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Estradiol 17β (E2β) and ascorbic acid (AA) have been implicated in cancer progression. However, little is known about the actions of biologically active metabolites of E2β, 2-hydroxyestradiol (2OHE2), 4-hydroxyestradiol (4OHE2), 2-methoxyestradiol (2ME2), and 4-methoxyestradiol (4ME2) synthesized sequentially by cytochrome P450, family 1, subfamily A (CYP1A1) and B (CYP1B1), polypeptide 1, and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) on ovarian cancer. Herein, we examined the expression of CYP1A1, CYP1B1, COMT, and estrogen receptor α (ERα) and β (ERβ) in human ovarian surface epithelial (IOSE-385) and cancer cell lines (OVCAR-3, SKOV-3, and OVCA-432). We also investigated the roles of E2β, 2OHE2, 4OHE2, 2ME2, and 4ME2 in cell proliferation, and their interactive effects with AA on ovarian cells. We found the expression of CYP1A1, CYP1B1, COMT, ERα, and ERβ in most cell lines tested. Treating cells with physiological concentrations of E2β and its metabolites promoted (13%-42% of the control) IOSE-385 and OVCAR-3 proliferation. The ER blockade inhibited IOSE-385 (∼76%) and OVCAR-3 (∼87%) proliferative response to E2β but not to its metabolites. The ERα blockade inhibited (∼85%) E2β-stimulated OVCAR-3 proliferation, whereas ERβ blockade attenuated (∼83%) E2β-stimulated IOSE-385 proliferation. The AA at ≥250 μmol/L completely inhibited serum-stimulated cell proliferation in all cell lines tested; however, such inhibition in IOSE-385, OVCAR-3, and OVCA-432 was partially (∼10%-20%) countered by E2β and its metabolites. Thus, our findings indicate that E2β and its metabolites promote cell proliferation and antagonize the AA-suppressed cell proliferation in a subset of ovarian cancer cells, suggesting that blocking the actions of E2β and its metabolites may enhance AA’s antiovarian cancer activity.

The constant matrix and piezoelectric equations of quartz crystal material are introduced in this paper. Vibration characteristics of quartz crystal is analyzed under several important vibration mode and coupled modes are explained. At last, some measures to suppress the QCM vibration coupling is presented.

In allusion to the non-stationary wideband signals, a LMS adaptive filtering algorithm based on linear canonical transform is proposed. In this method, the signal is first transformed to linear canonical transform domain. By using linear canonical transform and selecting appropriate transformation parameters, characteristics of the transformed signal appear to be stationary narrow-band in the corresponding linear canonical transform domain, and then, the transformed signal is filtered adaptively with LMS algorithm in this domain. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the algorithm is not only to solve the problem of extracting and filtering of nonstationary signal, and can obtain better filtering performance.

Ordered W18O49 nanowire thin films were fabricated by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique in the presence of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) coating. The well-organized monolayer of W18O49 nanowires with periodic structures can be readily used as electrochromic sensors, showing reversibly switched electrochromic properties between the negative and positive voltage. Moreover, the electrochromism properties of the W18O49 nanowire films exhibit significant relationship with their thickness. The coloration/bleaching time was around 2 s for the W18O49 nanowire monolayer, which is much faster than the traditional tungsten oxide nanostructures. Moreover, the nanowire devices display excellent stability when color switching continues, which may provide a versatile and promising platform for electrochromism device, smart windows, and other applications.

Graphene-MnO 2 based supercapacitors with excellent power and energy density make them potentially promising candidates for future energy storage systems. However, it is still a challenge to develop a simple, inexpensive and scalable method to fabricate such capacitors. Here, a low cost “dip and dry” processes were used to fabricate hierarchical graphene/MnO 2 nanostructured sponges with high performance as hybrid supercapacitor electrodes. Commercial sponges were chose as skeletons to construct homogeneous three-dimensional interconnected macro-network RGO composite, which can be operated even under a high scan rate of 200 V/s and own outstanding cycle performance with ∼10% degradation after 10,000 cycles at a charge–discharge specific current of 10 A/g. Sponge@RGO@MnO 2 based supercapacitors also retain ∼90% of its capacitance after 10,000 cycles under a scan rate of 10 V/s. The maximum E and highest P of sponge@RGO based device are 2.08 Wh/kg and 94 kW/kg, respectively, at the operate voltage of 0.8 V and the maximum E of 8.34 Wh/kg and highest P of 47 kW/kg are achieved based on the sponge@RGO@MnO 2 at the operate voltage of 0.8 V. The high specific capacitance, wide operation range, good energy and power density, excellent cycling stability, facile preparation process, and low cost of as-fabricated supercapacitors could make them as promising devices for commercial production.

Ultrathin and ultralong: Highly uniform, ultrathin (diameter 5-7 nm), and ultralong (aspect ratio >10(4)) PtPdTe nanowires (NWs) were synthesized by using a facile method employing Te NWs as both sacrificial templates and reducing agents. Fine-tuning of the molar ratios of Pt and Pd precursors afforded PtPdTe NWs with different compositions and enhanced electroactivity in the methanol oxidation reaction in comparison with a commercial Pt/C catalyst.

In this work, the glassy carbon electrode modified by alizarin (AR) hybridized with graphene (CRG) and chitosan (CS) was prepared. The AR/CRG-CS electrode exhibited a pair of well-defined reversible redox peaks in 0.1 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS, pH 7.4) with the oxidation peak at −0.573 V and the reduction peak at −0.652 V. It exhibited a two-proton and two-electron redox process and a fast heterogeneous electron transfer rate with the rate constant ( K s ) of 1.69 s −1 using the cyclic voltammetry. Based on the characteristics of alizarin with the decreased current and negative potential shift after binding with human telomere DNA, a sensitive, simple, reliable and stable electrochemical method for the detection of human telomere DNA using the AR/CRG-CS electrode was developed. The electrochemical response showed a linear relationship with DNA concentration in the range of 8.0 × 10 −8 −1.4 × 10 −5 M ( R = 0.9995) with the linear regression equation as Δ I pc (μA) = 8.4860 + 0.5366 C (μmol) and the detection limit ( S/N ) as 2.0 × 10 −8 M.

To explore the effect of diallyl disulfide (DADS) on hippocampal synapses and learning and memory abilities in a mouse model of A1zheimer's disease (AD).Mouse models of AD established by agglutinated Aβ1-42 injection in the lateral cerebral ventricle were randomized into 4 groups and treated with DADS at the daily doses of 0, 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg by gavage for 30 consecutive days. The learning and memory abilities of the mice were assessed with Morris water maze test; the structures of the dendritic spines and synapses in CA1 region of the hippocampus were observed under transmission electron microscope with silver staining; PSD95 and SYP protein and mRNA expressions in the hippocampus were detected with Western blotting and RT-PCR.Compared with the AD model mice, the mice treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg DADS showed enhanced learning and memory abilities in Morris water maze test. The dendritic spines and synapses in CA1 region of the hippocampus increased obviously and hippocampal expressions of PSD95 and SYP were enhanced in mice treated with 50 and 100 mg/kg DADS.DADS at the daily doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg can improve the learning and memory abilities and increase the number of dendritic spines and synapses in the hippocampus in mouse models of AD.

To observe the effect of Trichinella spiralis and its worm-derived proteins on cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis in mice.Eighty male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into sham-operated group, CLP group, Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae (ML) pre-infection group (ML+CLP group), soluble muscle larvae proteins (SMP) treatment group (SMP+CLP group) and excretory-secretory proteins (MES) treatment group (MES+CLP group). In ML+CLP group, the mice were orally infected with 300 Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae at 28 days before CLP and those in the other groups were intraperitioneally injected with PBS or SMP (25 µg/mice) or MES (25µg/mice) 30 min after CLP. The general condition and 72-h survival after CLP of the mice were observed. The levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr), TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10 and TGF-β were measured at 12 h after the operation, and the pathological changes of the liver and kidney were observed.s Compared with the sham-operated mice, the mice in CLP group showed decreased 72-h survival, obviously increased ALT, AST, BUN, Cr, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-10, and TGF-β with hepatic cords disorder, hepatocytes swelling, glomerulus shrinkage, and renal tubular cell edema. Compared with CLP group, the mice in ML+CLP group showed lowered levels of ALT, AST, Cr, TNF-α and IL-1β and increased levels of IL-10 and TGF-β; in SMP+CLP group, the levels of ALT, AST, Cr, TNF-α and IL-1β were decreased and TGF-β increased. In MES+CLP group, the mice showed obviously increased 72-h survival with lowered levels of ALT, AST, BUN, Cr, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β, increased levels of IL-10 and TGF-β, and alleviated liver and kidney damages.Trichinella spiralis and its worm-derived proteins can decrease the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and increase immunomodulatory cytokines, and MES has more potent effect to reduce structural and functional damages of the liver and kidney.

In this study, a novel adamantyl nitroxide derivative was synthesized and its antitumor activities in vitro and in vivo were investigated. The adamantyl nitroxide derivative 4 displayed a potent anticancer activity against all the tested human hepatoma cells, especially with IC50 of 68.1 μM in Bel-7404 cells, compared to the positive control 5-FU (IC50=607.7 μM). The significant inhibition of cell growth was also observed in xenograft mouse model, with low toxicity. Compound 4 suppressed the cell migration and invasion, induced the G2/M phase arrest. Further mechanistic studies revealed that compound 4 induced cell death, which was accompanied with damaging mitochondria, increasing the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species, cleavages of caspase-9 and caspase-3, as well as activations of Bax and Bcl-2. These results confirmed that adamantyl nitroxide derivative exhibited selective antitumor activities via mitochondrial apoptosis pathway in Bel-7404 cells, and would be a potential anticancer agent for liver cancer.

In this paper air was passed through into one progress temperature-controlled box with coal sample and nitrogen into another as comparison during the procedure of coal’s low-temperature （10～80°C）oxidation . Draw the heating curves and heating rate curve, and equation model is built combined with energy conservation, then concludes the heat release rate of the coal samples in the air conditions. The experimental results show that the condition with air is more close to the storage conditions of coal such as transportation in reality, which is very significant to prevent the spontaneous combustion of coals

Objective: Crocin has been proposed as a promising candidate for cancer chemoprevention. The purpose of this investigation was to investigate the chemopreventive action and the possible mechanisms of crocin against human colon cancer cells in vitro. Methods: Cell proliferation was examined using MTT assay and the cell cycle distribution fractions were analyzed using fow cytometric analysis after propidium iodide staining. Apoptosis was detected using theTUNEL Apoptosis Detection Kit with laser scanning confocal microscope. DNA damage was assessed using the alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis assay, while expression levels of p53, cdk2, cyclinA and P21 were examined by Western blot analysis. Results: Treatment of SW480 cells with crocetin (0.2, 0.4, 0.8 mmol/L) for 48 h signifcantly inhibited their proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. Crocetin (0.8 mmol/L) signifcantly induced cell cycle arrest through p53-independent mechanisms accompanied by P21 induction. Crocetin (0.8 mmol/L) caused cytotoxicity in the SW480 cells by enhancing apoptosis and decreasing DNA repair capacity in a time-dependent manner. Conclusions: This report provides evidence that crocetin is a potential anticancer agent, which may be used as a chemotherapeutic drug.

Polyurethane foam is an important branch of building insulation materials, but its poor fire performance easily to lead to smoldering. This is conducted under condition of natural convection and heating time change of smoldering experiments on the smoldering experimental compartment. Use the thermocouple to measure the temperature changes inside the material. The results shows that, the heating time is shorter, smoldering into flame combustion is less complete, when time is short enough, smoldering extinguished; and in the vertical smoldering propagation, as time is shortened, smoldering into open fire’s position is upward. Experiment and analysis can be nicely displayed the effect of heating time on smoldering process.

We report the enhanced activity and stability of CuPt bimetallic tubular electrocatalysts through potential cycling in acidic electrolyte. A series of CuPt tubular electrocatalysts with sequential increased lattice ordering and surface atomic fraction of Pt were designed and synthesized by thermal annealing to reveal their improved electrocatalytic properties. These low-Pt-content electrocatalysts with Pt shell are formed through the thermal annealing and following potential cycling treatment. The catalysts (C1) with a low atomic fraction of Pt on the surface and low lattice ordering in the bulk are treated in acidic electrolyte, resulting in the formation of a Pt shell with relatively low activity and stability. However, the catalysts (C2) with a Pt-rich surface and high lattice ordering have a highly enhanced electrochemical surface area after potential cycling via surface roughing. The rough Pt shell of the C2 catalysts is achieved by leaching of surface Cu and the concomitant morphology restructuring....

Complex [Ba(pdc)(H2O)] (1), (H2pdc: 2,3-pyrazinedicarboxylic acid) has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and FT-IR. Structural determination reveals that there is only a crystallographically independent barium(II) center. The coordination geometry of Ba1 is a distorted bicapped tetragonal antiprism. The two carboxylate groups of pdc2− adopt μ 3–η 2: η 2 and μ 4–η 2: η 2 coordination modes, respectively. Whole pdc2− acts as a μ 6-bridge to link barium(II) centers to generate 2D network. Thermal stability and luminescent properties of complex 1 are investigated. A alkaline earth complex [Ba(pdc)(H2O)] (1) has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, elemental analysis and FT-IR. Thermal stability and luminescent property of 1 are investigated.

Cables play an important role in cable-stayed systems, but are vulnerable to corrosion and fatigue damage. There is a dearth of studies on the fatigue damage evolution of corroded cable. In the present study, the acoustic emission (AE) technology is adopted to monitor the fatigue damage evolution process. First, the relationship between stress and strain is determined through a tensile test for corroded and non-corroded steel wires. Results show that the mechanical performance of corroded cables is changed considerably. The AE characteristic parameters for fatigue damage are then established. AE energy cumulative parameters can accurately describe the fatigue damage evolution of corroded cables. The failure modes in each phase as well as the type of acoustic emission source are determined based on the results of scanning electron microscopy. The waveform characteristics, damage types, and frequency distribution of the corroded cable at different damage phases are collected. Finally, the number of broken wires and breakage time of the cables are determined according to the variation in the margin index.

Thermosensitive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)/Au nanoparticle (NP) nanocomposite hydrogels are synthesized by in situ γ-radiation-assisted polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide monomer aqueous solution in the presence of HAuCl₄·4H₂O. In this reaction, the PNIPAM hydrogels and the Au NPs are formed simultaneously, thus demonstrating an easy and straightforward synthetic strategy for the preparation of a uniform nanocomposite. The results suggest that increasing the monomer content during the preparation of nanocomposite materials can increase the sizes of Au NPs. The effects of irradiation dose and concentration of HAuCl₄·4H₂O on the optical and thermal properties of the hydrogel are also investigated. The PNIPAM/Au nanocomposite hydrogels act as an excellent catalyst for the conversion of o-nitroaniline to 1,2-benzenediamine, and the catalytic activity of the composite hydrogel can be tuned by the volume transition of PNIPAM. The in situ polymerization of monomer and reduction of metal ions initiated by a "clean" and "green" γ-radiation technique can be extended to the efficient synthesis of other nanocomposite materials.

The partial high points, always appearing when the hot strip is being rolled, not only negatively influence the quality of the hot strip, but also make a long term effect on the profile control. Via quantifying and separating the partial high points and analyzing the calculation of the strip crown, we can obtain the calculation method of the error resulted from the high points; then, on the basis of the way that the high points affect the profile and flatness control system, we can present some tactics to lessen the high points’ effect.

Nitrogen-doped graphene (GN) has great potential applications in many fields because doping with nitrogen can alter the electrical properties of graphene. It is still a challenge to develop a convenient method for synthesis of GN sheets. In this paper, we first report the synthesis of a nitrogen-doped graphene/ZnSe nanocomposite (GN-ZnSe) by a one-pot hydrothermal process at low temperature using graphene oxide nanosheets and [ZnSe](DETA)(0.5) nanobelts as precursors. ZnSe nanorods composed of ZnSe nanoparticles were found to deposit on the surface of the GN sheets. The results demonstrated that [ZnSe](DETA)(0.5) nanobelts were used not only as the source of ZnSe nanoparticles but also as the nitrogen source. Interestingly, it was found that the as-prepared nanocomposites exhibit remarkably enhanced electrochemical performance for oxygen reduction reaction and photocatalytic activities for the bleaching of methyl orange dye under visible-light irradiation. This facile and catalyst-free approach for depositing ZnSe nanoparticles onto the graphene sheets may provide an alternative way for preparation of other nanocomposites based on GN sheets under mild conditions, which show their potential applications in wastewater treatment, fuel cells, energy storage, nanodevices, and so on.

[Pr(Hbtca)(H2O)] (1), [Eu(Hbtca)(H2O)] (2), [Gd(Hbtca)(H2O)] (3) (H4btca: 1, 2, 4, 5-benzenetetracarboxlyic acid) have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, elemental analysis and FT-IR. Structural determination reveals that these three complexes are isostructural. In compounds, center atoms coordinate to one ligand (Hbtca)3− and one water molecule with nine-coordinated distorted monocapped anti-square prism geometry. Four carboxyl groups of (Hbtca)3− adopt μ 2–η 1:η 2 and μ 1–η 1:η 1 two different coordination modes. The whole ligand (Hbtca)3− acts as a μ 6-bridge to connect six different rare earth M(III) ions to generate a 3D network. Thermal stability of three complexes and luminescent property of 2 are investigated. Three isostructural complexes [Pr(Hbtca)(H2O)] (1), [Eu(Hbtca)(H2O)] (2), [Gd(Hbtca)(H2O)] (3) (H4btca: 1, 2, 4, 5-benzenetetracarboxlyic acid) have been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies, elemental analysis and FT-IR. Thermal stability of three complexes and luminescent property of 2 are investigated.

Two complexes [Cd2(dpe)3(H2O)8]·(dpe)·(hssal)2·(H2O)2 1, [Mn(dpe)2(Hpcmb)2·(H2O)2] 2, (dpe = trans-1,2-di(4-pyrindyl)ethylene; H2hssal = sulphosalicylic acid; H2pcmb = p-(carboxyl-methyloxy)-benzenecarboxylic acid) has been prepared, and was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Structure indicates in complex 1 that Cd(II) is a distorted octahedral coordination geometry. The hssal2− anions are localized between 2-D sheets {[Cd(dpe)2(H2O)4]2+(dpe)}n and {{[Cd(dpe)2(H2O)4]2+}n as count anions and bridge to further connect these 2-D sheets through hydrogen bond O–H···O to form 3-D structure. The complex 2 is a single molecule structure. In 2, Each Mn(II) atom is six-coordinated with a distorted octahedral coordination geometry. The single molecule units are extended into three-dimensional structure via π–π, hydrogen bonding interactions. The thermogravimetric behavior and luminescent property of complex 1 were investigated. Two complexes, [Cd2(dpe)3(H2O)8]·(dpe)·(hssal)2·(H2O)2 1, [Mn(dpe)2(Hpcmb)2(H2O)2] 2 have been prepared, and were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Structures indicate that two complexes are extended into three-dimensional structure via π–π, C–H···π and hydrogen bonding interactions. The thermogravimetric behavior and luminescent property of complex 1 were investigated.

The interface, which formed in a bimetallic system, is a critical issue to investigate the fundamental mechanism of enhanced catalytic activity. Here, we designed unsupported Pd-Au bimetallic nanoparticle tubes with a tunable interface, which was qualitatively controlled by the proportion of Pd and Au nanoparticles (NPs), to demonstrate the remarkably enhanced effect of Pd and Au NPs in electro-oxidation of ethanol. The results demonstrated that the electrocatalytic activity is highly relative to the interface and has no direct relation with individual metal component in the Pd-Au system. This effect helps us in achieving a fundamental understanding of the relationship between their activity and the interface structure and chemical properties and, consequently, is helpful in designing new catalysts with high performances.

Two new complexes [Zn(sal)2(tpt)]·H2O(1), [Cd(sal)2(tpt)(H2O)]·H2O(2), have been obtained through ligands tpt and Hsal, where Hsal is salicylic acid and tpt is 2,4,6-tripyridyl-1,3,5-triazine, reacting with Zn(II) and Cd(II) salts. Their structures are fully characterized by IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, single crystal X-ray diffraction. In complex 1, Zn(II) is coordinated by three N atoms and two O atom with a distorted square pyramidal coordination geometry. In 2, Each Cd(II) atom is seven-coordinated with a distorted pentagonal bipyramidal coordination geometry. The structural differences between two complexes show the influence of the coordinating orientation of metal ions. These two mononuclear complexes are further extended into three-dimensional structure via π–π, C–H···π and hydrogen bonding interactions. The solid state luminescent properties of complex 1, 2 are also reported. Two complexes, [Zn(sal)2(tpt)]·H2O(1), [Cd(sal)2(tpt)(H2O)]·H2O(2) have been prepared, and were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Structures indicate that exhibit that two complexes are single molecule structures. Two complexes are further extended into three-dimensional structure via π–π, C–H···π and hydrogen bonding interactions.

A Pd-Au/CuO@Cu heterostructured nanoparticle tube catalyst is synthesized by a one-step electrodeposition route onto an anodic aluminium oxide template in anhydrous DMSO, and characterized by powder XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and cyclic voltammetry.

A physics-based material processing simulation is approached to research the machining distortion for titanium alloy aircraft monolithic component by the finite element method (FEM). Several key technologies, such as material constitutive model, material removal methodology of machining process, determination and application of cutting loads, have been implemented to improve the accuracy of finite element simulation. To verify the FEM result, an experiment is carried out. The distortion position and dimension of aircraft monolithic component resulting from FEM show a good agreement with the experiment result, which indicates that the key technologies presented in the paper are practicable and can be used to simulate the machining process of monolithic component to predict its distortion.

This paper aims at the investigation of photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide coatings covering on the surfaces of long blue-emitting afterglow CaAl2O4:Eu2+, Nd3+ elaborated by a sol-gel method. Morphologies and microstructures of the coatings were observed mainly by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The photocatalytic behavior of the TiO2-base surfaces was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) solution. It suggested that a layer of TiO2 film mounted on the phosphor particles successfully. Also, the TiO2 coatings had remained its photocatalytic role on the as-prepared sample even after the light source was removed. The inner long blue-emitting afterglow had released blue afterglow after removing light source and allowed for reactive TiO2 surfaces to be held for the removal of methyl orange.

The method of RNAi was used to inhibit the expression of induced heat shock protein 70 (Hsp72) in the 4-cell stage mouse embryos and the embryo development competence was analyzed to identify the functions of Hsp72 on embryonic heat resistance. The results indicated that the inhibition rates of siRNA1 for Hsp72 mRNA and Hsp72 protein were 87.1 and 78.5%, respectively. The blastocysts development rates were 41, 86, and 84% for the siRNA1 group, the LipofectamineTM 2 000 exposed group, and the 37°C group, respectively, and the hatched blastocysts development rates for the above three groups were 35, 72, and 68%, respectively. The data suggest that the siRNA1 has a significant inhibiting effect on Hsp72 gene, and Hsp72 gene silence reduces the blastocysts development rate and hatched blastocysts rate after heat shock during the development of mouse preimplantation embryos.

Proteinases play a critical role in developmental homeostasis and in response to environ-mental stimuli. Our present research reports that a new cysteine protease, NtCP56, is involved in the development of pollen grains in Nicotiana tabacum L. The NtCP56 gene, which encodes a protein of 361 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 40 kDa, is strongly expressed in anthers. The recombinant NtCP56 showed a high activity towards casein. Kinetic analysis revealed a K(m) of 2.20 mg ml(-1) and V(max) of 11.07 microg ml(-1) min(-1). The recombinant NtCP56 retained more than 50% of its maximum enzymatic activity from 20 degrees C to 60 degrees C with an optimum Tm range of 30-50 degrees C. The enzyme had a maximum activity at approximately pH 6.5. Suppression of the NtCP56 gene in anti-sense transgenic tobaccos resulted in the sterility of pollen grains. Our data indicated that, as a cysteine protease, NtCP56 might play an important role in pollen development.

DNA-partly-wrapped single-walled carbon nanotubes (DNA-p-SWCNTs) were separated from the mixtures of calf thymus DNA and SWCNTs in solution by differential centrifugation for the first time. Average mass ratios of DNA to SWCNTs for DNA-p-SWCNTs and DNA-fully-wrapped-SWCNTs (DNA-f-SWCNTs) were determined to be 0.8 and 2.0, respectively. It has been found that DNA-p-SWCNTs could form a uniform and porous film on glassy carbon electrodes due to special structure of them, which could facilitate the electron transfer between positively-charged compounds and electrodes, and showed good enrichment capability at low ionic strength. Keywords: DNA, Carbon nanotubes, Cyclic voltammetry, Glassy carbon electrode, Film

Data obtained from gene expression microarray experiments always suffer from missing values due to various reasons. However, complete gene expression data are of great importance to many gene expression data analysis issues. Therefore, imputation methods with high estimation precision are critical to further data analysis. In this paper, inspired by the idea of semi-supervised learning with tri-training, we propose a novel imputation method called TRIIM (TRIple IMputation). TRIIM estimates missing values using triple imputation strategies based on Bayesian principal component analysis (BPCA), local least squares (LLS) and expectation maximization (EM). The data properties of global correlation information, local structure and data distribution are all considered properly. It is implemented by sharing the estimated values of any two algorithms' cooperation to the rest at each step, and assembling combinations of all imputation results finally. Experimental results on four real microarray matrices demonstrate that TRIIM achieves better performance than the comparative algorithms in terms of normalized root mean square error (NRMSE), even in the case of microarray dataset with large missing rates and few complete genes.

This article reports a novel scalable method to prepare ultrathin and uniform Pd@Pt nanowires (NWs) with controllable composition and shell thickness, high aspect ratio, and smooth surface, triggered by bromide ions via a galvanic replacement reaction between PtCl6(2-) and Pd NWs. It was found that bromide ions played a vital role in initiating and promoting the galvanic reaction. The bromide ions served as capping and oxidized etching agents, counterbalancing the Pt deposition and Pd etching on the surface to give final Pd@Pt core-shell nanostructures. Such a counterbalance and the formation PtBr6(2-) with lower redox potential could lower the reaction rate and be responsible for full coverage of a smooth Pt shell. The full coverage of Pt deposited on Pd NWs is important for the enhancement of the activity and stability, which depend strongly on the Pt content and Pt shell thickness. Significantly, the Pd@Pt NWs with Pt content of 21.2% (atomic ratio) exhibited the highest mass activity (810 mA mg(-1)(Pt)) and specific activity (0.4 mA cm(-2)). Interestingly, the mass activity (1560 mA mg(-1)(Pt)) and specific activity (0.98 mA cm(-2)) of Pd@Pt (21.2%) NWs increased to 2.45 and 1.95 times the initial values after 60k cycles tests, 8.5 and 9.0 times greater than those of Pt/C catalysts. In addition, these ultrathin NW electrocatalysts with large aspect ratio are easy to form into a freestanding film, which improves the mass transport, electrical conductivity, and structure stability.

As a finite-energy-bandgap alternative to graphene, semiconducting molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has recently attracted extensive interest for energy and sensor applications. In particular for broad-spectral photodetectors, multilayer MoS2 is more appealing than its monolayer counterpart. However, little is understood regarding the physics underlying the photoresponse of multilayer MoS2. Here, we employ scanning photocurrent microscopy to identify the nature of photocurrent generated in multilayer MoS2 transistors. The generation and transport of photocurrent in multilayer MoS2 are found to differ from those in other low-dimensional materials that only contribute with either photovoltaic effect (PVE) or photothermoelectric effect (PTE). In multilayer MoS2, the PVE at the MoS2-metal interface dominates in the accumulation regime whereas the hot-carrier-assisted PTE prevails in the depletion regime. Besides, the anomalously large Seebeck coefficient observed in multilayer MoS2, which has also been reported by others, is caused by hot photo-excited carriers that are not in thermal equilibrium with the MoS2 lattice.

C-type lectins (CTLs), serving as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), are a superfamily of Ca2+-dependent carbohydrate-recognition proteins that participate in nonself-recognition and pathogen elimination. In the present study, a single carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) CTL was identified from oyster Crassostrea gigas (designated as CgCLec-2). There was only one CRD within the deduced amino acid sequence of CgCLec-2 consisting of 129 amino acid residues. A conserved EPN (Glu(246)-Pro(247)-Asn(248)) motif was found in Ca2+-binding site 2 of CgCLec-2. The CgCLec-2 mRNA could be detected in all the examined tissues at different expression levels in oysters. The mRNA expression of CgCLec-2 in hemocytes was up-regulated significantly at 6 h post Vibrio splendidus challenge. The recombinant CgCLec-2 (rCgCLec-2) could bind various Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs), including lipopolysaccharide, mannan and peptidoglycan, and displayed strong binding abilities to Vibrio anguillarum, V. splendidus and Yarrowiali polytica and week binding ability to Staphylococcus aureus. It could also enhance the phagocytic activity of oyster hemocytes to V. splendidus and exhibited growth suppression activity against gram-positive bacteria S. aureus but no effect on gram-negative bacteria V. splendidus. Furthermore, the interaction between rCgCLec-2 and rCgMASPL-1 was confirmed by GST Pull down. The results suggested that CgCLec-2 served as not only a PRR in immune recognition but also a regulatory factor in pathogen elimination, and played a potential role in the activation of complement system. (c) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Severe sepsis, a lethal syndrome after infection or injury, is the third leading cause of mortality in the United States. The pathogenesis of severe sepsis is characterized by organ damage and accumulation of apoptotic lymphocytes in the spleen, thymus, and other organs. To examine the potential causal relationships of apoptosis to organ damage, we administered Z-VAD-FMK, a broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor, to mice with sepsis. We found that Z-VAD-FMK–treated septic mice had decreased levels of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a critical cytokine mediator of organ damage in severe sepsis, and suppressed apoptosis in the spleen and thymus. In vitro, apoptotic cells activate macrophages to release HMGB1. Monoclonal antibodies against HMGB1 conferred protection against organ damage but did not prevent the accumulation of apoptotic cells in the spleen. Thus, our data indicate that HMGB1 production is downstream of apoptosis on the final common pathway to organ damage in severe sepsis.

In recent years, a large amount of unstructured text data is produced in the auditing field. In order to obtain the abundant potential knowledge and auditing trails, researchers pay more attention to the text mining technology. In this paper, we first introduce the basic concepts and application of text mining. Then, we use TF-IDF method to model text documents as term frequency vectors, and compute similarity between text documents by using cosine similarity. The results of experiment in the repeated e-government project audit show the analysis method of text achieved a relatively good accuracy.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has accumulated amount of literature with a total of 1,059 volumes, more than 190,000 chapters, and more than 120,000,000 words during the last 2000 years. In the previous works, researchers annotated the phrases one by one with their own hands. Here we propose semantic annotation techniques based on Semantic units division and annotation are realized through constructing a corpus and professional semantic unit dictionary. Based on the technology, a semantic annotation method is implemented using hidden markov models, which achieves 92.2% in terms of micro-average F1 measure and 87.6% in terms of macro-average F1 measure on the case of spleen putty genre.

To observe the effect of activation of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) by ethanol on the expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in the kidney of diabetic rats.Eightheen healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 6): normal control group, diabetes group and ethanol + diabetes group. After 8 weeks, 24 h urine samples from rats were collected to detect urinary protein content. The kidney was isolated and the ratio of kidney weight/body weight (index of kidney weight) was detected. The levels of fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin serum urea nitrogen and serum creatinine were measured. Morphological changes of renal tissue were observed by optical microscope. The protein expressions of ALDH2 and JNK in renal tissue were detected by Western blot.Compared with the normal control rats, the levels of fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and the index of kidney weight were increased markedly in diabetic rats. The expression of ALDH2 protein was decreased, while p-JNK, JNK protein expressions and the ratio of p-JNK/JNK were increased. The morphological observation was shown that the amount of glomerular mesangial matrix were increased, basement membrane were thickened and capillary lumen were narrowed. However,in ethanol + diabetes group, renal function was improved and the damage of renal structure was attenuated. The expression of ALDH2 protein was increased, while p-JNK, JNK and the ratio of p-JNK/JNK were decreased.Enhanced ALDH2 expression can protect kidney in diabetic rats, which may be relevant with inhibitting the activity of JNK pathway.

Bacillary dysentery is an infectious disease caused by Shigella dysenteriae, which has a seasonal distribution. External environmental factors, including climate, play a significant role in its transmission. This paper identifies climate-related risk factors and their role in bacillary dysentery transmission. Harbin, in northeast China, with a temperate climate, and Quzhou, in southern China, with a subtropical climate, are chosen as the study locations. The least absolute shrinkage and selectionator operator is applied to select relevant climate factors involved in the transmission of bacillary dysentery. Based on the selected relevant climate factors and incidence rates, an AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is established successfully as a time series prediction model. The numerical results demonstrate that the mean water vapour pressure over the previous month results in a high relative risk for bacillary dysentery transmission in both cities, and the ARIMA model can successfully perform such a prediction. These results provide better explanations for the relationship between climate factors and bacillary dysentery transmission than those put forth in other studies that use only correlation coefficients or fitting models. The findings in this paper demonstrate that the mean water vapour pressure over the previous month is an important predictor for the transmission of bacillary dysentery.

G-proteins mediate cellular function upon interaction with G-protein coupled receptors. Of the 16 mammalian G-protein α subunits identified, G-protein subunit α-11 (GNA11) and -14 (GNA14) have been implicated in modulating hypertension and endothelial function. However, little is known about their expression and roles in human placentas. Here, we examined GNA11 and GNA14 protein expression in first trimester (FT), normal term (NT), and severe preeclamptic (sPE) human placentas as well as in NT human umbilical cords. We found that GNA11 and GNA14 were immunolocalized primarily in trophoblasts, villous stromal cells, and endothelial cells in placentas as well as in endothelial and/or smooth muscle cells of the umbilical cord artery and vein. Western blotting revealed that the GNA14, but not GNA11, protein levels were increased (2.5-2.9 fold; p

Background: Depression is more common in patients with multiple myeloma (30%) than in the general population (7%), similar to other patients with advanced cancer (PMID 27141015, 20187072). It may be more difficult to detect depression in cancer patients as psychiatric symptoms commonly overlap with medical symptoms from their disease or treatment. Additionally, it is difficult to discern differences between normal and pathologic reactions to such a serious diagnosis. Depressive symptoms, even mild presentations, have been shown to lower quality of life, affect medication compliance, and increase suicide risk, which increase all-cause mortality in the general population, and this is no different in cancer patients, including those with multiple myeloma (PMID 26029972, 23677523). Although depression has a significant impact on cancer patients, there have not been large studies to evaluate antidepressant use, including the frequency of its initiation after diagnosis. Methods: Patients included in this study were participants in the Ohio Myeloma Initiative (NCT01408225), an observational registry collected from patients in Ohio State University's myeloma clinic. Medications were collected and patients who took antidepressants were filtered into a list. The order date of the medications was compared to the patient's diagnosis date. Patients with order dates occurring after date of diagnosis were collected. Chart review was then performed to determine when the antidepressant was started and its indication. Results: Fourteen hundred eight-nine multiple myeloma patients were enrolled in the registry and their medications (35,390) compiled. Of those 1,489 patients, 207 (14%) had an antidepressant on their medication list. The most commonly prescribed antidepressants were duloxetine (14%), sertraline (13%), and citalopram (9%). There were 133 male patients and 74 female patients and the average age of diagnosis was 60.2 years. Although 148 patients (148/207, 71.4%) had documentation of antidepressant use after diagnosis. Of these patients, 106 patients (106/148) had the indication of depression with or without anxiety. Other common indications included neuropathy (24/148, 16.2%) and insomnia (13/148, 8.8%). Fibromyalgia, smoking cessation, anorgasmia, and dizziness were rare but documented indications. Only 32 patients (32/207, 22%) were initiated on an antidepressant with the indication of depression after their diagnosis. There were 25 male patients and 7 female patients. Sertraline (22%), citalopram (22%), and escitalopram (18.6%) were the most common antidepressants started for depression. Conclusions: Only 14% of our patients were on antidepressants despite an average 30% incidence of depressive symptoms reported in prior studies. Of those on antidepressant medications, it would appear that younger patients tended to initiate treatment for their depression, which is congruent with a study by Lamers et al. 2013, which found that younger patients showed the greatest interest in treating their depression. Multiple myeloma is a unique malignancy in that its treatments have side effects, most notably polyneuropathy, which benefit from administration of a SSRI or TCA. Therefore, physicians treating these patients may unconsciously prescribe these antidepressants for a "two birds with one stone" approach. Because documentation of anti-depressant use is often lacking, prospective registries will need to separately document the indications for psychotropic medications. Disclosures Hofmeister: Janssen: Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson: Research Funding; Incyte, Corp: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Signal Genetics, Inc.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Research Funding; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Research Funding; Arno Therapeutics, Inc.: Research Funding; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company: Research Funding; Teva: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.