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The aromatic shrub Lavandula angustifolia produces various volatile terpenoids that serve as resources for essential oils and function in plant-insect communication. To better understand the genetic basis of the terpenoid diversity in lavender, we present a high-quality reference genome for the Chinese lavender cultivar ‘Jingxun 2’ using PacBio and Hi-C technologies to anchor the 894.50 Mb genome assembly into 27 pseudochromosomes. In addition to the γ triplication event, lavender underwent two rounds of whole-genome duplication (WGD) during the Eocene–Oligocene (29.6 MYA) and Miocene–Pliocene (6.9 MYA) transitions. As a result of tandem duplications and lineage-specific WGDs, gene families related to terpenoid biosynthesis in lavender are substantially expanded compared to those of five other species in Lamiaceae. Many terpenoid biosynthesis transcripts are abundant in glandular trichomes. We further integrated the contents of ecologically functional terpenoids and coexpressed terpenoid biosynthetic genes to construct terpenoid-gene networks. Typical gene clusters, including TPS-TPS, TPS-CYP450, and TPS-BAHD, linked with compounds that primarily function as attractants or repellents, were identified by their similar patterns of change during flower development or in response to methyl jasmonate. Comprehensive analysis of the genetic basis of the production of volatiles in lavender could serve as a foundation for future research into lavender evolution, phytochemistry, and ecology.

Recruiting periapical stem cells into the root canal and inducing their odontogenic differentiation are both vital for pulp regeneration. This study was aimed at developing a kind of bioactive composite scaffolds (G/PSC scaffolds) by combining the pH-neutral bioactive glass named PSC and gelatin. The incorporation of PSC endowed the scaffolds with bioactivity and enhanced its resistance to enzymatic hydrolysis in vitro while maintaining its high water absorption capacity. The G/PSC scaffold with a PSC content of 0.5 mg/mL in 3% gelatin solution showed the best overall performance, released large amounts of silicate ions and maintained a neutral pH after soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF). Human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMMSCs) developed good cell morphology with affluent pseudopods on the G/PSC scaffold and infiltrated fairly deep into it. Additionally, hBMMSCs showed increased proliferation and mRNA expression levels of dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP-1), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen type I (Col-I), osteocalcin (OCN), and runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2). The present results demonstrated that the G/PSC scaffold significantly promoted hBMMSC chemotaxis, proliferation and odontogenic differentiation. Therefore, the G/PSC scaffold is a promising material for pulp regeneration.

To investigate the efficacy of Cyclocarya paliurus (C. paliurus) polysaccharides on stre- ptozotocin-induced diabetic nephropathy in rats.Rats were divided into 6 groups, including group of normal control, group of diabetic control, group of metformin treatment, low-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment, middle-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment and high-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides treatment. Histological analysis of kidney was analyzed using hematoxilin and eosin. Levels of blood glucose, creatinine, urea, uric acid were determined by spectrophotometry. Anti-oxidative enzymes were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) level was measured by ELISA.Abnormal changes were observed in the group of diabetic control characterized by atrophy of the renal glomeruli with hypercellularity, congestion of glomerular tufts, dilation of the renal spaces, and degeneration of renal tubule. Compared with that of normal group, blood glucose, creatinine, urea, uric acid level was significantly increased in the group of diabetic control. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase level was significantly decreased, but AGEs and TGF-β1 level was significantly increased. By contrast, administration of C. paliurus polysaccharides and metformin could reverse the above-mentioned results of the group of diabetic control, especially in the high-dose group of C. paliurus polysaccharides.Our findings suggest that C. paliurus polysaccharides may play a protecting role for nephropathy of diabetic rats by lowering glucose, creatinine, urea, uric acid level, enhancing the antioxidative ability, and reducing AGEs and TGF-β1 expression.

The main components of high-pressure common rail fuel injection system are high-pressure common rail fuel pump, common rail pipe and injector. The high-pressure fuel from the high-pressure oil pump is supplied to the injector through the high-pressure common rail oil pipe, which is precisely controlled by the electric control system and inject fuel into the cylinder. Generally, the power of the fuel engine is determined by the speed of the high pressure oil pump, and the key to improve the efficiency of it is to keep a constant pressure in oil pipe when high pressure oil pump is at a high speed. Therefore, methods need to be taken to control pressure in pipe when the cam rotates at a high speed, such as control speed of cam, adjust number of fuel injectors and the starting time of them in a cycle, with the aim of stabilizing internal pressure of oil pipe. In this study, we discretize the problem, establish the difference equation, and multiple searching method is adopted to find out the injector configuration mode which keep the pressure of the high-pressure oil pipe, with speed of, at 100MPa. Finally, we put forward a conjecture between the cam speed and the injector configuration, and carry out simulation verification.

The aim of this study was to investigate the binding ability of a arginine-glycine-aspartate-serine (RGDS) peptide to dentin and its effect on the dentin remineralization, dentin cohesive strength and intrafibrillar mineralization induced by nanobioactive glass (nBG). The demineralized dentin discs were treated with RGDS and/or nBG and then incubated in stimulated body fluid for 2 weeks. The results of scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and confocal laser scanning microscopy showed that RGDS could bind to dentin and promote the attachment of nBG. Compared to the nBG group, the RGDS + nBG group induced more apatite formation on the dentin surface and apatite rods inside the dentinal tubules. The results of transmission electron microscopy showed crystal lattice formation in the demineralized dentin matrix treated with nBG or RGDS + nBG, indicating the remineralization of dentin. The RGDS + nBG-treated dentin had the highest dentin cohesive strength in all groups. The self-assembled collagen fibrils exposed to RGDS + nBG exhibited intrafibrillar mineralization. In conclusion, RGDS promoted nBG-induced apatite formation and dentin collagen matrix remineralization, thus enhancing the dentin strength. The results lay a foundation for the wide application of RGDS and nBG in dentin erosion, dentin hypersensitivity, dentin bonding interface improvement, and regenerative dentistry.

This work focused on fabricating mesoporous bioactive glass nanospheres with large pore (LMBGs) by means of a biphase delamination approach and the self-assembly of the reactants took place at the oil-water interface. The morphology and mesostructure of LMBGs were investigated and the results demonstrated that the well-dispersed LMBGs with a radial mesoporous structure and large pore size could be easily tuned by adjusting the reaction temperature using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template agent and triethanolamine (TEA) as a hydrolysis catalyst. The special structure and outstanding property of LMBGs probably endowed it with a bright prospect in the application of drug delivery systems.

Background Lavender flowers essential oil had been for a variety of therapeutic and cosmetic purposes, and had been popular for centuries. The previous studies of lavender mainly focused on essential oil composition and extraction methods, ignoring the factors which affected the production of essential oils, such as the floret number. This study aims to get a deeper insight into florets number difference mechanism. Results Hormone profile showed positive correlation between ABA content and the number of florets while IAA was negatively correlated. RNA-Seq results showed that 2848 differentially expressed genes screened by comparing different florets samples in one plant. By analyzing dynamic changes of differentially expressed genes, many potentially interesting genes were identified that encoded putative regulators or key components of ABA metabolism and signaling transduction, such as NCED, PYL, PP2C, SnRK2. These genes were highlighted to reveal their importance in regulation of florets numbers. Conclusions 1. The different ABA concentrations lead to florets difference in the Lavandula angustifolia “JX-2” clusters; 2. ABA may affect the florets number by regulating IAA transport and accumulation. The results will be useful for a better understanding of the molecular mechanism on florets number difference that could be laid the foundation for molecular breeding of muti-flortes varieties.

Introduction This study aimed to use nanobioactive glass (nBG) to guide the directional migration of stem cells and odontogenic differentiation on primary dentin, which are important for the functional regeneration of pulp-dentin tissue. Methods Human bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) were cocultured with 0.5 mg/mL nBG. The cell-biomaterial interaction was monitored using the IncuCyte S3 live cell imaging system (Essen BioScience, Ann Arbor, MI). The adhesion and morphology of BMSCs growing on nBG-coated dentin were assessed at 2 hours and 3 days. The chemotaxis effect of nBG-coated dentin on BMSCs was tested using a 3-dimensional collagen gel model. Subcutaneous transplantation of nBG-treated dentin slices into nude mice was used to investigate cell homing and odontogenic differentiation in vivo. Results nBG particles showed good biocompatibility, and they were gradually degraded and relocated during interactions with BMSCs. BMSCs had better initial attachment to an nBG-coated dentin surface than to an untreated dentin surface. Cell migration assays showed that nBG-coated dentin induced significantly more cell migration than untreated dentin. An in vivo study revealed that nBG-coated dentin slices facilitated recellularization and revascularization in the root canal and that dentin sialophosphoprotein-positive cells were detected on the surface of the primary dentin. Conclusions nBG recruits stem cells to move toward dentin and further promotes cell adhesion and odontogenic differentiation on primary dentin, which help regenerate the biomimetic structure of pulp-dentin tissue.

The aims of this study were to compare the osteogenic effects of a novel nano-sized bioactive glass (BG) and a traditional micron-sized BG, and to verify whether mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are involved and play a part in BG’s osteoblast gene activation. It was found that the effect of a nano-sized BG on MAPK phosphorylation is better than the traditional 45S5 BG. We prepared extractions of the novel nano-sized 58S BG and traditional 45S5 BG and compared their effect on osteoblast-like cells’ (MG-63 cell) proliferation, osteogenic gene and protein expressions, matrix mineralization and MAPK activation. We further investigated the signal transducing effect of the MAPK pathway on the BG’s osteogenic gene activation. Our results showed that nano-58S extraction enhanced the MG-63 cells’ proliferation and osteogenic gene expressions of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen type I (Col I), Runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) and osteocalcin (OCN). The results of ELISA showed more Col I and OCN protein production in the BG groups than in the control group. Greater mineralized nodule formation was found in the nano-58S BG group using alizarin red S staining. We also found that nano-58S and 45S5 BG activated MAPKs, specifically the ERK and p38 pathways, using western blotting. After blocking the ERK or p38 pathway, real-time PCR showed the osteogenic gene activation induced by the BG extractions was inhibited. Blocking the ERK pathway induced a more obvious inhibitory effect on the genes’ normal expression and activation. The significance of this study is that we found that the ERK and p38 MAPK pathways are involved and play an important part in BG’s osteogenic gene activation. The effect of the nano-sized BG on MAPK phosphorylation, osteogenic gene activation, and osteoblast differentiation and mineralization is better than the traditional 45S5 BG.

Phytic acid derived bioactive calcium phosphosilicate (PSC) glasses with a high phosphate content were synthesised by using non-toxic phytic acid as a phosphorus precursor. This study aimed to verify the effects of PSC on the odontogenic differentiation and dentin–pulp complex-like tissue regeneration of dental pulp cells (DPCs). Nitrogen adsorption, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, pH measurement, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy analyses were performed to characterise PSC. Classical 45S5 bioactive glasses (45S5) were used as positive control. Cell proliferation (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days), odontogenic-related gene expression levels (3 and 7 days) and mineralisation ability (21 days) of human DPCs (hDPCs) were evaluated with methylthiazol tetrazolium assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction and alizarin red staining after hDPCs from third molars were treated with PSC or 45S5 extractions. Rat molar crowns with pulp tissues covered by PSC or 45S5 were transplanted subcutaneously into nude mice for 2 and 6 weeks to demonstrate their biological effects in vivo. Results revealed that the specific surface area of PSC was larger than that of 45S5. The PSC also induced hydroxycarbonate apatite precipitation earlier than 45S5. pH was slightly increased when the amount and dissolution time of PSCs were increased. By comparison, pH was remarkably increased by 45S5. The amounts of Si and P ions released by PSC (0.1 mg mL−1) were larger than those released by 45S5. Cell proliferation, mRNA expression levels of dentin sialophosphoprotein, dentin matrix protein 1 and osteocalcin and mineralisation of hDPCs were also more strongly promoted by PSC than by 45S5. In vivo, the amount of induced typical dentin-like tissues with odontoblast-like cells generated on the interface between materials and pulp tissues was higher in PSC than in 45S5. Only collagen-like tissues were observed in groups without bioactive glasses. These findings suggested that PSC enhanced the odontogenic differentiation of DPCs and dentin–pulp complex-like tissue regeneration. The PSC might be a potential candidate for vital pulp preservation and regeneration of the dentin–pulp complex.

The object of this study was to evaluate the effect of bioactive glass (BG) size on mineral formation on dentin surfaces. Totally demineralized dentin discs were treated using BG suspensions with different particle sizes: i.e. , microscale bioactive glass ( m -BG), submicroscale bioactive glass ( sm -BG) and nanoscale bioactive glass ( n -BG). Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and 3D profile measurement laser microscopy were used to observe the surface morphology and roughness. It was found that all BG particles could promoted mineral formation on dentin surfaces, while plug-like depositions were observed on the dentin discs treated by n -BG and they were more acid-resistant. The present results may imply that n -BG has potential clinical application for dentin hypersensitivity treatment.

Introduction This study aimed to evaluate the potential applications of polycaprolactone (PCL)/submicron bioactive glass (smBG) hybrid composites for pulp and dentin tissue regeneration. Methods PCL/smBG hybrid composites were made with novel monodispersive bioactive glass submicrospheres, and pure PCL and bioactive glass samples were used as controls. Surface characteristics were assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Crystalline apatite deposition in vitro was examined after incubation in simulated body fluid. Inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy was used to further analyze the concentration of Si ions released by the scaffolds. Cell adhesion and morphology of human dental pulp cells were observed by immunofluorescence staining. The proliferation and expression of odontogenic-related markers were subsequently investigated using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay (Beyotime Institute of Biotechnology, Jiangsu, China), Western blotting, and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Mineralization activity was assessed by alizarin red staining. Results Crystalline apatites were precipitated on the PCL/smBG hybrid and pure bioactive glass surfaces after incubation in vitro , and pure PCL did not exhibit precipitation. Surface deposition on PCL/smBG hybrids presented different topographies and was thicker than on pure bioactive glass scaffolds at a later stage. Human dental pulp cells had a significantly higher proliferation rate on the PCL/smBG hybrid than on the bioactive glass and PCL scaffolds. Furthermore, the integration of smBG into the hybrid scaffold significantly promoted the expression of markers for odontogenic differentiation. More mineralized nodules were generated in the PCL/smBG group than in the other 2 groups. Conclusions PCL/smBG hybrid composites may serve as potential material for pulp repair and dentin regeneration. The physical and chemical properties of the bioactive glass component affect the bioactivity of hybrid composites.

Table S3. Information of Illumina reads from 33 libraries. (DOCX 16 kb)

In this paper, we propose a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) based tracking framework, which aggregates multiple CNN features from different layers into a robust representation and realizes real-time tracking. We found that some feature maps have interference for effectively representing objects. Instead of using original features, we build an end-to-end feature aggregation network (FAN) which suppresses the noisy feature maps of CNN layers. The feature significantly benefits to represent objects with both coarse semantic information and fine details. The FAN, as a light-weight network, can run at real-time. The highlighted region of feature maps obtained from the FAN is the tracking result. Our method performs at a real-time speed of 24fps while maintaining a promising accuracy compared with state-of-the-art methods on existing tracking benchmarks.

Homologs of the velvet protein family are encoded by the ve1, vel2, and vel3 genes in Trichoderma reesei. To test their regulatory functions, the velvet protein-coding genes were disrupted, generating Δve1, Δvel2, and Δvel3 strains. The phenotypic features of these strains were examined to identify their functions in morphogenesis, sporulation, and cellulase expression. The three velvet-deficient strains produced more hyphal branches, indicating that velvet family proteins participate in the morphogenesis in T. reesei. Deletion of ve1 and vel3 did not affect biomass accumulation, while deletion of vel2 led to a significantly hampered growth when cellulose was used as the sole carbon source in the medium. The deletion of either ve1 or vel2 led to the sharp decrease of sporulation as well as a global downregulation of cellulase-coding genes. In contrast, although the expression of cellulase-coding genes of the ∆vel3 strain was downregulated in the dark, their expression in light condition was unaffected. Sporulation was hampered in the ∆vel3 strain. These results suggest that Ve1 and Vel2 play major roles, whereas Vel3 plays a minor role in sporulation, morphogenesis, and cellulase expression.

This study investigated the effects of novel submicron bioactive glass (sm-BG) particles on in vitro osteogenesis and compared them to those of microscale bioactive glass (m-BG) particles. The ability of sm-BG particles to generate precipitates on their surface in the presence of simulated body fluid (SBF) was examined, and the effect of sm-BG particles on in vitro osteogenesis was evaluated by culturing human osteoblast-like osteosarcoma (MG-63) cells on particle-coated plates. It was found that sm-BG induced formation of precipitates after incubation for 24 hours in SBF. Compared with m-BG, sm-BG particles better promoted MG-63 cell adhesion and they induced expression of the ALP, RUNX2 and COL1 genes at an earlier stage and to a greater degree. This study demonstrates that submicron bioactive glass particles possess a high capacity for precipitates formation in SBF and improved osteogenic properties when compared to microscale BG particles.

Background Despite being the most important cellulase producer, the cellulase-regulating carbon source signal transduction processes in Trichoderma reesei are largely unknown. Elucidating these processes is the key for unveiling how external carbon sources regulate cellulase formation, and ultimately for the improvement of cellulase production and biofuel production from lignocellulose. Results In this work, the role of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction pathways on cellulase formation was investigated. The deletion of yeast FUS3-like tmk1 in T. reesei leads to improved growth and significantly improved cellulase formation. However, tmk1 deletion has no effect on the transcription of cellulase-coding genes. The involvement of the cell wall integrity maintenance governing yeast Slt2-like Tmk2 in cellulase formation was investigated by overexpressing tmk3 in T. reesei Δtmk2 to restore cell wall integrity. Transcriptional analysis found little changes in cellulase-coding genes between T. reesei parent, Δtmk2, and Δtmk2::OEtmk3 strains. Cell wall integrity decreased in T. reesei Δtmk2 over the parent strain and restored in Δtmk2::OEtmk3. Meanwhile, cellulase formation is increased in T. reesei Δtmk2 and then decreased in T. reesei Δtmk2::OEtmk3. Conclusions These investigations elucidate the role of Tmk1 and Tmk2 on cellulase formation: they repress cellulase formation, respectively, by repressing growth and maintaining cell wall integrity, while neither MAPK regulates the transcription of cellulase-coding genes. This work, together with the previous investigations, suggests that all MAPKs are involved in cellulase formation, while Tmk3 is the only MAPK involved in signal transduction for the regulation of cellulase expression on the transcriptional level. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-017-0789-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Additional file 2. The sensitivity of T. reesei TU-6, Δtmk1-1 and Δtmk1-2 to CR and CFW. Panel A: growth of T. reesei TU-6, T. reesei Δtmk1-1 and T. reesei Δtmk1-2 on CR-containing agar plates; Panel B: growth of T. reesei TU-6, T. reesei Δtmk1-1 and T. reesei Δtmk1-2 on CFW-containing agar plates. TU-6, T. reesei TU-6; Δtmk1-1, T. reesei Δtmk1-1; Δtmk1-2, T. reesei Δtmk1-2.

Introduction This study aimed to investigate dental pulp responses to novel bioactive glass (BG) pulp capping materials after direct pulp capping in vivo . Methods Novel BG pulp capping materials are composed of powder and fluid. The powder is BG (82.36% SiO 2 , 15.36% CaO, and 2.28% P 2 O 5 ), and the fluid is provided in 2 kinds: (1) phosphate buffer solution (BG-PB) and (2) phosphate buffer solution with the addition of 1 wt% sodium alginate (BG-PB-SA). After mixing the powder and fluid, BG-PB and BG-PB-SA were prepared. Cavities with mechanical pulp exposure were prepared on maxillary first molars of Wistar rats. The exposures were randomly capped with BG-PB, BG-PB-SA, or mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). After 1 ( n = 6) and 4 weeks ( n = 8), maxillary segments were obtained and prepared for histologic analysis with a scoring system. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests with the significance set at .05. Results After 1 week, few inflammatory cells were present in the BG-PB, BG-PB-SA, and MTA groups. Moreover, a thin layer of newly generated matrix was observed in most specimens. After 4 weeks, all specimens from the 3 groups formed a heavy dentin bridge. BG-PB and BG-PB-SA groups exhibited no or slight inflammatory response, whereas the MTA group exhibited a slight to moderate inflammatory response. No significant difference was observed in pulp inflammation and dentin formation among the 3 groups at either time point ( P > .05). Conclusions When used as a pulp capping agent, BG-PB and BG-PB-SA had similar favorable cellular and inflammatory pulp responses to those of MTA. Therefore, BG is a promising pulp capping material.

Correlation filters have recently made significant improvements in visual object tracking on both efficiency and accuracy. In this paper, we propose a sparse correlation filter, which combines the effectiveness of sparse representation and the computational efficiency of correlation filters. The sparse representation is achieved through solving an l0 regularized least squares problem. The obtained sparse correlation filters are able to represent the essential information of the tracked target while being insensitive to noise. During tracking, the appearance of the target is modeled by a sparse correlation filter, and the filter is re-trained after tracking on each frame to adapt to the appearance changes of the target. The experimental results on the CVPR2013 Online Object Tracking Benchmark (OOTB) show the effectiveness of our sparse correlation filter-based tracker.

Stable 2-aminobithiophenes were prepared using the Gewald reaction. The resulting push-pull bithiophenes exhibited both unprecedented high fluorescence yields and stability in addition to demonstrating fluorescence on-off properties.

To design novel synthetic gene delivery system in which the carrier molecule functions dually as a carrier and a cytotoxic agent targeting dysregulated polyamine metabolism in cancer.Bisethylnorspermine (BENSpm) lipopolyamine was synthesized and its toxicity evaluated by MTS assay in MCF-7 and MCF-10A cells. Transfection activity was determined using luciferase plasmid DNA.Asymmetrical lipid analogue of polyamine anticancer drug BENSpm was synthesized using nucleophilic ring opening of azetidinium ion. The synthesized LipoBENSpm showed cytotoxicity comparable to that of parent BENSpm in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 but mediated 3-4 orders magnitude higher transfection activity. Importantly, cytostatic activity of BENSpm, typically in a low muM range, falls within a relevant and typical concentration range required for efficient gene delivery.These findings make gene delivery vectors based on BENSpm promising candidates for combination drug/gene approaches to the treatment of cancer.

Secondary deuterium isotope effects (IEs) on basicities of isotopologues of trimethylamine have been accurately measured by an NMR titration method applicable to a mixture. Deuteration definitely increases the basicity, by approximately 0.021 in the Delta pK per D. The IE is attributed to the lowering of the CH stretching frequency and zero-point energy by delocalization of the nitrogen lone pair into the C-H antibonding orbital. Because this depends on the dihedral angle between the lone pair and the C-H, a further consequence is a preference for conformations with H antiperiplanar to the lone pair and D gauche. This leads to a predicted nonadditivity of IEs, which is confirmed experimentally. It is found that the decrease in basicity, per deuterium, increases with the number of deuteriums. The nonadditivity of IEs is a violation of the widely assumed Rule of the Geometric Mean.

Secondary deuterium isotope effects (IEs) on acidities have been accurately measured by an NMR titration method applicable to a mixture of isotopologues. Deuteration definitely decreases the acidity of carboxylic acids and phenols, by up to 0.031 in the DeltapK per D. For aliphatic acids, the IEs decrease as the site of deuteration becomes more distant from the OH, as expected, but a surprising result is that IEs in both phenol and benzoic acid do not decrease as the site of deuteration moves from ortho to meta to para. The experimental data are supported by ab initio computations, which, however, substantially overestimate the IEs. The discrepancy does not seem to be due to solvation. The IEs originate in isotope-sensitive vibrations whose frequencies and zero-point energies are lowered upon deprotonation. In the simplest case, formate, the key vibration can be recognized as the C-H stretch, which is weakened by delocalization of the oxygen lone pairs. For the aromatic acids, delocalization cannot account for the near constancy of IEs from ortho, meta, and para deuteriums, but the observed IEs are consistent with calculated vibrational frequencies and electron densities. Moreover, the ability of the frequency analysis to account for the IEs is evidence against an inductive origin.

An efficient kinetic resolution of racemic Betti base with L-(+)-tartaric acid in acetone was developed based on a novel enantioselective N,O-deketalization, by which the enantiopure R- and S-enantiomers of Betti base were obtained as the corresponding N,O-ketal compound and salt with L-(+)-tartaric acid, respectively, in excellent yields with a practically foolproof operation.

A novel and practical preparation of 2-pyridone-containing tricyclic alkaloid derivatives was developed. By regioselective intramolecular N- and C-acylation of 2-(4-aryl-2-pyridon-6-yl)benzoic acid, a pair of structural isomers 2-aryl pyrido[2,1-a]isoindole-4,6-diones and 4-aryl 1-methyl-1H-indeno[1,2-b]-pyridine-2,5-diones, as potential inhibitors of tumor cell proliferation, were prepared respectively.

A novel three-step synthesis of 3-aryl beta-carbolin-1-ones from non-indole starting materials has been developed. The two nitrogen atoms in beta-carbolin-1-one were introduced efficiently by Michael addition of ethyl acetamidocyanoacetate to chalcone. The desired pyridone and indole rings were assembled by an intramolecular ketone-nitrile annulation mediated by aqueous HCl-HOAc and a Cu(I)-catalyzed intramolecular N-arylation of the amide, respectively. The target compounds were found to possess significant activity against tumor cell proliferation.

A novel one-pot preparation of chiral N -methyl- N -alkyl Betti bases has been developed involving a highly regioselective N -alkylation of ( S )-(+)-Betti base. The strategy involved formation-cleavage of the oxazine ring and N -methylation with BtCH 2 OH under neutral conditions.

An improved synthesis of homochiral 1-[α-(1-azacycloalkyl)benzyl]-2-naphthols and 1-[α-(2-arylpiperidyl)benzyl]-2-naphthols has been achieved by employing diastereomerically pure α-benzotriazolyl 1-azacycloalka[2,1-b][1,3]oxazines as homochiral precursors, which were obtained by condensation between nonracemic Betti base and dialdehydes in the presence of benzotriazole.

As a significant feature of vehicle, the color feature plays an important role in the intelligent transportation systems. However, the color feature is easily affected by the variations of the lighting condition. In this paper, we present a new method for vehicle color recognition, which is based on license plate color. The color of license plate is recognized by the prior knowledge and the recognition result of the license plate, which is not sensitive to the variations of lighting condition. We select the vehicle ROI (region of interest) near the license plate, and convert the color space of the plate image and the vehicle ROI image from RGB to HSV. The vehicle color is identified by the relative location of the ROI color and the plate color in the spectrum. We verify the feasibility of our approach through a comparison experiment. Experiment results show that the color of license plate is helpful to recognize the vehicle color.

Despite the important role of MAPKs in signal transduction, their functions in the cellulase hyper-producing filamentous fungus Hypocrea jecorina haven't been studied except for the Hog1-like Tmk3. In this work, we constructed and explored the features of H. jecorina Δtmk2 to identify the role of this Slt2-homologous Tmk2. It is suggested from the results that Tmk2 is involved in cell wall integrity, sporulation and cellulase production. Although bearing similar roles in cell wall integrity maintenance, Tmk2 and Tmk3 appear to also have distinct functions: Tmk3 participates in high osmolarity resistance while Tmk2 does not; Tmk2 participates in sporulation but not Tmk3; Tmk3 is involved in promoting cellulase production while Tmk2 is involved in repressing cellulase formation. These studies provide the first insight into the function of Tmk2 in H. jecorina and contribute to understanding the signal transduction processes leading to the regulation of cellulase production in this important cellulase hyper-producer.

In this paper, we propose an appearance-based vehicle type classification method from vehicle frontal view images. Unlike other methods using hand-crafted visual features, our method is able to automatically learn good features for vehicle type classification by using a convolutional neural network. In order to capture rich and discriminative information of vehicles, the network is pre-trained by the sparse filtering which is an unsupervised learning method. Besides, the network is with layer-skipping to ensure that final features contain both high-level global and low-level local features. After the final features are obtained, the soft max regression is used to classify vehicle types. We build a challenging vehicle dataset called BIT-Vehicle dataset to evaluate the performance of our method. Experimental results on a public dataset and our own dataset demonstrate that our method is quite effective in classifying vehicle types.

Introduction This study aims to investigate the effects of the bioceramic iRoot BP Plus (Innovative Bioceramix Inc, Vancouver, Canada) as a pulp capping agent in vitro and in vivo . Methods In vitro , human dental pulp cells (hDPCs) were seeded into plates with the prepared iRoot BP Plus or mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) packed in the bottom of different wells. The proliferation of hDPCs was determined using the 3,(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Meanwhile, 2 animal models of direct pulp capping and pulpotomy were applied in Wistar rats in vivo . The exposed pulps were capped with iRoot BP Plus or MTA. After 1 and 4 weeks, maxillary segments were obtained and prepared for histologic analysis. Results hDPCs grew very well even in the place contacted with MTA or iRoot BP plus in vitro . MTA and iRoot BP Plus both enhanced the proliferation of hDPCs ( P In vivo , results revealed that few inflammatory cells were present in the pulpal area corresponding to the pulp exposure. A slight layer of newly generated matrix was also observed next to MTA and iRoot BP Plus after 1 week. A complete reparative dentin bridge with polarizing odontoblastlike cells was detected in all specimens in the iRoot BP Plus group after 4 weeks. Conclusions iRoot BP Plus exhibited good biocompatibility to pulp tissue and induced the proliferation of dental pulp cells and the formation of reparative dentin bridge. iRoot BP plus may be used as a pulp capping material for vital pulp therapy

Bioactive glass (BG) has been widely used in bone regeneration; however, reports on the biological effects of BG on dental pulp cells are rare. This study aims to investigate the effects of nanoscale BG (n-BG) on odontogenic differentiation and dentin formation of dental pulp cells and to compare these effects with those of microscale BG (m-BG). Human dental pulp cells (hDPCs) from third molars were cultured directly with m-BG and n-BG in vitro. The cell proliferation increased at 0.1 mg ml −1 BG, which also had a chemotactic effect on hDPCs. The mineralization capacity and expression of odontogenic-related proteins and genes (dentin sialophosphoprotein, dentin matrix protein 1 and collagen type I) of hDPCs were significantly up-regulated under BG induction, and were particularly higher in the n-BG group than in the control group. m-BG and n-BG combined with pulp tissues were transplanted into the dorsum of immunodeficient mice to observe their biological effects on dental pulp cells in vivo. A continuous layer of dentin-like tissue with uniform thickness, a well-organized dentinal tubule structure and polarizing odontoblast-like cells aligned along it was generated upon the n-BG layer, whereas some irregular sporadic osteodentin-like mineralized tissues were observed in the control group. This study reveals that BG, especially n-BG, induces the odontogenic differentiation and dentin formation of dental pulp cells and may serve as a potential material for pulp repair and dentin regeneration.

Introduction This study aimed to investigate the effects of a novel nano-sized 58S bioactive glass (nano-58S BG) on the odontogenic differentiation and mineralization of human dental pulp cells (hDPCs) in vitro . Methods Extractions were prepared by incubating nano-58S BG, 45S5 BG, or 58S BG particulates in Dulbecco modified Eagle medium at 1% w/v for 24 hours and were filtrated through 0.22-μm filters. The supernatants were used as BG extractions. The hDPCs were cultured in nano-58S BG, 45S5 BG, and 58S BG extractions. The proliferation of hDPCs was evaluated using the methylthiazol tetrazolium assay. Odontogenic differentiation was evaluated based on the real-time polymerase chain reaction of differentiation- and mineralization-related genes, namely, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), collagen type I, dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), and dentin matrix protein 1. The gene expressions were verified using ALP activity assessment, immunocytochemistry staining of osteocalcin and DSPP, and mineralization assay using alizarin red S stain. Results All BG extractions up-regulated the expression of odontogenic genes, and the most significant enhancement was in the nano-58S BG group. All BG extractions, especially nano-58S, increased ALP activity, osteocalcin and DSPP protein production, and mineralized nodules formation. Conclusions Compared with regular BG, the novel nano-58S BG can induce the differentiation and mineralization of hDPCs more efficiently and might be a better potential candidate for dentin-pulp complex regeneration.

An extremely convenient method for deprotection of acetals and ketals catalyzed by molecular iodine (10 mol %) in acetone is reported. The protocol achieved the deprotection of acyclic or cyclic O,O-acetals and O,O-ketals in excellent yields within a few minutes under neutral conditions. The double bond, hydroxyl group, and acetate group remained unchanged, and the highly acid-sensitive furyl, tert-butyl ethers, and ketone-oxime stayed intact under these conditions.

A group of diastereopure α-benzotriazolyl 1-azacyclo-alka[2,1-b][1,3]oxazines were prepared from non-racemic Betti base and they were employed as the versatile precursors for the preparation of chiral ligands and chiral substituted azacyclics with significant advantages in the stereoselectivity.

Fluorescent α,α′-diamide substituted bi- and terthiophene derivatives were prepared by Stille and Suzuki couplings. Their one-pot deprotection and coupling with 2-thiophene carboxaldehyde led to stable conjugated azomethines. These exhibited electrochromic properties, and they were used to fabricate a working electrochromic device.

Progress in the development of nonviral gene delivery vectors continues to be hampered by low transfection activity and toxicity. Here we proposed to develop a lipid prodrug based on a polyamine analogue bisethylnorspermine (BSP) that can function dually as gene delivery vector and, after intracellular degradation, as active anticancer agent targeting dysregulated polyamine metabolism. We synthesized a prodrug of BSP (LS-BSP) capable of intracellular release of BSP using thiolytically sensitive dithiobenzyl carbamate linker. Biodegradability of LS-BSP contributed to decreased toxicity compared with nondegradable control L-BSP. BSP showed a strong synergistic enhancement of cytotoxic activity of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in human breast cancer cells. Decreased enhancement of TRAIL activity was observed for LS-BSP when compared with BSP. LS-BSP formed complexes with plasmid DNA and mediated transfection activity comparable to DOTAP and L-BSP. Our results show that BSP-based vectors are promising candidates for combination drug/gene delivery.

The solvatochromic and electrochemical properties of electronic push–pull 2-aminobithiophenes consisting of an aldehyde and nitro withdrawing groups were examined. With the use of an integrating sphere, the absolute quantum yields of the bithiophenes were measured. They were found to be highly fluorescent (Φfl > 70%), provided the nitro group was not located in the 4′-position. High fluorescence yields were observed regardless of solvent, except for alcohols, notably methanol and ethanol. Cryofluorescence was used to probe the bithiophene temperature dependent excited state deactivation modes. The singlet excited state deactivation mode other than fluorescence was found to be internal conversion involving rotation around the thiophene–thiophene bond. Deactivation by intersystem crossing to the triplet state occurred in ca. 40% only for the unsubstituted 2-aminobithiophene. In contrast, the fluorescence was quenched by photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer when the nitro group was located in the 4′-position of the bithiophene. Both the absorbance and fluorescence of the bithiophenes were found to be solvatochromic with more pronounced solvent dependent shifts being observed with the fluorescence. In fact, both the fluorescence and Stokes shifts were linearly dependent on the ET(30) solvent parameter. Deviations from the linear trend of the Stokes shift with ET(30) were observed in ethanol and methanol as a result of intermolecular hydrogen abstraction from the solvent and by the excited nitro group. The oxidation potential of the bithiophenes was also highly dependent on the type and number of the electron withdrawing substituents, with values ranging between 0.8 and 1.2 V vs. SCE.

The purpose of this study was to investigate compositional changes in human enamel irradiated with the free electron laser (FEL). The exposure on dental enamel at the wavelength of 9.64 μm was observed with the Beijing free electron laser. The distribution of elements in the irradiated or non-irradiated enamel was measured by scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-dispersive spectroscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) in Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility (BSRF). The results showed that the P/Ca ratio in the ablation region of enamel at the maximum wavelength of infrared absorption was obviously smaller than that at the non-maximum wavelength. In the ablation region the ratios of P/Ca and Ca/Sr were smaller than those in the non-ablation region. The distributions of P, Ca and Sr in the ablation region were heterogeneous due to the element change caused by FEL irradiation.