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The rectangular cavity structure was applied to edges of the rear view mirror, numerical computation was conducted for aerodynamic noises of the rear view mirror, and the results of optimized structure were compared with those of the original structure to verify optimized effects. Wind tunnel test was then conducted on the rear view mirror to verify correctness of the computational model. Sound pressure levels of each observation point between experimental test and numerical simulation were basically consistent, where only parts of the peak frequency points were different. The computational accuracy was very high. Two large-size vortexes were in this region behind the common rear view mirror. Vortexes above the rear part of the rear view mirror rotated anticlockwise, while vortexes under it rotated clockwise. There were two vortexes in the region behind the optimized rear view mirror, but the energy intensity of this vortex near the side window panel was very weak. Pressures on the front part of the optimized rear view mirror were also smaller than those of the original structure. In addition, it could be found that radiation noise distribution of the rear view mirror on the lateral window presented symmetry. When lateral window effects were considered, the aerodynamic noise was more than results without considering the lateral window effects. Total noises of each observation point without considering the lateral window effects were 56.7 dB, 59.2 dB, 58.6 dB, 58.9 dB, 62.3 dB and 63.1 dB, respectively. Total noises at each observation point with consideration of the lateral window effects were 65.3 dB, 66.5 dB, 68.7 dB, 69.2 dB, 70.1 dB and 70.8 dB, respectively. Therefore, when aerodynamic noises of the rear view mirror were computed, impacts of lateral window effects must be considered, otherwise the computation would be seriously deviated from actual situations. The frequency corresponding to maximum peaks of the aerodynamic noise after optimization approached the self-oscillation frequency of the rectangular cavity. The result indicates that aerodynamic noises in the rectangular cavity were fluid self-oscillation caused by the cavity structure. In addition, within the analyzed frequency band, the aerodynamic noises of the optimized rear view mirror were smaller than those of the original structure. The maximum decrease rate of total noises of the optimized rear view mirror was 15.62%, and minimum decrease rate was 8.90%. Optimized effects were very significant, especially in the low frequency bands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and step-economical approach to access functionalized pyrrolizidine derivatives by a one-pot tandem sequence, including an aldol condensation and subsequent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition process, has been developed, starting from acetone, aldehyde, and proline. A number of substituted aromatic aldehydes were amenable to this transformation, and the desired products, racemic 7a-7w and chiral 9a-9m, were obtained with excellent regioselectivities and outstanding diastereoselectivities. Moreover, in situ NMR studies revealed MgSO4 could effectively promote the aldol condensation pathway in this tandem process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species of coral associated barnacle (Balanomorpha: Pyrgomatidae) sharing morphological features of Darwiniella (Anderson, 1992) and Galkinius Perreault, 2014 is described. It has a fused shell and opercular plates, characteristic of Darwiniella. However, the morphology of the tergum and somatic body are closer to Galkinius. Sequence divergence of mitochondrial DNA 12S rDNA and COI reveals this new species clusters with the Galkinius clade. Therefore this new form is assigned to the genus Galkinius, as G. maculosus sp. n. Concomitantly the diagnosis of Galkinius is emended to include species with fused or four-plated shells and fused opercular plates. The new species is distinct from all Galkinius species in having a fused shell. It inhabits the corals Lobophyllia spp. and is distributed from the Dongsha Atoll in the South China Sea, Orchid Island of Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean, to Madang in Papua New Guinea waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to detect mutations in the coding genes of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in three esophageal cancer cell lines and in tumor tissues obtained from 30 patients with esophageal cancer, to investigate the relationship between protein- and RNA-coding gene mutations and esophageal cancer. mtDNA was extracted and the coding genes were sequenced and analyzed by comparing the sequencing results with the complete mitochondrial genome of Homo sapiens. The results revealed 39 mutations in the three esophageal cancer cell lines; the genes with the highest mutation frequencies included mitochondrially encoded cytochrome B (MT-CYTB), NADH dehydrogenase 5 (MT-ND5) and MT-ND4 gene. A total of 216 mutations were identified in the 30 esophageal cancer tissues, including 182 protein-coding mutations, of which MT-CYTB and MT-ND5 genes exhibited higher mutation frequencies. The results of the present study indicated that mutations in the coding genes of mtDNA in esophageal cancer cells may be related to the occurrence of esophageal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work investigates the capability of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in enhancing the intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of the g-C3N4 nanosheets (NSs). We found that ssDNA adsorbed on g-C3N4 NSs could improve the catalytic activity of the nanosheets. The maximum reaction rate of the H2O2-mediated TMB oxidation catalyzed by the ssDNA-NSs hybrid was at least 4 times faster than that obtained with unmodified NSs. The activity enhancement could be attributed to the strong interaction between TMB and ssDNA mediated by electrostatic attraction and aromatic stacking and by both the length and base composition of the ssDNA The high catalytic activity of the ssDNA-NSs hybrid permitted sensitive colorimetric detection of exosomes if the aptamer against CD63, a surface marker of exosome, was employed in hybrid construction. The sensor recognized the differential expression of CD63 between the exosomes produced by a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and a control cell line (MCF-10A). Moreover, a similar trend was detected in the circulating exosomes isolated from the sera samples collected from breast cancer patients and healthy controls. Our work sheds lights on the possibility of using ssDNA to enhance the peroxidase like activity of nanomaterials and demonstrates the high potential of the ssDNA-NSs hybrid in clinical diagnosis using liquid biopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The sequence of nucleotides in an RNA determines the possible base pairs for an RNA fold and thus also determines the overall shape and function of an RNA. The Swellix program presented here combines a helix abstraction with a combinatorial approach to the RNA folding problem in order to compute all possible nonpseudoknotted RNA structures for RNA sequences. The Swellix program builds on the Crumple program and can include experimental constraints on global RNA structures such as the minimum number and lengths of helices from crystallography, cryoelectron microscopy, or in vivo crosslinking and chemical probing methods. Results: The conceptual advance in Swellix is to count helices and generate all possible combinations of helices rather than counting and combining base pairs. Swellix bundles similar helices and includes improvements in memory use and efficient parallelization. Biological applications of Swellix are demonstrated by computing the reduction in conformational space and entropy due to naturally modified nucleotides in tRNA sequences and by motif searches in Human Endogenous Retroviral (HERV) RNA sequences. The Swellix motif search reveals occurrences of protein and drug binding motifs in the HERV RNA ensemble that do not occur in minimum free energy or centroid predicted structures. Conclusions: Swellix presents significant improvements over Crumple in terms of efficiency and memory use. The efficient parallelization of Swellix enables the computation of sequences as long as 418 nucleotides with sufficient experimental constraints. Thus, Swellix provides a practical alternative to free energy minimization tools when multiple structures, kinetically determined structures, or complex RNA-RNA and RNA-protein interactions are present in an RNA folding problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new polar polyselenides Rb4Ge4Se12 (1) and Cs4Ge4Se12 (2) with rarely reported dimeric [Ge2Se4(μ-Se2)]4- units were synthesized. They present large second-harmonic generation (SHG) intensities of 7.5 and 6.5 times that of the benchmark AgGaS2 with type I phase-matching behavior, high laser-induced damaged thresholds, a wide transmission region and congruently melting behavior, making them excellent candidates for IR nonlinear optical (NLO) applications. The SHG functional motifs of both compounds are determined to be [Ge2Se4(μ-Se2)]4- unit by time-dependent density functional theory calculation, which further reveals that charge transfers from the lone pairs of terminal Se atoms to the five σ* orbitals of five-membered ring Ge2Se3 have a predominant contribution to the total SHG effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dense exopolysaccharide (EPS) matrix is crucial for cyanobacterial survival in terrestrial xeric environments, in which cyanobacteria undergo frequent expansion and shrinkage processes during environmental desiccation-rehydration cycles. However, it is unclear how terrestrial cyanobacteria coordinate the structural dynamics of the EPS matrix upon expansion and shrinkage to avoid potential mechanical stress while benefiting from the matrix. In the present study, we sought to answer this question by investigating the gene expression, protein dynamics, enzymatic characteristics, and biological roles of WspA, an abundantly secreted protein, in the representative terrestrial cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme. The results demonstrated that WspA is a novel β-galactosidase that facilitates softening of the EPS matrix by breaking the polysaccharide backbone under substantial moisture or facilitates the thickening and relinkage of the broken matrix during the drying process, and thus these regulations are well correlated with moisture availability or desiccation-rehydration cycles. This coordination of flexibility and rigidity of the cyanobacterial extracellular matrix may contribute to a favorable balance of cell growth and stress resistance in xeric environments. IMPORTANCE How the exopolysaccharide matrix is dynamically coordinated by exoproteins to cope with frequent expansion and shrinkage processes in terrestrial colonial cyanobacteria remains unclear. Here we elucidated the biochemical identity and biological roles of a dominant exoprotein in these regulation processes. Our study thus gained insight into this regulative mechanism in cyanobacteria to combat periodic desiccation. In addition, the filamentous drought-adapted cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme serves as an ideal model for us to explore this issue in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to complete and correct some results in the paper “Cross-migrative property for uninorms with different neutral elements” [15]. The proof of Remark 1 in [15] left out several very special cases, we complete the proof of this remark by Lemmas i, ii, iii, iv. Proposition 3.6 in [15] is not entirely correct since the authors actually only consider the case e1 < e2. In this paper we complement Proposition 3.6 and also correct the theorems whose proofs need to use the conclusion of Proposition 3.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly efficient energy utilization and metabolic homeostasis maintenance rely on neuromodulation. Altitude exposure is known to stimulate neuroendocrine systems to respond to acute hypoxia and adaptive acclimatization. However, limited data on how the adaptive regulation of the arcuate nucleus performs in the process of altitude acclimatization are available. In the present study, male Sprague Dawley rats were transported to Huashixia, Qinghai (with an altitude of 4400 m) from Xian (with an altitude of 300 m) by air; rats were consistently raised in Xian as control. Food uptake and body weight were measured consecutively after being subjected to high-altitude condition. Contents of plasma leptin and ghrelin were analyzed by the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Kits. Brain coronal sections were obtained, and neuropeptide Y (NPY), proopiomelanocotin (POMC), and c-fos immunoreactivity in arcuate nucleus were observed. Arcuate nucleus was isolated from the hypothalamus, and the mRNA of NPY and POMC were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our results showed both food consumption and body weight decreased in the high plateau compared with rats raised in the low-altitude condition. Plasma leptin increased at the early stage, and ghrelin decreased at a later stage after reaching the high plateau. The peak of c-fos immunoreactivity in the arcuate nucleus was at day 3 after reaching the high plateau. The expression level of NPY increased, and POMC decreased in the arcuate nucleus at day 7 after reaching the high plateau compared with the plain control group. These results indicate that the arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus performs an important function in regulating feeding behavior during altitude acclimatization. Our study suggested that altitude acclimation is regulated by the hypothalamus that received leptin and ghrelin signals to response by its microcircuit, including NPY- and POMC-neurons in the arcuate nucleus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work proposes the first hot-polymer fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer (HPFFPI) anemometer for sensing airflow. The proposed HPFFPI is based on a single-mode fiber (SMF) endface that is attached to a UV-cured polymer to form an ultracompact fiber Fabry-Perot microcavity. The proposed polymer microcavity was heated using a low-cost chip resistor with a controllable dc driving power to achieve a desired polymer's steady-state temperature (T) that exceeds the T of the surrounding environment. The polymer is highly sensitive to variations of T with high repeatability. When the hot polymer was cooled by the measured flowing air, the wavelength fringes of its optical spectra shifted. The HPFFPI anemometers have been experimentally evaluated for different cavity lengths and heating power values. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed HPFFPI responses well in terms of airflow measurement. A high sensitivity of 1.139 nm/(m/s) and a good resolution of 0.0088 m/s over the 0~2.54 m/s range of airflow were achieved with a cavity length of 10 μm and a heating power of 0.402 W. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrahigh toughness cementitious composites are a kind of high-performance cementitious material with a characteristic of ductile fracture. Based on the continuum damage mechanics theory and flexural fatigue damage model, two damage propagation models of ultrahigh toughness cementitious composites are built. One is a linear bilogarithmic model with J-integral range as its independent variable, while the other one is a linear model on a semilogarithmic scale with fatigue stress level as its independent variable. However, according to former research, the J-integral depends strongly on specimens' geometry, so the first damage propagation model is deeply influenced by material dimension. As a result, the second damage propagation model is more convenient in application, shows the material fatigue property in comparison with the first model. In order to prove these two models and obtain the parameters, a three-point flexural fatigue experiment on single-edge-notched fracture specimens is carried out. The results shows that the two models fit better with the experimental results, rather than the crack propagation law of ultrahigh toughness cementitious composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1), a metallopeptidase belonging to the M1 peptidase family, plays an important role in antigen processing in vivo. Additionally, many diseases are caused by ERAP1 perturbation. Thus, an efficient method for monitoring its content is extremely important for disease diagnosis and treatment. However, few fluorescent probes have been reported for efficiently monitoring ERAP1 in living cells and tissues. In this work, a two-photon fluorescent probe (SNCL) containing 1,8-naphthalimide (two-photon fluorophore), l-leucine (trigger moiety), and a methyl sulfonamide moiety (endoplasmic reticulum-targeting group) for imaging ERAP1 activity in living cells is reported for the first time. The optimized probe exhibited high sensitivity toward ERAP1, with about a 95-fold fluorescence enhancement at 550 nm. Herein, we monitored ERAP1 with SNCL by introducing interferon-? to induce ERAP1 activity in living cells. The content of ERAP1 was dependent on the redox state of the endoplasmic reticulum, which was demonstrated by using SNCL to monitor the enzymatic activity of ERAP1 under different redox conditions. Excitingly, SNCL was also successfully applied for monitoring ERAP1 in tumor tissue with an imaging depth of 50-120 µm. In conclusion, SNCL not only can be used for the sensitive detection of endogenous ERAP1 in living cells and tumor tissues but also can serve as a potentially useful tool to reveal ERAP1-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a great demand to measure protein-ligand interactions in rapid and low cost way. Here, we developed a microfluidic droplet-based thermal shift assay (dTSA) system for high-throughput screening of small-molecule protein ligands. The system is composed of a nanoliter droplet array chip, a microfluidic droplet robot, and a real-time fluorescence detection system. Total 324 assays could be performed in parallel in a single chip with an 18 x 18 droplet array. The consumption of dTSA for each protein or ligand sample was only 5 nL (femtomole scale), which is significantly reduced by over 3 orders of magnitude compared with those in 96- or 384-well plate-based systems. We also observed the implementation of TSA in nanoliter droplet format could substantially improve assay precision with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.2% (n = 50), which can be ascribed to the enhanced thermal conduction in small volume reactors. The dTSA system was optimized by studying the effect of droplet volumes, as well as protein and fluorescent dye (SYPRO Orange) concentrations. To demonstrate its potential in drug discovery, we applied the dTSA system in screening inhibitors of human thrombin with a commercial library containing 100 different small molecule compounds, and two inhibitors were successfully identified and confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial constructions of secondary metabolites are generally biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC)-based, and the forging of different BGC-sourced intermediates tends to be overlooked. Here, we show that the dalesconol bioassembly lines in Daldinia eschscholzii can sequester guest intermediates (i.e., building blocks produced outside the dalesconol biosynthetic gene cluster) to form arrays of skeletally undescribed molecules such as (+)-dalescone A, a potent inhibitor against the NLRP3 inflammasome activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S batteries) have attracted intense interest because of their high specific capacity and low cost, although they are still hindered by severe capacity loss upon cycling caused by the soluble lithium polysulfide intermediates. Although many structure innovations at the material and device levels have been explored for the ultimate goal of realizing long cycle life of Li-S batteries, it remains a major challenge to achieve stable cycling while avoiding energy and power density compromises caused by the introduction of significant dead weight/volume and increased electrochemical resistance. Here we introduce an ultrathin composite film consisting of naphthalimide-functionalized poly(amidoamine) dendrimers and graphene oxide nanosheets as a cycling stabilizer. Combining the dendrimer structure that can confine polysulfide intermediates chemically and physically together with the graphene oxide that renders the film robust and thin (<1% of the thickness of the active sulfur layer), the composite film is designed to enable stable cycling of sulfur cathodes without compromising the energy and power densities. Our sulfur electrodes coated with the composite film exhibit very good cycling stability, together with high sulfur content, large areal capacity, and improved power rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rational design of multicomponent material structures with strong interfacial interactions enabling enhanced electrocatalysis represents an attractive but underdeveloped paradigm for creating better catalysts for important electrochemical energy conversion reactions. In this work, we report metal-phosphide core-shell nanostructures as a new model electrocatalyst material system where the surface electronic states of the shell phosphide and its interactions with reaction intermediates can be effectively influenced by the core metal to achieve higher catalytic activity. The strategy is demonstrated by the design and synthesis of iron-iron phosphide (Fe@FeP) core-shell nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) where we find that the electronic interactions between the metal and the phosphide components increase the binding strength of hydrogen adatoms toward the optimum. As a consequence, the Fe@FeP/CNT material exhibits exceptional catalytic activity for the hydrogen evolution reaction, only requiring overpotentials of 53-110 mV to reach catalytic current densities of 10-100 mA cm-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the cross-migrative property for uninorms with different neutral elements. The cases for uninorms in Umin, Umax, representable uninorms, idempotent uninorms and uninorms continuous in the open unit square are studied, discussing cross-migrative property for all possible combinations of uninorms laying on these classes of uninorms. This study shows that there is no cross-migrativity between representable uninorms and other classes of uninorms, and the relation between conjunctive uninorms and disjunctive uninorms is also the same. The sufficient and necessary conditions such that cross-migrativity equation holds for all of the other possible combinations of uninorms are given out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: Thoracic aortic dissection (TAD) is considered one of the most catastrophic and non-traumatic cardiovascular diseases associated with high morbidity and mortality rates in clinical treatment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the pulsatile hemodynamics changes throughout a cardiac cycle in a Stanford Type B TAD model with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. METHODS: A patient-specific dissected aorta geometry was reconstructed from the three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography angiography (CTA) scanning. The realistic time-dependent pulsatile boundary conditions were prescribed for our 3D patient-specific TAD model. Blood was considered to be an incompressible, Newtonian fluid. The aortic wall was assumed to be rigid, and a no-slip boundary condition was applied at the wall. CFD simulations were processed using the finite volume (FV) method to investigate the pulsatile hemodynamics in terms of blood flow velocity, aortic wall pressure, wall shear stress and flow vorticity. In the experiments, blood velocity, pressure, wall shear stress and vorticity distributions were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. RESULTS: The experimental results demonstrated a high wall shear stress and strong vertical flow at dissection initiation. The results also indicated that wall shear progressed along the false lumen, which is a possible cause of blood flow between aortic wall layers. CONCLUSIONS: The CFD simulations presented in this study may provide complementary information to assist clinicians for better understanding of the pulsatile hemodynamics and show a development potential towards the practical application of CFD method as a diagnostic tool for patients with TAD in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a local piston theory with viscous correction for the prediction of hypersonic unsteady aerodynamic loads at high attitudes and large Mach numbers. A semi-empirical relation accounting for the viscous interaction effects to determine the effective shape is proposed. The method is validated by applying to thin airfoils at various Mach numbers, angles of attack, and operating altitudes. Sample two- and three-dimensional aerodynamic forces calculations are conducted demonstrating this method. Furthermore, flutter boundary predictions for a two-dimensional airfoil and pitching-in-damping derivative evaluations for a three-dimensional waverider configuration are performed with this unsteady aerodynamic model. Compared with the Euler-based local piston theory, this model performs much better at high altitudes for a wide range of Mach numbers, angles of attack, and shapes. Results suggest the feasibility of using the effective shape of hypersonic vehicles to efficiently and accurately obtain the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics in hypersonic flow environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been extensively utilized for enhancing medical living environment visualization, however, in clinical practice it often suffers from long data acquisition times. Dynamic imaging essentially reconstructs the visual image from raw (k,t)-space measurements, commonly referred to as big data. The purpose of this work is to accelerate big medical data acquisition in dynamic MRI by developing a non-convex minimization framework. In particular, to overcome the inherent speed limitation, both non-convex low-rank and sparsity constraints were combined to accelerate the dynamic imaging. However, the non-convex constraints make the dynamic reconstruction problem difficult to directly solve through the commonly-used numerical methods. To guarantee solution efficiency and stability, a numerical algorithm based on Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) is proposed to solve the resulting non-convex optimization problem. ADMM decomposes the original complex optimization problem into several simple sub-problems. Each sub-problem has a closed-form solution or could be efficiently solved using existing numerical methods. It has been proven that the quality of images reconstructed from fewer measurements can be significantly improved using non-convex minimization. Numerous experiments have been conducted on two in vivo cardiac datasets to compare the proposed method with several state-of-the-art imaging methods. Experimental results illustrated that the proposed method could guarantee the superior imaging performance in terms of quantitative and visual image quality assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although the prognosis of gastric cancer patients have a favorable progression, there are some patients with unusual patterns of locoregional and systemic recurrence. Therefore, a better understanding of early molecular events of the disease is needed. Current evidences demonstrate that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be an important class of functional regulators involved in human gastric cancers development. Our previous studies suggest that HOTAIR contributes to gastric cancer development, and the overexpression of HOTAIR predicts a poor prognosis. In this study, we investigated the characteristic of the LncRNA FEZF1-AS1 in gastric cancer. Methods: QRT-PCR was used to detect the expression of FEZF1-AS1 in gastric cancer tissues and cells. MTT assays, clonogenic survival assays and nude mouse xenograft model were used to examine the tumorigenesis function of FEZF1-AS1 in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis were used to select downstream target genes of FEZF1-AS1. Cell cycle analysis, ChIP, RIP,RNA Pulldown assays were examined to dissect molecular mechanisms. Results: In this study, we reported that FEZF1-AS1, a 2564 bp RNA, was overexpressed in gastric cancer, and upregulated FEZF1-AS1 expression indicated larger tumor size and higher clinical stage; additional higher expression of FEZF1-AS1 predicted poor prognosis. Further experiments revealed that knockdown FEZF1-AS1 significantly inhibited gastric cancer cells proliferation by inducing G1 arrest and apoptosis, whereas endogenous expression FEZF1-AS1 promoted cell growth. Additionally, RIP assay and RNA-pulldown assay evidenced that FEZF1-AS1 could epigenetically repress the expression of P21 via binding with LSD1, the first discovered demethylase. ChIP assays demonstrated that LSD1 could directly bind to the promoter of P21, inducing H3K4me2 demethylation. Conclusion: In summary, these data demonstrated that FEZF1-AS1 could act as an "oncogene" for gastric cancer partly through suppressing P21 expression; FEZF1-AS1 may be served as a candidate prognostic biomarker and target for new therapies of gastric cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants have developed complex mechanisms to respond to salt stress, depending on secondary messenger-mediated stress perception and signal transduction. Nitric oxide (NO) is widely known as a 'jack-of-all-trades' in stress responses. However, NO-mediated crosstalk between plant hormones remains unclear. In this study, we found that salt stabilized both AUXIN/INDOLE-3-ACETIC ACID 17 (Aux/IAA17) and RGA-LIKE3 (RGL3) proteins due to salt-induced NO production. Salt-induced NO overaccumulation and IAA17 overexpression decreased the transcripts of GA3ox genes, resulting in lower bioactive GA4. Further investigation showed that IAA17 directly interacted with RGL3 and increased its protein stability. Consistently, RGL3 stabilized IAA17 protein through inhibiting the interaction of TIR1 and IAA17 by competitively binding to IAA17. Moreover, both IAA17 and RGL3 conferred salt stress resistance. Overexpression of IAA17 and RGL3 partially alleviated the inhibitory effect of NO deficiency on salt resistance, whereas the iaa17 and rgl3 mutants displayed reduced responsiveness to NO-promoted salt resistance. Thus, the associations between IAA17 and gibberellin (GA) synthesis and signal transduction, and between the IAA17-interacting complex and the NO-mediated salt stress response were revealed based on physiological and genetic approaches. We conclude that integration of IAA17 and RGL3 is an essential component of NO-mediated salt stress response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal shifts in the composition of gut microbiota contribute to the pathogenesis of metabolic diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2DM). The crosstalk between gut microbes and the host affects the inflammatory status and glucose tolerance of the individuals, but the underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated completely. In this study, we treated the lean chow diet-fed mice with Akkermansia muciniphila, which is thought to be inversely correlated with inflammation status and body weight in rodents and humans, and we found that A. muciniphila supplementation by daily gavage for five weeks significantly alleviated body weight gain and reduced fat mass. Glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity were also improved by A. muciniphila supplementation compared with the vehicle. Furthermore, A. muciniphila supplementation reduced gene expression related to fatty acid synthesis and transport in liver and muscle; meanwhile, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in liver and muscle was also alleviated by A. muciniphila. More importantly, A. muciniphila supplementation reduced chronic low-grade inflammation, as reflected by decreased plasma levels of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein (LBP) and leptin, as well as inactivated LPS/LBP downstream signaling (e.g. decreased phospho-JNK and increased IKBA expression) in liver and muscle. Moreover, metabolomics profiling in plasma also revealed an increase in anti-inflammatory factors such as a-tocopherol, ß-sitosterol and a decrease of representative amino acids. In summary, our study demonstrated that A. muciniphila supplementation relieved metabolic inflammation, providing underlying mechanisms for the interaction of A. muciniphila and host health, pointing to possibilities for metabolic benefits using specific probiotics supplementation in metabolic healthy individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-image blind deblurring for imaging sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT) is a challenging ill-conditioned inverse problem, which requires regularization techniques to stabilize the image restoration process. The purpose is to recover the underlying blur kernel and latent sharp image from only one blurred image. Under many degraded imaging conditions, the blur kernel could be considered not only spatially sparse, but also piecewise smooth with the support of a continuous curve. By taking advantage of the hybrid sparse properties of the blur kernel, a hybrid regularization method is proposed in this paper to robustly and accurately estimate the blur kernel. The effectiveness of the proposed blur kernel estimation method is enhanced by incorporating both the L1-norm of kernel intensity and the squared L2-norm of the intensity derivative. Once the accurate estimation of the blur kernel is obtained, the original blind deblurring can be simplified to the direct deconvolution of blurred images. To guarantee robust non-blind deconvolution, a variational image restoration model is presented based on the L1-norm data-fidelity term and the total generalized variation (TGV) regularizer of second-order. All non-smooth optimization problems related to blur kernel estimation and non-blind deconvolution are effectively handled by using the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM)-based numerical methods. Comprehensive experiments on both synthetic and realistic datasets have been implemented to compare the proposed method with several state-of-the-art methods. The experimental comparisons have illustrated the satisfactory imaging performance of the proposed method in terms of quantitative and qualitative evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The deboration reaction of BOPYO occurs involving a solvent-assisted procedure. • Pyrrole-based chalcones were obtained via the removel of BF2 unit. • 3a shows AIE phenomenon with 13.1-fold increase for the fluorescent intensity. Chelating ligands play a central role for clinical medicine, transition metal catalyst reaction. Herein, we report the first facile method for the deprotection of seven membered BOPYO involving a solvent-assisted procedure for the removal of BF 2 unit, and liberation of the corresponding free-base pyrrole-based chalcones. Interestingly, these compounds have high sensitivity to acid, and stable in the condition of repeated addition of acid and base with more than five times titration. Meanwhile, 3a shows AIE phenomenon with 13.1-fold increase for the fluorescent intensity. That's probably attributed to centrosymmetric dimer with the monomeric units (3a) linking by C = O, N H bifurcated hydrogen bonds in this crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoimmune and inflammatory diseases are associated with inappropriate activation of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, but suitable inhibitors against such improper activations remain scarce. Here, spirodalesol (1) from Daldinia eschscholzii was structurally characterized and is biosynthetically proposed as an NLRP3 inflammasome activation inhibitor with an unprecedented carbon skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth behavior and kinetics of the barite (001) surface in supersaturated BaSO4 solutions (supersaturation index (SI) = 1.1-4.1) at 30 °C were investigated using in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). At the lowest supersaturation, the growth behavior was mainly the advancement of the initial step edges and filling in of the etch pits formed in the water before the BaSO4 solution was injected. For solutions with higher supersaturation, the growth behavior was characterized by the advance of the and [010] half-layer steps with two different advance rates and the formation of growth spirals with a rhombic to bow-shaped form and sector-shaped two-dimensional (2D) nuclei. The advance rates of the initial steps and the two steps of 2D nuclei were proportional to the SI. In contrast, the advance rates of the parallel steps with extremely short step spacing on growth spirals were proportional to SI2, indicating that the lateral growth rates of growth spirals were directly proportional to the step separations. This dependence of the advance rate of every step on the growth spirals on the step separations predicts that the growth rates along the [001] direction of the growth spirals were proportional to SI2 for lower supersaturations and to SI for higher supersaturations. The nucleation and growth rates of the 2D nuclei increased sharply for higher supersaturations using exponential functions. Using these kinetic equations, we predicted a critical supersaturation (SI ≈ 4.3) at which the main growth mechanism of the (001) face would change from a spiral growth to a 2D nucleation growth mechanism: therefore, the morphology of bulk crystals would change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A frequency-domain iterative approach is developed to compute the change in characteristic impedance in the cochlea due to the presence of a suppressor tone. Based on this approach, a small transient wave passing by the best place (BP) of the suppressor is predicted to be partially reflected because of the suppressor-induced impedance variation. This computational approach is tested on a nonlinear model of cochlear mechanics [Liu, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 136, 1788-1796 (2014)]. When a 9-kHz suppressor at 60 dB sound pressure level is delivered to the model, the characteristic impedance decreases by ~20% near its BP. This localized impedance mismatch causes a forward-going wave at 4 kHz to reflect partially, and the magnitude of the reflected component is about -18 dB relative to the forward-going component near the stapes. The reflected components eventually emit from the cochlea to the ear canal, and the predicted amplitude of tone-burst evoked otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) agrees well with time-domain simulation. The present results suggest that, while the "suppressor" is meant to suppress the OAEs in experiments, its very presence might create an otherwise non-existing emission component via nonlinear scattering when its frequency is higher than that of the probe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor positioning technologies has boomed recently because of the growing commercial interest in indoor location-based service (ILBS). Due to the absence of satellite signal in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), various technologies have been proposed for indoor applications. Among them, Wi-Fi fingerprinting has been attracting much interest from researchers because of its pervasive deployment, flexibility and robustness to dense cluttered indoor environments. One challenge, however, is the deployment of Access Points (AP), which would bring a significant influence on the system positioning accuracy. This paper concentrates on WLAN based fingerprinting indoor location by analyzing the AP deployment influence, and studying the advantages of coordinate-based clustering compared to traditional RSS-based clustering. A coordinate-based clustering method for indoor fingerprinting location, named Smallest-Enclosing-Circle-based (SEC), is then proposed aiming at reducing the positioning error lying in the AP deployment and improving robustness to dense cluttered environments. All measurements are conducted in indoor public areas, such as the National Center For the Performing Arts (as Test-bed 1) and the XiDan Joy City (Floors 1 and 2, as Test-bed 2), and results show that SEC clustering algorithm can improve system positioning accuracy by about 32.7% for Test-bed 1, 71.7% for Test-bed 2 Floor 1 and 73.7% for Test-bed 2 Floor 2 compared with traditional RSS-based clustering algorithms such as K-means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel mathematical programming method was applied to acquire the optimal heat exchanger network (HEN) retrofit in the crude oil distillation unit. The mathematical model was based on the stagewise superstructure model with splits of streams from the work of Yee et al. [Chin. J. Chem. Eng. 2007, 15 (2), 296-301]. The objective function was developed into the minimum of the sum of the cost of modifications and the cost of utilities in one year, focusing on the changing heat transfer coefficients arising in the reused existing heat exchangers from stream splits. The HEN modifications included buying new heat exchangers, adding or reducing areas of the existing heat exchangers, moving the existing heat exchangers, and laying pipes. It was a mixed integer nonlinear program (MINLP) problem. A hybrid genetic algorithm was used to optimize the MINLP problem. In order to reduce the total cost of modifications, the heat exchangers and the corresponding matching structures between the hot and cold streams in the existing HENs were designed as elites introduced into the hybrid genetic algorithm. The Dittus-Boelter and Kern correlations were used to estimate the convective heat transfer coefficients of the corresponding streams. One example was given to show the effect of the novel retrofit strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a novel composite material, referred to as activated charcoal supported titanate nanotubes (TNTs@AC), for highly efficient adsorption and photodegradation of a representative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), phenanthrene. TNTs@AC was prepared through a one-step hydrothermal method, and is composed of an activated charcoal core and a shell of carbon-coated titanate nanotubes. TNTs@AC offered a maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of 12.1 mg/g for phenanthrene (a model PAH), which is -11 times higher than the parent activated charcoal. Phenanthrene was rapidly concentrated onto TNTs@AC, and subsequently completely photodegraded under UV light within 2 h. The photoregenerated TNTs@AC can then be reused for another adsorption-photodegradation cycle without significant capacity or activity loss. TNTs@AC performed well over a wide range of pH, ionic strength, and dissolved organic matter. Mechanistically, the enhanced adsorption capacity is attributed to the formation of carbon-coated ink-bottle pores of the titanate nanotubes, which are conducive to capillary condensation; in addition, the modified microcarbon facilitates transfer of excited electrons, thereby inhibiting recombination of the electron-hole pairs, resulting in high photocatalytic activity. The combined high adsorption capacity, photocatalytic activity, and regenerability/reusability merit TNTs@AC a very attractive material for concentrating and degrading a host of micropollutants in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen concentration and composition of garnets in the ultrahigh pressure eclogites at Shuanghe, eastern Dabieshan, were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis. The OH absorption bands can be divided into four groups: (1) 3635-3655 cm-1; (2) 3600-3630 cm-1; (3) 3540-3580 cm-1; and (4) 3400-3450 cm-1 and the water content ranges from 45 to 2529 ppm. Based on the behaviour of the OH absorption band and the relationship between water content and the composition of garnets, the samples can be divided into two classes: samples with >400 ppm H2O and samples with ≤400 ppm H2O. The water content of the former shows an obvious positive correlation with Ca atoms and a negative correlation with the Si, Mg and Fe2+ atoms per 12 anions, whereas the water content of the latter shows no obvious linear correlation with cations. It is concluded that the major mechanism of hydroxyl incorporation in garnets with >400 ppm H2O is by the coupled substitution 4H + Z□→□+ ZSi in the tetrahedral site, and that several mechanisms are responsible for OH incorporation in garnets with ≤400 ppm H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the performance of a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to learn and detect changes in single- and multi-temporal X- and L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images under varying conditions. The purpose is to provide guidance on how to train a powerful learning machine for change detection in SAR images and to contribute to a better understanding of potentials and limitations of supervised change detection approaches. This becomes particularly important on the background of a rapidly growing demand for SAR change detection to support rapid situation awareness in case of natural disasters. The application environment of this study thus focuses on detecting changes caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, where single polarized TerraSAR-X and ALOS PALSAR intensity images are used as input. An unprecedented reference dataset of more than 18,000 buildings that have been visually inspected by local authorities for damages after the disaster forms a solid statistical population for the performance experiments. Several critical choices commonly made during the training stage of a learning machine are being assessed for their influence on the change detection performance, including sampling approach, location and number of training samples, classification scheme, change feature space and the acquisition dates of the satellite images. Furthermore, the proposed machine learning approach is compared with the widely used change image thresholding. The study concludes that a well-trained and tuned SVM can provide highly accurate change detections that outperform change image thresholding. While good performance is achieved in the binary change detection case, a distinction between multiple change classes in terms of damage grades leads to poor performance in the tested experimental setting. The major drawback of a machine learning approach is related to the high costs of training. The outcomes of this study, however, indicate that given dynamic parameter tuning, feature selection and an appropriate sampling approach, already small training samples (100 samples per class) are sufficient to produce high change detection rates. Moreover, the experiments show a good generalization ability of SVM which allows transfer and reuse of trained learning machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we present the comparison improvement of mechanical properties of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based polypropylene (PP) composites. RGO shows less amount of oxygen-containing functional groups than GO in FTIR spectrum. No characteristic peak of GO and RGO was observed but only peaks for PP were seen which indicates the presence of PP crystalline phase in the composites. The increment of melting, crystallization temperature and degree of crystallinity show clearly the better enhancement of RGO than GO which indicates good dispersion of RGO was achieved in the composites. For tensile test, both GO-PP and RGO-PP exhibited increasing pattern for Young's modulus and tensile strength values with every increment in the loadings. However, decreasing pattern was observed for elongation at break values. The SEM images show the smooth surface of fractured neat PP whereas rough surface of composites with the addition of GO were observed. Furthermore, the addition of RGO induces the formation of laminated structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphitic C3N4 (g-CjN4) nanosheets are a type of emerging graphene-like carbon-based nanomaterials with high fluorescence and large specific surface areas that hold great potential for biosensor applications. However, current g-C3N4 based biosensors have prevailingly been limited to coordination with metal ions, and it is of great significance to develop new designs for g-C3N4 nanosheets based biosensors toward biomarkers of general interest. We report the development of a novel g-C3N4 nanosheetbased nanosensor strategy for highly sensitive, single-step and label-free detection of tyrosinase (TYR) activity and its inhibitor. This strategy relies on the catalytic oxidation of tyrosine by TYR into melanin-like polymers, which form a nanoassembly on the g-C3N4 nanosheets and quench their fluorescence. This strategy was demonstrated to provide excellent selectivity and superior sensitivity and to enable rapid screening for TYR inhibitors. Therefore, the developed approach might create a useful platform for diagnostics and drugs screening for TYR-based diseases including melanoma cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiometabolic impairments that begin early in life are particularly critical, because they often predict metabolic dysfunction in adulthood. Obesity, high-fat diet (HFD), and inactivity are all associated with adipose tissue (AT) inflammation and insulin resistance (IR), major predictors of metabolic dysfunction. Recent evidence has also associated the gut microbiome with cardiometabolic health. Purpose: The objective of this study is to compare equal energy deficits induced by exercise and caloric reduction on cardiometabolic disease risk parameters including AT inflammation, IR, and gut microbiota changes during HFD consumption. Methods: Obesity-prone rats fed HFD were exercise trained (Ex, n = 10) or weight matched to Ex via caloric reduction although kept sedentary (WM, n = 10), and compared with ad libitum HFD-fed (Sed, n = 10) rats for IR, systemic energetics and spontaneous physical activity (SPA), adiposity, and fasting metabolic parameters. Visceral, subcutaneous, periaortic, and brown AT (BAT), liver, aorta, and cecal digesta were examined. Results: Despite identical reductions in adiposity, Ex, but not WM, improved IR, increased SPA by approximately 26% (P < 0.05 compared with WM and Sed), and reduced LDL cholesterol (P < 0.05 compared with Sed). WM and Ex both reduced inflammatory markers in all AT depots and aorta, whereas only Ex increased indicators of mitochondrial function in BAT. Ex significantly increased the relative abundance of cecal Streptococcaceae and decreased S24-7 and one undefined genus in Rikenellaceae; WM induced similar changes but did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Both Ex and WM reduced AT inflammation across depots, whereas Ex caused more robust changes to gut microbial communities, improved IR, increased fat oxidation, increased SPA, and increased indices of BAT mitochondrial function. Our findings add to the growing body of literature indicating that there are weight-loss-independent metabolic benefits of exercise [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Densely packed invertebrate communities have been observed around deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, despite the high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide present in these environments. The species that inhabit these environments have been reported to accumulate the sulfur-containing amino acid, thiotaurine. This non-toxic amino acid is synthesized from its precursor, hypotaurine and ambient hydrogen sulfide. In this study, we compared the levels of thiotaurine and hypotaurine in the gills and mantles of two deep-sea mussels (Bathymodiolus septemdierum and B. platifrons) and a shallow-water mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) to investigate their degree of dependence on the thiotaurine/hypotaurine system. The levels of thiotaurine and hypotaurine in the gill were higher than those present in the mantle in the two deep-sea species but lower or similar in M. galloprovincialis. The levels of thiotaurine and hypotaurine were the highest in the gill of B. septemdierum, estimated at 6.56 and 13.50 μmol/g wet weights, respectively. Moreover, B. septemdierum exhibited a higher thiotaurine/(hypotaurine+thiotaurine) ratio in the gill, B. septemdierum than that did B. platifrons and M. galloprovincialis. These results suggest that the levels of thiotaurine and hypotaurine in Bathymodiolus may be related to the ambient sulfide levels in their habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In South and Southeast Asian, the majority of buccal squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) can arise from oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). BSCCs develop in OSF that are often not completely resected, causing local relapse. The aim of our study was to find candidate protein biomarkers to detect OSF and predict prognosis in BSCCs by quantitative proteomics approaches.Methods: We compared normal oral mucosa (NBM) and paired biopsies of BSCC and OSF by quantitative proteomics using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) to discover proteins with differential expression. Gene Ontology and KEGG networks were analyzed. The prognostic value of biomarkers was evaluated in 94 BSCCs accompanied with OSF. Significant associations were assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox-proportional hazards analysis.Results: In total 30 proteins were identified with significantly different expression (false discovery rate < 0.05) among three tissues. Two consistently upregulated proteins, ANXA4 and FLNA, were validated. The disease-free survival was negatively associated with the expression of ANXA4 (hazard ratio, 3.4; P = 0.000), FLNA (hazard ratio, 2.1; P = 0.000) and their combination (hazard ratio, 8.8; P = 0.002) in BSCCs.Conclusion: The present study indicates that iTRAQ quantitative proteomics analysis for tissues of BSCC and OSF is a reliable strategy. A significantly up-regulated ANXA4 and FLNA could be not only candidate biomarkers for BSCC prognosis but also potential targets for its therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is an enzyme that promotes the degradation of low-density lipoprotein receptors. It is involved in hyperlipidemia as well as other diseases, such as cancer and skin inflammation. However, the detailed mechanism for PCSK9 on ultraviolet B (UVB)- induced skin lesions was not clear. Thus, the role and possible action mechanism of PCSK9 in UVB-induced skin damage in mice were studied here using siRNA and a small molecule inhibitor (SBC110736) against PCSK9. Immunohistochemical staining revealed a significant increase in PCSK9 expression after UVB exposure, indicating the possible role of PCSK9 in UVB damage. Skin damage, increase in epidermal thickness, and keratinocyte hyperproliferation were significantly alleviated after treatment with SBC110736 or siRNA duplexes, compared with that in the UVB model group. Notably, UVB exposure triggered DNA damage in keratinocytes, whereas substantial interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) activation was observed in macrophages. Pharmacologic inhibition of STING or cGAS knockout significantly reduced UVB-induced damage. In the co-culture system, supernatant from UVB-treated keratinocyte induced IRF3 activation in macrophages. This activation was inhibited with SBC110736 and by PCSK9 knockdown. Collectively, our findings reveal that PCSK9 plays a critical role in the crosstalk between damaged keratinocytes and STING activation in macrophages. The interruption of this crosstalk by PCSK9 inhibition may be a potential therapeutic strategy for UVB-induced skin damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate the use of a double-channel gastroscope in patients with Billroth II gastrectomy to perform endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) and interventions. Material and methods: From January 2008 to December 2013, 18 patients with Billroth II gastrectomy were enrolled in this study. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography was performed using a straight forward gastroscope with double working channel (4.2-mm diameter, 2.8-mm diameter). Results: The success rate of selective cannulation and accomplishment of planned procedures was 15 out of 18 patients (83.3%), and no serious complications were encountered. Conclusions: The double-channel gastroscope appears to be useful in performing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in patients with Billroth II gastrectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A preconditioned method with characteristic boundary conditions for Navier-Stokes equations is implemented for flowfield analysis of a high-lift configuration at low Mach number. A preconditioned Harten-Lax-van Leer-Einfeldt-Wada scheme is adopted for the spatial discretization, and the dissipation term of which is rededuced to reduce the overlarge numerical dissipation. Preconditioned characteristic boundary conditions for the far field are derived based on the Weiss-Smith preconditioner and are demonstrated to be more reliable and accurate when coupled with the preconditioned method. A preconditioned Lower-Upper Symmetric Gauss-Seidel implicit time-marching method is modified according to the preconditioned Jacobian matrix. The applications of the current method on both two- and three-dimensional high-lift configurations indicate that the use of the preconditioned spatial and time discrete schemes and the derived preconditioned characteristic boundary conditions is capable of improving the robustness, efficiency, and accuracy of the computational-fluid-dynamics solver for low-Mach-number aerodynamic simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalytic activity of an amorphous titanium oxide (a-TiOx) film was modified using a two-step deposition. The fluorinated base layer with a nano-textured surface prepared by a selective fluorination etching process acted as growth seeds in the subsequent a-TiOx deposition. A nanorod-like microstructure was achievable from the resulting a-TiOx film due to the self-assembled deposition. Compared to the a-TiOx film directly deposited onto the untreated base layer, the rate constant of this fluorinate-free a-TiOx film surface for decomposing methylene blue (MB) solution that was employed to assess the film's photocatalytic activity was markedly increased from 0.0076 min-1 to 0.0267 min-1 as a mechanism for the marked increase in the specific surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the efficacy of epirubicin-loaded gelatin hydrogel (EPI-H) in the treatment of superficial urothelium carcinoma. Hydrogel was prepared by Schiff base-crosslinking of gelatin with glutaraldehyde. EPI-H exhibited high entrapment efficiency (59.87% ± 0.51%). EPI-H also increased epirubicin accumulation in AY-27 cells when compared with the effect of aqueous solutions of epirubicin (EPI-AQ); respective epirubicin-positive cell counts were 69.0% ± 7.6% and 38.3% ± 5.8%. EPI-H also exhibited greater cytotoxicity against AY-27 cells than that of EPI-AQ; IC50 values were 13.1 ± 1.1 and 7.5 ± 0.3 μg/mL, respectively. Cystometrograms showed that EPI-H reduced peak micturition, threshold pressures, and micturition duration, and that it increased bladder compliance more so than EPI-AQ. EPI-H enhanced epirubicin penetration into basal cells of urothelium in vivo, whereas EPI-AQ did so only to the umbrella cells. EPI-H inhibited tumor growth upon intravesical instillation to tumor-bearing bladder of F344 rats, inducing higher levels of caspase-3 expression than that observed with EPI-AQ treatment; the number of caspase-3 positive cells in treated urothelium carcinoma was 13.9% ± 4.0% (EPI-AQ) and 34.1% ± 1.0%, (EPI-H). EPI-H has value as an improved means to administer epirubicin in intravesical instillation treatments for bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity is associated with compromised intestinal barrier function and shifts in gastrointestinal microbiota that may contribute to inflammation. Fiber provides benefits, but impacts of fiber type are not understood.Objective: We aimed to determine the impact of cellulose compared with fructans on the fecal microbiota and gastrointestinal physiology in obese mice.Methods: Eighteen-wk-old male diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice (n = 6/group; 40.5 g) were fed high-fat diets (45% kcal fat) containing 5% cellulose (control), 10% cellulose, 10% short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), or 10% inulin for 4 wk. Cecal and colon tissues were collected to assess barrier function, histomorphology, and gene expression. Fecal DNA extracts were subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon-based Illumina MiSeq sequencing to assess microbiota.Results: Body weight gain was greater (P < 0.05) in scFOS-fed than in 10% cellulose-fed mice. Both groups of fructan-fed mice had greater (P < 0.05) cecal crypt depth (scFOS: 141 μm; inulin: 145 μm) than both groups of cellulose-fed mice (5% and 10%: 109 μm). Inulin-fed mice had greater (P < 0.05) cecal transmural resistance (101 Ω × cm(2)) than 5% cellulose-fed controls (45 Ω × cm(2)). Inulin-fed mice had lower (P < 0.05) colonic mRNA abundance of Ocln (0.41) and Mct1 (0.35) than those fed 10% cellulose (Ocln: 1.28; Mct1: 0.90). Fructan and cellulose groups had different UniFrac distances of fecal microbiota (P < 0.05) and α diversity, which demonstrated lower (P < 0.01) species richness in fructan-fed mice. Mice fed scFOS had greater (P < 0.05) Actinobacteria (15.9%) and Verrucomicrobia (Akkermansia) (17.0%) than 5% controls (Actinobacteria: 0.07%; Akkermansia: 0.08%). Relative abundance of Akkermansia was positively correlated (r = 0.56, P < 0.01) with cecal crypt depth.Conclusions: Fructans markedly shifted gut microbiota and improved intestinal physiology in obese mice, but the mechanisms by which they affect gut integrity and inflammation in the obese are still unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the effect on hot carrier degradation (HCD) of doping zirconium into the hafnium oxide high-k layer in the nanoscale high-k/metal gate n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistors. Previous n-metal-oxide semiconductor-field effect transistor studies demonstrated that zirconium-doped hafnium oxide reduces charge trapping and improves positive bias temperature instability. In this work, a clear reduction in HCD is observed with zirconiumdoped hafnium oxide because channel hot electron (CHE) trapping in pre-existing high-k bulk defects is the main degradation mechanism. However, this reduced HCD became ineffective at ultra-low temperature, since CHE traps in the deeper bulk defects at ultra-low temperature, while zirconium-doping only passivates shallow bulk defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The inequitable allocation of health resources is a worldwide problem, and it is also one of the obstacles facing for health services utilization in China. A new round of health care reform which contains the important aspect of improving the equity in health resource allocation was released by Chinese government in 2009. The aim of this study is to understand the changes of equity in health resource allocation from 2009 to 2013, and make a further inquiry of the main factors which influence the equity conditions in China. Methods: Data resources are the China Health Statistics Yearbook (2014) and the China Statistical Yearbook (2014). Four indicators were chosen to measure the trends in equity of health resource allocation. Data were disaggregated by three geographical regions: west, central, and east. Theil index was used to calculate the degree of unfairness. Results: The total amount of health care resources in China had been increasing in recent years. However, the per 10, 000 km² number of health resources showed a huge gap in different regions, and per 10, 000 capita health resources ownership showed a relatively small disparities at the same time. The index of health resources showed an overall downward trend, in which health financial investment the most unfair from 2009 to 2012 and the number of health institutions the most unfair in 2013. The equity of health resources allocation in eastern regions was the worst except for the aspect of health technical personnel allocation. The regional contribution rates were lower than that of the inter-regional contribution rates which were all beyond 60 %. Conclusion: The equity of health resource allocation improved gradually from 2009 to 2013. However, the internal differences within the eastern region still have a huge impact on the overall equity in health resource allocation. The tough issues of inequitable in health resource allocation should be resolved by comprehensive measures from a multidisciplinary perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the fluorination influence on the photovoltaic performance of small molecular based organic solar cells (OSCs), six small molecules based on 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT), and diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) as core and fluorinated phenyl (DFP) and triphenyl amine (TPA) as different terminal units (DFP-BT-DFP, DFP-BT-TPA, TPA-BT-TPA, DFP-DPP-DFP, DFP-DPP-TPA, and TPA-DPP-TPA) were synthesized. With one or two fluorinated phenyl as the end group(s), HOMO level of BT and DPP based small molecular donors were gradually decreased, inducing high open circuit voltage for fluorinated phenyl based OSCs. DFP-BT-TPA and DFP-DPP-TPA based blend films both displayed stronger nano-scale aggregation in comparison to TPA-BT-TPA and TPA-DPP-TPA, respectively, which would also lead to higher hole motilities in devices. Ultimately, improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.17% and 1.22% was acquired for DFP-BT-TPA and DFP-DPP-TPA based devices, respectively. These results demonstrated that the nano-scale aggregation size of small molecules in photovoltaic devices could be significantly enhanced by introducing a fluorine atom at the donor unit of small molecules, which will provide understanding about the relationship of chemical structure and nano-scale phase separation in OSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]