that both exogenously added and endogenously generated sulfane sulfur increased the actinorhodin production and accelerated spore formation of S. coelicolor M145. This bacterial species carries a natural gene circuit containing four genes that encode a CsoR‐like transcription factor (ScCsoR), persulfide dioxygenase (ScPDO), rhodanese and a sulfite transporter, which were shown to be responsible for sensing and removal of excessive sulfane sulfur. ScCsoR was observed to bind to the promoters of the four genes, thus repressing their transcription. Sulfane sulfur modified Cys37 of ScCsoR, and the modified ScCSoR did not bind to the promoters, thereby activating the transcription of ScPDO. The deletion of ScCsoR decreased cellular sulfane sulfur, while the deletion of ScPDO increased its levels. The increased sulfane sulfur promoted actinorhodin production and sporulation. This study unveiled a natural gene circuit for maintaining sulfane sulfur homeostasis in bacteria. Further, we identified the trigger effect of sulfane sulfur on actinorhodin production, presenting a new approach for activating polyketide gene clusters in actinomycetes.

European taurine and East Asian taurine are two main clades in Bos taurus, but their genomic differences are not clearly elucidated. Here, we sequenced 16 Mongolian cattle genomes and compared them to the 92 genomes of 10 representative breeds worldwide. We found the highest LD level in Mishima cattle and the fastest LD decay in European taurine. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Mongolian, Hanwoo and Mishima cattle were clustered into East Asian taurine. From selective sweep, gene annotation, functional enrichment and differential expression analysis, we identified selective signals including genes and/or pathways related to rapid growth and large body size in European taurine, and superior meat quality in East Asian taurine. Our findings will help us understand the evolutionary history and formation process of the breeds and provide theoretical materials regarding the genetic mechanism underlying breed characteristics and molecular breeding programmes of the taurine clades in the future.

This study developed an innovative process for the treatment of low-ammonium wastewater in a single-stage bioreactor over 250 days. Partial nitritation-anammox and partial denitritation-anammox (PN/A-PDN/A) processes were combined under aerobic/anoxic operation, and a high nitrogen removal efficiency (94.6%) was obtained at a nitrogen removal rate of 0.54 kg N m-3 d-1 and a chemical oxygen demand to total inorganic nitrogen (COD/TIN) ratio of 0.28. Mass balance analysis identified anammox as the dominant nitrogen removal pathway, achieving 88.3% nitrogen loss. The abundance of anammox bacteria and their bioactivity rapidly increased and were effectively maintained, as indicated by qPCR and bioactivity tests. The PN/A-PDN/A process provided two pathways of nitrite production for anammox, which favored the enrichment of anammox bacteria and stable processing. In addition, the enrichment of anammox bacteria was promoted by selective floc discharge since anammox bacteria are mainly located in granules (relative abundance of 29.64 ± 7.89%). Competitive organisms (including heterotrophic bacteria and nitrite oxidizing bacteria), enriched in flocs, were washed out. Overall, these findings confirmed anammox, sequentially combined with PN and PDN via aerobic/anoxic strategy, as a promising alternative for mainstream anammox.

In this study, a novel adsorbent of lanthanum-modified platanus ball fiber biochar (La-TC) was developed for efficient adsorption and reuse of phosphate from actual wastewater. La-TC adsorbing phosphate could be used as agricultural fertilizer. The saturated adsorption capacity of phosphate on La-TC was 148.11 mg/g at dosage of 0.4 g/L, initial solution pH of 6.0, contact time of 20 min, and temperature of 35 ℃, which was much higher than most phosphate biochar adsorbents. Simultaneously, La-TC had a wide pH (3–9) adsorption stability, a strong ability to resist interference of anti-competitive anion (SO2−4 and NO− 3), and an outstanding regeneration ability. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to reveal the adsorption mechanism of La-TC to phosphate, including electrostatic adsorption, ligand exchange, and complexation mechanisms. In the fixed bed column experiment of phosphorus removal from real wastewater, the maximum treated bed volume was 420, 440 and 480 (BV) under the bed flow of 1 mL/min and La-TC of 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 g, respectively. Outcomes suggested that La-TC had a broad prospect of engineering application for removal and reuse of phosphate from wastewater, also realizing the resource utilization of wasted platanus ball.

Copy number variation mainly refers to the copy number change of DNA fragments from 1 to 5 Mb. The deletion, duplication, inversion and ectopic of these fragments are collectively referred to as CN...

Copy number variations (CNVs) were similar to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertion-deletion (InDel), regarded as genetic variations in many species. CNV is defined as the variable change of DNA segment length compared with the reference genome, including gains or losses from 50 bp to several mega bases. The functions of USP16 gene are diverse, such as regulating the cell cycle, DNA damage, histone H2A deubiquitination or mitotic nuclear division. To analyze the relationship between CNV of USP16 gene and milk traits in Chinese Holstein, we used qPCR to detect the individuals of Chinese Holstein (n = 180). The results showed that the effect of USP16 gene CNV on daily milk yield and fat percentage had significant difference (p < 0.05). The gain was the advantage type in daily milk yield and the loss was the advantage type in fat percentage. Therefore, CNV of USP16 gene is an important factor of milk traits in Chinese Holstein. Meanwhile, it may be used as a molecular marker for assisted selection of milk traits in Chinese Holstein, which provides a theoretical basis for the genetic improvement of cow breeds in China.

Salmonella spp. are important food-borne pathogens that can cause diseases in humans. Many detection methods have been established in Salmonella spp. using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) or reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). The detection limits of these assays varied from 1 CFU/reaction to 104 CFU/reaction, from 100 fg genomic DNA/reaction to 10 pg genomic DNA/reaction, or from 2.0×101 CFU/mL to 107 CFU/mL for food samples. In this study, LAMP assays were developed using genomic DNA for the detection of Salmonella spp. Two sets of LAMP primers were designed using the invA gene and the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region (ITS) of S. enterica as the target sequences for two LAMP assays. The detection limits of the two methods were respectively 20 pg S. enterica DNA/reaction and 10 pg S. enterica DNA/reaction at the optimized temperature, and the LAMP methods were of high repeatability and specificity for S. enterica detection. This study provides a baseline for the application of LAMP for the detection of food-borne pathogenic bacteria.

The simultaneous chemical phosphorus removal (SCPR) process has been widely applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) due to the high phosphorus removal efficiency through the synergy of biological and chemical phosphorus removal (BPR and CPR). However, phosphorus removal reagents could affect the bacterial community structure in the SCPR system and further affect the BPR process. The BPR phenotypes and community structures in the SCPR system, especially the population of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), are not completely clear. In order to clarify these problems, the phosphorus removal performance and the PAO population in a full-scale SCPR system were investigated. Results showed that diverse PAOs still existed in the SCPR system though the BPR phenotypes were not observed. However, the relative abundances of Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera, the two most important genera of PAOs, were only 0.59% and 0.20%, respectively, while the relative abundances of Competibacter and Defluviicoccus, two genera of glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs), were as high as 5.77% and 1.28%, respectively. Batch tests showed that PAOs in the SCPR system still had a certain polyphosphate accumulating metabolic activity, which could gradually recover after stopping the addition of chemical reagents. This study provided a microbiological basis for the SCPR system to recover the enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) performance under suitable conditions, which could reduce the dosage of chemical reagents and the operational cost.

Adipose development is regulated by a series of complex processes, and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including circular RNAs (circRNAs), play important roles in regulating proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes. In this study, we profiled circRNA expression in cattle fat tissue during calf and adult developmental stages and detected 14,274 circRNA candidates. Some circRNAs are differentially expressed between two developmental stages. We characterized circFUT10, named for its host gene FUT10, a highly expressed and abundant circRNA. Luciferase screening, an RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, quantitative real-time PCR, and western blotting assays indicated that circFUT10 directly binds let-7c/let-e, and PPARGC1B (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1-β) is identified as a target of let-7c. Flow cytometry, EdU (5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine) incorporation, a CCK-8 (cell counting kit-8) assay, oil red O staining, and western blotting assays demonstrated that circFUT10 promotes adipocyte proliferation and inhibits cell differentiation by sponging let-7c. The results demonstrate that circFUT10 binding of let-7c promotes cell proliferation and inhibits cell differentiation by targeting PPARGC1B in cattle adipocytes., Graphical Abstract, In order to verify the potential function of circRNA in adipose tissue, high-throughput sequencing of Qinchuan subcutaneous adipose tissue was performed, and circFUT10 was differentially expressed in calf and adult cattle adipose tissue. Experimental verification showed that circFUT10 promoted the proliferation of adipose cells and inhibited their differentiation by combining with let-7 family members.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) has attracted extensive attention as a potentially sustainable and economical municipal wastewater treatment process. However, its large-scale application is limited by unstable nitrite (NO2--N) production and associated excessive nitrate (NO3--N) residue. Thus, our study sought to evaluate an efficient alternative to the current nitritation-based anammox process substituting NO2--N supply by partial-denitrification (PD; NO3--N → NO2--N) under mainstream conditions. Ammonia (NH4+-N) was partly oxidized to NO3--N and removed via a PD coupled anammox (PD/A) process by mixing the nitrifying effluents with raw wastewater (NH4+-N of 57.87 mg L-1, COD of 176.02 mg L-1). Excellent effluent quality was obtained with< 5 mg L-1 of total nitrogen (TN) despite frequent temperature fluctuations (25.7-16.3 °C). The genus Thauera (responsible for PD) was the dominant denitrifiers (36.4%-37.4%) and coexisted with Candidatus Brocadia (anammox bacteria; 0.33%-0.46%). The efficient PD/A allowed up to 50% reduction in aeration energy consumption, 80% decrease in organic resource demand, and lower nitrous oxide (N2O) production compared to conventional nitrification/denitrification process. Our study demonstrates that coupling anammox with flexible NO2--N supply has great potential as a stable and efficient mainstream wastewater treatment.

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on CuII/I bipyridyl or phenanthroline complexes as redox shuttles have achieved very high open-circuit voltages (VOC , more than 1 V). However, their short-circuit photocurrent density (JSC ) has remained modest. Increasing the JSC is expected to extend the spectral response of sensitizers to the red or NIR region while maintaining efficient electron injection in the mesoscopic TiO2 film and fast regeneration by the CuI complex. Herein, we report two new D-A-π-A-featured sensitizers termed HY63 and HY64, which employ benzothiadiazole (BT) or phenanthrene-fused-quinoxaline (PFQ), respectively, as the auxiliary electron-withdrawing acceptor moiety. Despite their very similar energy levels and absorption onsets, HY64-based DSSCs outperform their HY63 counterparts, achieving a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.5 %. PFQ is superior to BT in reducing charge recombination resulting in the near-quantitative collection of photogenerated charge carriers.

The self-lubricating braided composite used in oscillating bearing was tested and evaluated under the extreme operating conditions. The Kevlar/PTFE braided composite was investigated on an oscillatory high load (> 30 MPa) and high frequency (> 2 Hz) tester with oscillating frequency ranging from 2.5 to 10 Hz and load from 30 to 50 MPa. Effects of the oscillating frequency and load on the friction coefficient and wear loss were obtained. Results show that the friction coefficient is mainly affected by oscillating frequency under higher loads. It firstly decreases with frequency and later is toward dynamic stability and fluctuates regionally with varying load. Friction surface and wear debris were analyzed under varied load and oscillating frequency using scanning electron microscope. Effects of the oscillating frequency and load on the friction coefficient and wear loss of the Kevlar/PTFE braided composite under high load condition were discussed. It is obtained that the friction surface is mainly damaged due to high frequency rather than high load. This study could provide a basis for performance matching and selection of composite under varied operating conditions.

Atherosclerosis is the pathological basis of most cardiovascular diseases. Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) is a main mechanism of cholesterol homeostasis and involves the direct transport of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesteryl ester by selective cholesterol uptake. Hepatic scavenger receptor class B member 1 (SR-BI) overexpression can effectively promote RCT and reduce atherosclerosis. SR-BI may be an important target for prevention or treatment of atherosclerotic disease. In our study, we inserted human SR-BI mRNA 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) downstream of the luciferase reporter gene, to establish a high-throughput screening model based on stably transfected HepG2 cells and to screen small-molecule compounds that can significantly enhance the mRNA stability of the SR-BI gene. Through multiple screenings of 25 755 compounds, the top five active compounds that have similar structures were obtained, with a positive rate of 0.19%. The five positive compounds could enhance the SR-BI expression and uptake of DiI-HDL in the hepatocyte HepG2. E238B-63 could also effectively extend the half-life of SR-BI mRNA and enhance the SR-BI mRNA and protein level and the uptake of DiI-HDL in hepatocytes in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. The structure-activity relationship analysis showed that the structure N-(3-hydroxy-2-pyridyl) carboxamide is possibly the key pharmacophore of the active compound, providing reference for acquiring candidate compounds with better activity. The positive small molecular compounds obtained in this study might become new drug candidates or lead compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and contribute to the further study of the posttranscriptional regulation mechanism of the SR-BI gene.

Commercial or clinical tissue adhesives are currently limited due to their weak bonding strength on wet biological tissue surface, low biological compatibility, and slow adhesion formation. Although catechol-modified hyaluronic acid (HA) adhesives are developed, they suffer from limitations: insufficient adhesiveness and overfast degradation, attributed to low substitution of catechol groups. In this study, we demonstrate a simple and efficient strategy to prepare mussel-inspired HA hydrogel adhesives with improved degree of substitution of catechol groups. Because of the significantly increased grafting ratio of catechol groups, dopamine-conjugated dialdehyde-HA (DAHA) hydrogels exhibit excellent tissue adhesion performance (i.e., adhesive strength of 90.0 ± 6.7 kPa), which are significantly higher than those found in dopamine-conjugated HA hydrogels (∼10 kPa), photo-cross-linkable HA hydrogels (∼13 kPa), or commercially available fibrin glues (2-40 kPa). At the same time, their maximum adhesion energy is 384.6 ± 26.0 J m-2, which also is 40-400-fold, 2-40-fold, and ∼8-fold higher than those of the mussel-based adhesive, cyanoacrylate, and fibrin glues, respectively. Moreover, the hydrogels can gel rapidly within 60 s and have a tunable degradation suitable for tissue regeneration. Together with their cytocompatibility and good cell adhesion, they are promising materials as new biological adhesives.

As a commonly used anti-diabetic drug, metformin (MEF) is frequently detected in different water bodies which pose a potential threat to human health and the ecological environment. In this study, oxidative degradation of MEF under ultraviolet (UV) light was studied, and its influencing factors, photolysis mechanism, and intermediates identification carried out as well. The results showed that the hydroxyl radical contributed 73% during the 6 h MEF photolysis process among the reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, triplet excited-state organic matter and singlet oxygen also played a role in the photolysis process. The reaction rates of hydroxyl radical and singlet oxygen with MEF are (6.45 ± 0.4) × 109 and (5.4 ± 0.7) × 106 L·(mol s)−1, respectively. By calculating the light screening effect of environmental factors, it is found that the presence of NO3− and Cl− had a greater excitation effect on ROS than the screening effect, and generally promoted the photolysis rates of MEF from 90.3 to 193.5% and from 16.1 to 80.6% during the 6-h reaction process, respectively. For bicarbonate and fulvic acid, the light screening effects were dominant and inhibited photolysis rates by 10–52% and 13–71%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the photoreactivity of environmental factors in water is the cause of the different photodegradation rates of MEF. The oxidative degradation product of MEF under UV light was detected by UPLC/Q-TOF as methylbiguanide (MBG), 2,4-diamino-1,3,5-triazine (2,4-DAT), biguanide (BGN), 1,1-dimethylguanidine (1,1-DiMBG), 4-amino-2-imino-1-methyl-1,2-dihydro-1, 3,5-triazine (4,2,1-AIMT), and 2-amino-4-methylamino-1,3,5-triazine (2,4-AMT). The result which showed that the primary sites of ∙OH attacked is consistent with that of density functional theory calculation.

This study presents a new method for energy-efficient wastewater treatment that synergizes the partial-denitrification, anammox, and in-situ fermentation (SPDAF) processes in an up-flow reactor. Nitrate-containing wastewater and actual domestic sewage were fed into this SPDAF system, which was operated for 180 days without the addition of external carbon sources and aeration. The total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal efficiency reached 93.1% with a low C/N ratio of 1.6, a NO

In this study, a new adsorbent of silicon-doped magnesium oxide (SMG) was developed for the recovery of nutrients from wastewater. The adsorption conditions including adsorbent dosage, initial solution pH, contact time, coexisting substances, N/P molar ratios, and reaction temperature were investigated. Analysis of field emission scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (FESEM-DES) and specific surface areas (BET) showed that SMG was a mesoporous adsorbent with SBET of 108.31 m2/g. The recycled sediment (RS) was identified as almost pure struvite via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The recovery efficiencies of SMG reached 43.25% of ammonia nitrogen and 97.31% of phosphate at dosage of 0.3 g/L, initial solution pH of 7.0, contact time of 20 min, and temperature of 298 K. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the maximum adsorption capacities of SMG were 170.93 mg/g of ammonia nitrogen and 420.89 mg/g of phosphate at N/P molar ratio of 1.5:1. Coexisting humic acid (HA), calcium (Ca2+), acetic acid (AA), and ferric ions (Fe3+) in nutrient solution hindered the struvite ordered precipitation. The adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order and Elovich kinetic models and was well described by both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms at room temperature. All results indicated that the most likely mechanism of nutrients recovery from wastewater was chemical precipitation and proved that SMG was a high-efficiency adsorption material in a wide pH range of 3.0–9.0 for simultaneous recovery of nutrients from wastewater.

Phytoremediation is a cost-effective and environment-friendly strategy for decontaminating heavy-metal-contaminated soil. However, the practical use of phytoremediation is constrained by the low biomass of plants and low bioavailability of heavy metals in soil. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of the metal chelator ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and EDTA in combination with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (Burkholderia sp. D54 or Burkholderia sp. D416) on the growth and metal uptake of the hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii Hance. According to the results, EDTA application decreased shoot and root biomass by 50% and 43%, respectively. The soil respiration and Cd, Pb, Zn uptake were depressed, while the photosynthetic rate, glutathione and phytochelatin (PC) contents were increased by EDTA application. Interestingly, Burkholderia sp. D54 and Burkholderia sp. D416 inoculation significantly relieved the inhibitory effects of EDTA on plant growth and soil respiration. Compared with the control, EDTA + D416 treatment increased the Cd concentration in shoots and decreased the Pb concentration in shoots and roots, but did not change the Zn concentration in S. alfredii plants. Furthermore, EDTA, EDTA + D54 and EDTA + D416 application increased the cysteine and PC contents in S. alfredii (p 0.05); among all tested PCs, the most abundant species was PC2, and compared with the control, the PC2 content was increased by 371.0%, 1158.6% and 815.6%, respectively. These results will provide some insights into the practical use of EDTA and PGPR in the phytoremediation of heavy-metal-contaminated soil by S. alfredii.

The hydrogels with injectable and self-healing properties were prepared from xanthan gum (XG) and silk fibroin (SF) by using sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP) as crosslinker. A three-stage model of oscillation-shear-oscillation experiment was designed to mimic injection process and to observe destruction and regeneration of the hydrogels after shear. The XG3-SF-STMP hydrogels immediately recovered to original storage modulus of 80.6%–93.8% on removing shear. The hydrogels were 3D printed into the self-supporting constructions of hydrogel fibers with connected porous structures, and the XG3-SF-STMP hydrogel fibers exhibited smaller width than XG3-STMP. Oscillation rheological behavior indicated that XG3-SF-STMP hydrogels formed rapidly and exhibited more solid-like gel behavior than XG3-STMP. The hydrogel structures were destroyed under a strain (100%) larger than critical strain, but were rebuilt under a small strain (1%) with recovery ratio of 91.36–93.96% within 120 s, suggesting a self-healing property. Introduction of SF particles into XG3-STMP crosslinked networks improved stiffness and retained recoverability. Carboxyl and phosphate groups in the hydrogel networks are beneficial for XG3-SF-STMP hydrogels to absorb enough liquid electrolytes, leading to effective ionic conductivity. The ion-conductive hydrogel with injectable, self-healing, controlled release and non-cytotoxic properties possesses a promising prospect for tissue engineering and drug release application.

SPARC is a cysteine-rich acidic secreted protein. It is a non-collagen component of bone, which is widely distributed in humans and animals and plays an important role. SPARC has been found in a variety of human cancers (breast cancer, stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, etc.) and diabetes-related research. Especially the muscle and fat metabolism are closely related. In this study, we used a DNA pool to detect a new SNP site (g.12454T > C). A total of 616 samples of four breeds of Qinchuan cattle (QC, n=176), Xianan cattle (XN, n=160), Pinan cattle (PN, n=136) and Jiaxian cattle (JX, n=144) were analyzed and identified with ARMS-PCR. In addition, we correlated SNP with growth traits and showed significant correlation with growth traits such as rump length, hip width, and body length (p

Magnetic hollow carbon nanospheres (MHCNSs) with a uniform particle size (40 nm) were ultrafast synthesized in 80 s by a novel microwave-assisted solvothermal method. MHCNSs exhibited an abundant pore structure and high surface activity. Further, their growth mechanism and adsorption property towards quinoline in coking wastewater were discussed. The results indicate that the surfactant P123 plays a template role in inducing the growth of MHCNSs. At 298 K, MHCNSs exhibited a saturated adsorption amount of 155.23 mg g−1 towards quinoline in coking wastewater. Also, they showed excellent regeneration and magnetic separation properties. Through investigating the effect of pH, it was found that MHCNSs realized their best adsorption capacity at pH = 7, and they possessed a relatively stable adsorption capacity in slightly alkaline coking wastewater. The adsorption kinetics, isotherm and thermodynamics results demonstrate that the pseudo-second-order and Langmuir–Freundlich are the most suitable models for quinoline adsorption on MHCNSs, and the process belongs to spontaneous and exothermic chemisorption. In general, MHCNSs could be a potential adsorbent for the effective adsorption of quinoline from coking wastewater.

Herein, we report a copper-catalysed site-selective thiolation of Csp3–H bonds of aliphatic amines. The method features a broad substrate scope and good functional group compatibility. Primary, secondary, and tertiary C–H bonds can be converted into C–S bonds with a high efficiency. The late-stage modification of biologically active compounds by this method was also demonstrated. Furthermore, the one-pot preparation of pyrrolidine or piperidine compounds via a domino process was achieved., A copper-catalyzed site-selective thiolation of Csp3–H bonds of aliphatic amines was developed. The method features a broad substrate scope and good functional group tolerance.

The objective of this study was to develop a reliable visual method for rapid detection of donkey components to protect consumers from commercial adulteration. Six specific loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primers targeted at donkey mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were designed, the mitochondrial DNA extraction simplified, the LAMP reaction system optimized, the specificity verified with mitochondrial DNA of horse, pork, cow, sheep, chicken, duck, and rabbit as negative controls, the detection limit determined with gradient dilution of adulterated meat with donkey meat, and the visual LAMP method for detection of donkey-derived ingredient in common meat products established. The results showed that the modified mitochondrial DNA extraction method was simple and repeatable, and the visual LAMP method with 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol sodium salt as indicator can accurately and specifically detect the donkey meat in common meat products, 1% detection limit. The study provided a promising solution for facilitating the surveillance of the commercial adulteration in processed meat.

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) is a chief plant–parasitic nematode of soybean. Application of synthetic chemical nematicides poses negative side effects to human health and the environment. Therefore, the search for a safe and effective approach is more relevant. This study evaluated the effects of Genistein and Daidzein on the physiological index of soybean cyst nematodes, individual morphology, reversal frequency, respiration, and body fluid leaking of second–stage juveniles (J2s) of soybean cyst nematode. The results showed that body length of J2s decreased, while stylet and tail transparent area elongated. Additionally, after the treatment, the body became hollow and shrunken, the J2s stiffened, whereas the reversal frequency decreased dramatically after 24 h of treatment. Moreover, the body fluid leakage was intensified and respiration was inhibited. Oxygen consumption decreased by 86.7 % and 70.1 %, while, in contrast, electrical conductivity increased by 40.1 % and 36 % at 100 μg mL−1 of Genistein and Daidzein, respectively, after 48 h of exposure. The smaller number of J2s in soybean roots, the slower development rate, and the abnormal sexual differentiation were found in greenhouse assay. Thus, Genistein and Daidzein, especially Genistein, have strong effects on the physiological index of soybean cyst nematodes. Moreover, the effects were time and dosage–dependent.

This work aimed to prepare breviscapine from Erigeron breviscapus and investigate its protection mechanism on uterine ischemia-reperfusion injury (UIRI) in rats. Breviscapine was extracted and separated from Erigeron breviscapus. Sixty female SD rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, model and breviscapine groups. The breviscapine group was treated with 5 mg/kg breviscapine for three days. Then, the UIRI model was established in model and breviscapine groups via uterine artery ischemia for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 60 min. At the end of reperfusion, compared with model group, in breviscapine group the uterine tissue superoxide dismutase activity was increased, and the malondialdehyde level was decreased; the uterine tissue tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 levels were decreased, and the IL-10 level was increased; the uterine tissue adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate and total adenine nucleotides levels were increased; the uterine cell apoptosis rate was decreased, the Bcl-2 protein expression level was increased, and the Bax protein expression level was decreased. In conclusion, breviscapine from Erigeron breviscapus can reduce the oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction, energy metabolism disorder and apoptosis in uterine tissue, thus exerting the protective effect on UIRI in rats.

Artificial small-diameter vascular grafts (SDVG) fabricated from synthetic biodegradable polymers, such as poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL), exhibit beneficial mechanical properties but are often faced with issues impacting their long-term graft success. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important physiological gasotransmitter with multiple roles in orchestrating vascular tissue function and regeneration. We fabricated a functional vascular graft by electrospinning of nitrate-functionalized poly(ε-caprolactone) that could release NO in a sustained manner via stepwise biotransformation in vivo. Nitrate-functionalized SDVG (PCL/NO) maintained patency following abdominal arterial replacement in rats. PCL/NO promoted cell infiltration at 3-months post-transplantation. In contrast, unmodified PCL SDVG showed slow cell in-growth and increased incidence of neointima formation. PCL/NO demonstrated improved endothelial cell (EC) alignment and luminal coverage, and more defined vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) layer, compared to unmodified PCL SDVG. In addition, release of NO stimulated Sca-1+ vascular progenitor cells (VPCs) to differentiate and contribute to rapid luminal endothelialization. Furthermore, PCL/NO inhibited the differentiation of VPCs into osteopontin-positive cells, thereby preventing vascular calcification. Overall, PCL/NO demonstrated enhanced cell ingrowth, EC monolayer formation and VSMC layer regeneration; whilst inhibiting calcified plaque formation. Our results suggested that PCL/NO could serve as promising candidates for improved and long-term success of SDVG implants.