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[Display omitted] • An electro-controlled membrane coupling heterogeneous electro-Fenton (EM-HEF) system was designed. • Good performance was achieved in the treatment of APAP and landfill leachate. • The contribution of hydroxyl radical was identified by ESR tests. • The EM-HEF system exhibited excellent reusability and stability. • Membrane fouling can be controlled through both •OH and electrostatic repulsive forces. The utilization of hybrid electro-Fenton (EF) processes has gained considerable attention, which can combine the advantages of two or more treatment methods resulting in efficient removal of refractory pollutants from water. Here, an electro-controlled membrane coupling heterogeneous EF (EM-HEF) system was constructed for the degradation of acetaminophen (APAP) in water. In the EM-HEF system, a bifunctional ACF/CC-FeOCl-Cu cathode material was synthesized to enhance the HEF reaction, while a tubular Ti microfiltration membrane was used as both cathode and membrane. Degradation experiments indicated the EM-HEF system exhibited remarkable removal efficiency (97.0 %) towards APAP within 30 min under the conditions of flow rate at 60 mL min−1, initial pH at 7.1, and current density at 3 mA cm−2. Notably, the cathode materials showed low metal leaching rate and high APAP removal rate in the 10 cyclic experiments. The common inorganic anions (Cl−, HCO 3 −, HPO 4 2−, and NO 3 −) did not inhibit the removal of APAP significantly, whereas humic acid exhibited a more pronounced inhibitory effect only at concentrations exceeding 10 mg L−1. Quenching experiments and electron spin resonance (ESR) tests confirmed the pivotal role of hydroxyl radicals in the decomposition of APAP. Combining density functional theory (DFT) and LC-MS results, three pathways were proposed. The overall toxicity of intermediates was relieved during EM-HEF degradation of APAP. Furthermore, it also achieved good performance in the treatment of landfill leachate, with increasing BOD 5 /COD ratio from 0.11 to 0.34. This work provides an efficient strategy for the removal of refractory pollutants in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The proposed process is a potentially good choice for heavy oil recovery. • A patented large-scale sandpack can better study the processes. • The Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 nanofluids had effects on wettability alteration and IFT reduction. • The Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 nanofluids has a greater role than CO 2 microbubbles. • There is an optimum slug size and WGR when designing the processes. Water-alternating-CO 2 injection (CO 2 WAG) is a successful method for enhancing heavy oil recovery and geologic CO 2 storage. However, CO 2 WAG still has some setbacks, such as water blocking, gravity overriding, and viscous fingering of injected CO 2. Therefore, a new method, named hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection, is proposed in this study to improve the effect of CO 2 WAG. In this method, the hybrid nanofluid is used to reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between the heavy oil and brine and alter the sandstone surface wettability. The CO 2 microbubbles improve mobility control by minimizing gravity overriding and viscous fingering. In this study, for the first time, hybrid nanofluid and CO 2 microbubbles are simultaneously used in WAG processes to enhance heavy oil recovery. Five types of nanoparticles are screened systematically by contact angle and IFT tests to find the best candidate for the hybrid nanofluid in hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection and clarify the enhanced oil recovery mechanisms. Then, oil displacement tests are carried out by using a patented large-scale sandpack to assess the viability of hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection and to analyze the effects of key parameters on the performance of hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection. Our experimental results indicate that Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 nanofluid has more influence than TiO 2 -SiO 2 and TiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 nanofluids on wettability alteration to the water-wet state and IFT reduction. Hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection is a potentially good choice to enhance heavy oil recovery because of the synergistic effect of injecting hybrid nanofluid and CO 2 microbubbles. Hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection is suggested to be initiated as early as possible. A smaller slug size is preferred, and the water and gas slugs are suggested to be separately injected from the upper and lower parts of a heavy oil reservoir. The optimum WGR and slug size (1:1 and 0.05PV in this study) should be prudently considered when designing hybrid nanofluid-alternating-CO 2 microbubble injection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of multidrug resistance (MDR) in Proteus mirabilis clinical isolates is a growing public health concern and has serious implications for wildlife. What is the role of wildlife has been become one of the hot issues in disseminating antimicrobial resistance. Here, 54 P. mirabilis isolates from 12 different species were identified. Among them, 25 isolates were determined to be MDR by profile of antimicrobial susceptibility; 10 MDR P. mirabilis isolates were subjected to comparative genomic analysis by whole genome sequencing. Comprehensive analysis showed that chromosome of P. mirabilis isolates mainly carries multidrug‐resistance complex elements harboring resistance to carbapenem genes blaOXA‐1, blaNDM‐1, and blaTEM‐1. Class I integron is the insertion hotspot of IS26; it can be inserted into type I integron at different sites, thus forming a variety of multiple drug resistance decision sites. At the same time, Tn21, Tn7, and SXT/R391 mobile elements cause widespread spread of these drug resistance genes. In conclusion, P. mirabilis isolates from wildlife showed higher resistance to commonly used clinic drugs comparing to those from human. Therefore, wild animals carrying MDR clinical isolates should be paid attention to by the public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Increased upstream productivity and the continuous pressure to deliver high quality drug product have resulted in the development of new separation technologies and platform strategies for downstream purification processes of monoclonal antibodies (mAb). In this study, the separation attributes of three mixed-mode resins, Mercapto-Ethyl-Pyridine (MEP) hydrophobic charge induction resin, Capto adhere multi-modal anion exchange resin, and ceramic hydroxyapatite/fluoroapatite (CHT/CFT) resins, were investigated to define their roles in monoclonal antibody purification processes. We demonstrated that the multi-modal nature of ligands on mixed-mode resins allows the separation resolution to be honed, either through a single dominant mechanism or through mix-modal balanced purification strategies. In addition, the three mixed-mode resins present different purification powers for different types of impurities. We also demonstrated that besides enhancing chromatography separation and improve product quality, especially for high molecular weight (HMW) aggregate reduction, mixed-mode resins can also help to improve process efficiency in industrial-scale mAb drug manufacturing. Our results underscore the importance of selecting appropriate chromatography resins during DSP design to obtain the best overall process outcome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Time-delayed responses to environmental changes and disturbance can beget profound effects on the spatiotemporal dynamics of metapopulations. Here, we first examined the effect of three forms of time-lag (that is, equal-weight, recency and primacy effects) on population dynamics, using a spatially structured lattice model. The time-lag was incorporated in the niche construction process of the system (an organism–environment feedback). Using bifurcations diagrams and numerical simulations, we found that the time-lag can form a phase-locked oscillation. Three typical spatial patterns emerged: spiral wave, spiral-broken wave and circular wave. These spatial patterns gradually become immobile as a result of the self-organized ecological imprinting due to niche construction. Therefore, the phase-locked oscillation and the ecological imprinting process together determine the spatial structure of metapopulations and the environmental heterogeneity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Habitat loss is considered as one of the primary causes of species extinction, especially for a species that also suffers from an epidemic disease. Little attention has been paid to the combined effect of habitat loss and epidemic transmission on the species spatiotemporal dynamics. Here, a spatial model of the parasite–host/prey–predator eco-epidemiological system with habitat loss was studied. Habitat patches in the model, instead of undergoing a random loss, were spatially clustered by different degrees. Not only the quantity of habitat loss but also its clustering degree was shown to affect the equilibrium of the system. The infection rate and the probability of successful predation were keys to determine the spatial patterns of species. The epidemic disease is more likely to break out if only a small amount of suitable patches were lost. Counter-intuitively, infected preys are more sensitive to habitat loss than predators if the lost patches are highly clustered. This result is new to eco-epidemiology and implies a possibility of using spatial arrangement of suitable (or unsuitable) patches to control the spread of epidemics in the ecological system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we discuss the effect of elevated CO2 concentration, irrigation and nitrogenous fertilizer application on the growth and yield of spring wheat in semi-arid areas. A field experiment was conducted at the Dingxi Agricultural Experiment Station during 2000–2002. According to the experimental design, the CO2 concentration increased to 14.5, 40 and 54.5μmolmol−1, respectively, by NH4HCO3 (involving CO2) application, direct application of CO2 gas and combination of fertilizer NH4HCO3 plus CO2 application, which are equal to CO2 concentration of the Earth''s atmosphere in the next 5, 15 and 20 years. The fertilizer application was divided into three levels: application of NH3NO3 (250kghm−2), NH4HCO3 (500kghm−2) and no fertilizer. Irrigation was divided into two levels: with 90mm irrigation in the growth period and without irrigation. They can be combined as eight treatments. Each treatment was replicated three times. The results showed that elevated CO2 concentration owing to CO2 application leads to remarkable increase in leaf area index (LAI) and shoot biomass, and also generates the higher value of leaf area duration (LAD) that can benefit the photosynthesis in the growth stage and yield increase in crop compared than the no CO2 application treatment. When CO2 concentration elevated by 14.5, 40 and 54.5μmolmol−1 with irrigation and fertilization, correspondingly, the grain yield increased by 6.3, 13.1 and 19.8%, respectively, whereas without irrigation and fertilization, the grain yield increased by only 4.2% when CO2 concentration increased to 40μmolmol−1. Meanwhile, irrigation and fertilization can result in larger and deeper root system and have significantly positive influences on higher value of root/shoot (R/S) and water use efficiency. The grain yields in irrigation, irrigation plus NH3NO3 application and irrigation plus application of NH4HCO3 treatments are 73.4, 148.0 and 163.6% higher than that of no-irrigated and no-fertilized treatment, suggesting that both irrigation and fertilizer application contribute to remarkable increase of crop yield. In all treatments, the highest water use efficiency (WUE, 7.24kghm−2 mm−1) and grain yield (3286kghm−2) consistently occurred in the treatment with 90mm irrigation plus fertilizer NH4HCO3 and elevated CO2 concentration (54.5μmolmol−1), suggesting that this combination has an integrated beneficial effect on improving WUE and grain yield of spring wheat. These results may offer help to maintain and increase the crop yields in semi-arid areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The TiO 2 /Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S hollow heterojunction with Mn/Cd bimetallic synergy is prepared via a continuous chemical-hydrothermal-etching method. There, the TiO 2 shell and Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S nanoparticles were deposited by continuous chemical-hydrothermal method on the surface of SiO 2 template, and subsequently the SiO 2 template was etched via a chemical method. Evaluated by HER, the as-prepared TiO 2 /Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S hollow heterojunction exhibits an obvious photocatalytic enhancement to about ~5822.94 μmol/g∙h(~40 folds of TiO 2 , ~7 folds of Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S), which can be mainly ascribed to that, the narrow band gap of Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S can increase the visible light energy utilization, the TiO 2 /Mn 0.2 Cd 0.8 S heterojunction and Mn/Cd bimetallic synergy can separate/transfer the photo-generated charge carriers efficiently, and the sufficient specific surface areas and actives from 3D hollow structure can promote the charge carrier diffusing into water quickly for achieving H 2 generation. Additionally, the hollow 3D structure can provide a decent physical-chemical stability to improve the photocatalytic stability. [Display omitted] • Heterojunction can promote carriers separation/transport via appropriate potential gradient. • Mn/Cd bimetallic synergy can improve charge carriers transport/diffusion. • 3D Hollow structure can increase specific surface areas and solar utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Myocardial damage is a mostly incurable complication of multiple myeloma (MM) that seriously affects the treatment outcome and quality of life of patients. Exosomal circular RNAs (exo-circRNAs) play an important role in tumor occurrence and development and are considered key factors in MM pathogenesis. However, the role and mechanism of action of exo-circRNAs in MM-related myocardial damage are still unclear. This study aimed to investigate correlations between exo-circRNAs and MM and to preliminarily explore the role of exo-circRNAs in MM-related myocardial damage. Methods: Six MM patients and five healthy controls (HCs) were included in the study. High-throughput sequencing and qRT-PCR verification were used to obtain a profile of abnormally expressed exo-circRNAs. GO, KEGG, miRanda, TargetScan and Metascape were used for bioinformatics analyses. H9C2 cells treated with exosomes from U266 cells were used in cell experiments. CCK-8, PCR, immunofluorescence and western blotting assays were used to detect cell proliferation and expression of autophagy-related indicators. Electron microscopy was used to observe the number of autophagic vesicles. Results: Bioinformatics analysis showed that circRNAs with upregulated expression had the potential to promote MM-related myocardial damage. In addition, PCR results confirmed that circ-G042080 was abundantly expressed in the serum exosomes of 20 MM patients. Correlation analysis showed that the expression level of circ-G042080 was positively correlated with the clinical level of MM and MM-related myocardial damage and that circ-G042080 might interfere with MM-related myocardial damage through a downstream miRNA/TLR4 axis. Cell experiments demonstrated that the circ-G042080/hsa-miR-4268/TLR4 axis might exist in H9C2 cells incubated with exosomes and cause abnormal autophagy. Conclusion: Abnormal expression of serum exo-circRNAs was found to be associated with MM-related myocardial damage, suggesting that exo-circRNAs might become a new diagnostic marker of MM-related myocardial damage and a therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on indoor visible light communication (VLC) technology, the large-scale LED array can be used for the integration system of communication, positioning and illumination. However, due to the different propagation time between LEDs and receivers, the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is affected by the inter symbol interference (ISI). This paper proposes a multi-receiver SNR optimization method by selecting communicating LEDs in the LED array. The proposed method uses the modified evolutionary algorithm (EA) to obtain the optimal SNR. In the processes of initialization, crossover and mutation operations, instead of general stochastic generation and transformation, the heuristic gene initialization, maximum contributing gene reservation and the minimum contributing gene elimination, which are specially designed for VLC LED selection problem, are proposed to improve the EA. The delay features of different LEDs to receivers are quantitatively analyzed and used as the criteria to gene initialization, crossover and mutation in order to attenuate the ISI. Simulation results reveal that the proposed method converges faster and obtains larger SNRs than the general and the hyper heuristic EA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Infected ureteral stones are a urologic emergency and require urgent decompression. We set out to determine whether serum procalcitonin (PCT) could aid in the diagnosis of infected ureteral stones. Methods: All consecutive patients presenting to the emergency room from November 9, 2016, to November 10, 2018, with an obstructing ureteral stone were included. All patients had complete blood count, urinalysis (UA), PCT, and urine culture (UCx). Subgroup analysis was performed in a "clinically equivocal" cohort of afebrile patients defined as a leukocytosis >104/μL and UA with <50 white blood cells (WBCs) per high powered field (hpf). Patients with positive and negative UCx were compared. Results: A total of 231 patients were included, of whom 56 had a positive UCx. Of all covariates, UA WBCs with a cutoff of 9 per hpf performed best at predicting positive UCx with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87. PCT did not perform as well with an ideal cutoff of 0.08 ng/mL, having an AUC of 0.77, sensitivity 70.6%, specificity 73.9%, positive predictive value (PPV) 34.3%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 92.9%. When looking at the clinically equivocal cohort, UA WBCs with a cutoff of 6 per hpf appeared to perform best at predicting a positive UCx with an AUC of 0.72. PCT was less predictive in this cohort with an ideal cutoff of 0.3 ng/mL, having an AUC of 0.32, sensitivity 47.1%, specificity 85.2%, PPV 38.1%, and NPV 89.3%. Conclusion: PCT does not appear to be a superior marker for diagnosing urinary tract infection in the setting of obstructing ureterolithiasis when compared with components of the standard work-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A highly selective OFF–ON fluorescent probe is developed for the sensing of Cu2+ based on the hydrolysis of a quinoline-2-carboxylate moiety. The probe is weakly fluorescent due to esterification of the phenolic group. Upon treatment with 1 equiv. of Cu2+, the probe exhibits strong fluorescence at 570 nm. The probe also exhibits high selectivity for Cu2+ over other cations with a low detection limit of 0.2 μM, which is sensitive enough to meet the standard of the World Health Organization for Cu2+ in drinking water (30 μM). Moreover, the probe shows a very low cell cytotoxicity, and imaging experiments demonstrate that the probe can be used for the sensing of Cu2+ in living cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supercritical multi-thermal fluid (SCMTF) is a promising alternative to traditional thermal agents for deep heavy oil recovery. However, no 2-dimensional experimental investigation on SCMTF flooding has been conducted due to the limitations of existing apparatuses. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to develop a novel assembly for investigating the performance of SCMTF flooding. Subsequently, the SCMTF chamber evolution is characterized using newly developed equipment, and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mechanisms are proposed. Finally, the effects of the injection temperature, injection pressure, scN 2 /scCO 2 mixture, and heavy oil viscosity on SCMTF are comprehensively studied. The results show that the SCMTF chamber displays an inverted trapezoidal shape with a uniform front. SCMTF flooding can enhance heavy oil recovery by 13.36% relative to steam flooding by sweep area expansion, oil mobility improvement, and miscible flooding. Increasing the injection temperature, injection pressure or scN 2 /scCO 2 mixture to SCW molar ratio can facilitate the production of heavy oil, while using SCMTF in an extra-heavy oil cannot maximize the EOR effect of SCMTF. Notably, the high yield of coke produced at elevated temperatures may lead to potential formation damage. • A novel cylindrical 2-D apparatus is developed for SCMTF flooding experiments. • SCMTF chamber exhibits an inverted trapezium-like shape during flooding process. • SCMTF can expand sweep area through overlap suppression in comparison to steam. • SCMTF can recover heavy oil through miscible flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the proliferation of electric vehicles (EVs) continues to accelerate, the inherent attributes of EVs warrant meticulous consideration in the realm of energy dispatch. In order to evaluate the ability of EVs as mobile energy storage, this paper presents an energy management framework for the microgrids' online dispatch, which accounts for the spatio-temporal energy transmission of EVs between microgrids. The energy management framework contains two iterative processes: optimizing charging price and guiding charging dispatch. To sufficiently capture the uncertainties of the renewable energy and load demand, chance-constrained optimization is utilized to determine the charging price by reasonable power allocation. To achieve a continuous and efficient control policy, a normalized advantage function-deep Q learning network (NAF-DQN) is developed for EV dispatch under V2G technology. The above two processes as a coupled optimization problem are solved alternately until convergence. Numerical cases considering energy transmission of EVs between microgrids are studied to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed dispatch framework. The simulation results indicate improved computational efficiency and higher-quality solution. • A novel energy management framework for the microgrids' online dispatch is proposed. • The proposed method considers uncertainties introduced by PV, WT, and load. • A normalized advantage function-deep Q learning network is developed for EV dispatch. • The simulation results indicate improved computational efficiency and higher-quality solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Next significant revolution of virtual/augmented reality and Internet of things show the remarkable demands of next-generation indoor mobile real-time data transmission are high spectral-efficiency, high-speed and high-density deep coverage. Multi-color visible light communication (MC-VLC) has remarkable potential to confront the challenges due to the large equivalent bandwidth index and extensively installed of multi-color light emitting diodes. However, although optical filters are utilized, there are wide spectrum interference (WSI) in MC-VLC system. Meanwhile, the alignment and availability of photodiodes (PDs) greatly influence the WSI and target signal (TS). So the real-time optimal tracking angles (ROTAs) of PDs is proposed to obtain the optimal alignment minimizing the total interference signal ratio to achieve trade-off of WSI and TS. The optimal problem is formulated and the alternative tracking angles sets are obtained to prepare for the analytic solution of ROTAs. The ROTAs has extremely low complexity, and the result of that converges on the numerical solution of exhaustive search. Better BER performance can be achieved by system with ROTAs than with fixed tracking angles at different relative offset angle between the transmitter and the receiver. • ROTAs is proposed to ascertain the optimal tracking angles of PDs for MC-VLC. • Minimize the total wide-spectrum interference and achieve the trade-off alignment. • The result of proposed algorithm with low complexity converges on exhaustive search. • The optimal tracking adapts to the relative position of transmitter and receiver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection causes high morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients and can remain in a latent state in host cells. Expression of the immediate-early (IE) genes sustains HCMV replication and reactivation. As a novel genome-editing tool, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) system has been extensively utilized to modify and edit genomic DNA. In the present study, the CRISPR/Cas9 system was used to target the IE region of the HCMV genome via specific single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs). Infection with CRISPR/Cas9/sgRNA lentiviral constructs significantly reduced viral gene expression and virion production in HFF primary fibroblasts and inhibited viral DNA production and reactivation in the THP-1 monocytic cell line. Thus, the CRISPR/Cas9/sgRNA system can accurately and efficiently target HCMV replication and reactivation and represents a novel therapeutic strategy against latent HCMV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

K-ras (Kirsten ras GTPase) mutations are oncogenic events frequently observed in many cancer types especially in pancreatic cancer. Although mitochondrial dysfunction has been associated with K-ras mutation, the molecular mechanisms by which K-ras impacts mitochondria and maintains metabolic homeostasis are not fully understood. In this study, we used two K-ras inducible cell systems, human pancreatic epithelial/ K-rasG12D (HPNE/K-rasG12D) and human embryonic kidney cells with tetracycline repressorT-Rex/K-rasG12V, to evaluate the role of oncogenic K-ras in regulating mitochondrial function. Among a panel of genes known to affect mitochondria, only the expression of OPA3 (optic atrophy protein 3) was consistently up-regulated by K-ras activation in both cell lines. Importantly, high expression of OPA3 was also observed in clinical pancreatic cancer tissues. Genetic knockdown of OPA3 caused a significant decrease of energy metabolism, manifested by a suppression of oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and a decrease in cellular ATP content, leading to inhibition of cell proliferation capacity and reduced expression of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers. Our study suggests that OPA3 may promote cellular energy metabolism and its up-regulation in K-ras-driven cancer is likely a mechanism to offset the negative impact of K-ras on mitochondria to maintain energy homeostasis. As such, OPA3 could be a potential target to kill cancer cells with K-ras mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The OSFA-CMSI process is a potentially feasible method for heavy oil recovery. • The designed setup can better study CSI-based processes under reservoir conditions. • The OSS plays a more important role than C 3 H 8 in the OSFA-CMSI processes. • The solvent mixture should be injected at or near to its dew point conditions. • The OSFA-CMSI process may be more suitable to post-CHOPS reservoirs. Cyclic solvent injection (CSI) has shown a significant potential to enhance heavy oil recovery after primary production. However, the principal limitation of this process is quick solvent liberation due to the high gas mobility and oil viscosity regainment during the production period. In this study, a novel variation of CSI, called oil-soluble surfactant-assisted cyclic mixed solvent injection (OSFA-CMSI), is proposed to overcome these limitations. During this process, an oil-soluble surfactant and a specially designed solvent mixture (produced gas and propone) are cyclically injected into reservoirs in two separate slugs. The designed solvent mixture renders the process technically sound and effectively viable, and the surfactant induces the formation of an effective foamy oil flow by dispersing the released or undissolved gaseous solvent during the production period. A series of experiments were performed by using a patented core holder to prove the viability of the OSFA-CMSI process and to study the effects of the solvent composition, pressure depletion rate, wormhole presence, and confining pressure on the OSFA-CMSI performance. The experimental results show that the selected oil-soluble surfactant FlourN™ 20158M can create an effective foamy oil phenomenon in heavy oil, which contributes to the enhanced oil swelling effect and gas dispersion that delays the formation of free gas. The OSFA-CMSI process is a potentially feasible method for heavy oil recovery after primary production, especially for post-cold heavy oil production with sand reservoirs. The most efficient test improves oil recovery by 41.64% of the original oil in place (OOIP) compared to that of the traditional CSI process. There is an optimal C 3 H 8 content in the solvent mixture (46 mol% in this study), beyond which the performance of the OSFA-CMSI process worsens. The solvent mixture should be injected at or near its dew point without any liquefaction to achieve maximum solubility and generate an effective foamy oil flow. Increases in the pressure depletion rate and confining pressure are beneficial when using OSFA-CMSI to enhance the oil recovery factor over a short production time but result in lower final oil recovery factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liposomes with peptide motifs have been successfully used in glioma-targeted delivery of various general chemotherapy agents. However, their use for the encapsulation of low-toxicity molecularly targeted anticancer agents has been limited. In the present study, we aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of a novel low-toxicity mTORC1/mTORC2 inhibitor (MTI-31) as a treatment for glioma when encapsulated in appropriate liposomes. Since some of the peptide-modified liposomes have been determined to be immunogenic and may have life-threatening consequences in mice, an immunogenicity-based investigation with candidate liposomal carriers was conducted. Following this study, DVAP (DPDADVDRDTDNDS) modified liposomes (DVAP-liposomes) were identified as an immunologically safe carrier and therefore utilized for MTI-31 encapsulation. DVAP is a tumor homing peptide exhibiting high binding affinity to glucose regulated protein 78 (GRP78) overexpressed in glioma, glioma stem cells, vasculogenic mimicry and neovasculature. Modification of liposomes with DVAP imparts a glioma-directing property. In vitro, the developed DVAP-liposomes/MTI-31 were efficiently internalized by U87 cells and consequently showed a potent antiproliferation effect. In vivo , the safety and anti-glioma efficiency of DVAP-liposomes/MTI-31 were validated in intracranial glioma bearing BALB/c nude mice. While showing both systemic and immunological safety, DVAP-liposome/MTI-31 treatment resulted in a significant improvement in the median survival time (24.5 days for saline, 26 days for free MTI-31, 25 days for liposomes/MTI-31 and 36 days for DVAP-liposome/MTI-31). The results highlight MTI-31 as an effective anti-glioma agent when encapsulated in non-immunogenic glioma-targeted liposomes, which may contribute to the development of better anti-glioma treatment. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Cancer cells undergo various rewiring of metabolism and dysfunction of epigenetic modification to support their biosynthetic needs. Although the major features of metabolic reprogramming have been elucidated, the global metabolic genes linking epigenetics were overlooked in pan-cancer. Objectives. Identifying the critical metabolic signatures with differential expressions which contributes to the epigenetic alternations across cancer types is an urgent issue for providing the potential targets for cancer therapy. Method. The differential gene expression and DNA methylation were analyzed by using the 5726 samples data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Results. Firstly, we analyzed the differential expression of metabolic genes and found that cancer underwent overall metabolism reprogramming, which exhibited a similar expression trend with the data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Secondly, the regulatory network of histone acetylation and DNA methylation according to altered expression of metabolism genes was summarized in our results. Then, the survival analysis showed that high expression of DNMT3B had a poorer overall survival in 5 cancer types. Integrative altered methylation and expression revealed specific genes influenced by DNMT3B through DNA methylation across cancers. These genes do not overlap across various cancer types and are involved in different function annotations depending on the tissues, which indicated DNMT3B might influence DNA methylation in tissue specificity. Conclusions. Our research clarifies some key metabolic genes, ACLY, SLC2A1, KAT2A, and DNMT3B, which are most disordered and indirectly contribute to the dysfunction of histone acetylation and DNA methylation in cancer. We also found some potential genes in different cancer types influenced by DNMT3B. Our study highlights possible epigenetic disorders resulting from the deregulation of metabolic genes in pan-cancer and provides potential therapy in the clinical treatment of human cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deregulation of lemur tyrosine kinase 2 (LMTK2) is a vital determinant for the onset and progression of malignancies, yet the relationship between LMTK2 and glioblastoma (GBM) is undetermined. This study was carried out to determine the relevance of LMTK2 in GBM. Initiating investigation by assessing The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data showed LMTK2 mRNA levels were decreased in GBM tissue. Later examination of clinical specimens confirmed low levels of LMTK2 mRNA and protein in GBM tissue. The downregulated level of LMTK2 in patients with GBM was related to poor overall survival. A suppressive function of LMTK2 on the proliferative capability and metastatic potential of GBM cells was demonstrated by overexpressing LMTK2 in GBM cell lines. Moreover, the restoration of LMTK2 augmented the sensitivity of GBM cells to the chemotherapy drug temozolomide. The mechanistic investigation uncovered LMTK2 as a regulator of the runt-related transcription factor 3 (RUNX3)/Notch signaling pathway. The overexpression of LMTK2 increased the expression of RUNX3 while inhibiting the activation of Notch signaling. The silencing of RUNX3 diminished the regulatory role of LMTK2 on Notch signaling. The inhibition of Notch signaling reversed the LMTK2-silencing-elicited protumor effects. Importantly, LMTK2-overexpressed GBM cells displayed weakened tumorigenicity in xenograft models. Our findings illustrate that LMTK2 has a tumor-inhibition function in GBM by constraining Notch signaling via RUNX3. This work indicates the deregulation of the LMTK2-mediated RUNX3/Notch signaling pathway may be a novel molecular mechanism for the malignant transformation of GBMs. This work highlights the interest in LMTK2-related approaches for treating GBM. [Display omitted] • LMTK2 level was decreased in GBM and has a prognostic value. • LMTK2 overexpression in GBM cells exerted an antitumor effect. • LMTK2 acted as a novel regulator of the RUNX3/Notch pathway. • LMTK2 modulated GBM progression by the RUNX3/Notch pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent study suggests that auranofin (AF), a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, has selective anticancer activity in various experimental models. Its clinical applications in cancer treatment, however, have been hampered due in part to its relatively moderate activity as a single agent. In this study, we performed a high-throughput screening of the FDA-approved drug library for clinical compounds that potentiate the anticancer activity auranofin, and unexpectedly identified an anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (CE) that potently enhanced the therapeutic activity of AF in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, AF/CE combination induced severe oxidative stress that caused ROS-mediated inhibition of hexokinase (HK) and a disturbance of mitochondrial redox homeostasis, resulting in a significant decrease of ATP generation. The CE-induced ROS increase together with AF-medicated inhibition of thioredoxin reductase cause a shift of Trx2 to an oxidized state, leading to degradation of MTCO2 and dysfunction of the electron transport chain. Our study has identified a novel drug combination that effectively eliminates cancer cells in vivo. Since AF and CE are FDA-approved drugs that are currently used in the clinic, it is feasible to translate the findings of this study into clinical applications for cancer treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A copper sulfide nanoflakes-decorated carbon nanofragments-modified glassy carbon electrode (CuS-CNF/GCE) was fabricated for the electrocatalytic differentiation and determination of hydroquinone (HQ) and catechol (CC). The physicochemical properties of the CuS-CNF were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The electrocatalytic determination of HQ and CC over the CuS-CNF/GCE was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry. An excellent detection limit and sensitivity of the CuS-CNF/GCE are obtained (0.293 µM and 0.259 µM) with a sensitivity of 184 nA µM−1 cm−2 and 208 nA µM−1 cm−2 (S/N=3) for HQ and CC, respectively. In addition, the CuS-CNF/GCE shows a selective identification of HQ and CC over potential interfering metal ions (Zn2+, Na+, K+, NO3−, SO42−, Cl−) and organic compounds (ascorbic acid, glucose), and a satisfactory recovery is also obtained in the spiked water samples. These results suggest that the CuS-CNF/GCE can be used as an efficient electrochemical sensor for the simultaneous determination of co-existing environmental pollutants such as HQ and CC in water environments with high selectivity and acceptable reproducibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We propose a novel adaptive locality-constrained regularized robust coding (ALRRC) for image recognition by considering both the effects of the test sample's features and the local relationships between the test sample and the training samples in the linear coding procedure. By adaptively calculating out a feature weight matrix of a test sample, ALRRC measures the effects of the test sample's features in the linear coding procedure. Furthermore, ALRRC can obtain the weighted test sample by multiplying the test sample by the feature weight matrix, which has reduced the roles of the aberrant features as far as possible. Similarly, ALRRC can get the weighted training samples by multiplying the training samples by the feature weight matrix. Moreover, using the similarities between the weighted test sample and weighted training samples, ALRRC adaptively calculates out a locality-constrained matrix that can truly characterize the local relationships between the test sample and the training samples. Finally, by incorporating the feature weight matrix and locality-constrained matrix into the linear coding framework, ALRRC is inclined to select the true local training samples to represent the test sample. In addition, we also propose an iterative algorithm to solve the optimization problem of ALRRC. Experimental results on several image databases show that ALRRC is more effective and robust than state-of-the-art linear coding-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Liposomes with peptides motifs have been widely applied for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs. However, few studies have questioned whether peptide modification on liposomes may induce serious toxicity associated with immune stimulation. Here, we report that display of a tumor targeting cyclic RGD peptide (e.g. c(RGDyK) and c(RGDfK) on the surface of liposomes can be a potent inducer of lethal hypersensitivity-like reactions in mice upon re-administration, with the main symptom a sudden drop in body temperature. The hypothermia usually abates within 4 h but is sometimes lethal with death happening within 30 min post injection. This reaction has been proven to be IgE-independent acute systemic anaphylaxis, which may due to IgG immune complex triggered complement activation, anaphylatoxin and cytokine release, etc. , leading to acute conspicuous organ damage. Results from an exploration of influence factors showed that the immunotoxicity of c(RGDyK)-liposomes could not be eliminated by minimizing the c(RGDyK) motif ratio, or by decreasing injection doses in the normal dose range, or by increasing the mPEG-DSPE motif ratio. However, encapsulation of a strong cytotoxic drug completely shut off this unwanted immune response. Investigation with a series of peptides containing the RGD sequence suggested that the lethal immunotoxicity of the cyclic RGD peptide was RGD sequence and peptide cyclization dependent. This study provides a valuable alert for the utilization of peptide modified liposomes in drug delivery, especially when carrying low-toxicity drugs. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we report the production of a monoclonal broad-specificity monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific for amatoxins and development of an indirect competitive immunoassay for detection of amatoxins in mushroom samples. In the assay, the complete antigen (α-amanitin-OVA) was used as coating antigen, and amatoxins as competitor competes with coating antigen to bind with mAb. Using this approach, The half-maximum inhibition concentrations (IC 50 ) of α-amanitin, β-amanitin and γ-amanitin, and limits of detection (LODs, IC 15 ) were 66.3, 97.4, 163.1 ng/mL and 0.91, 0.98, 0.89 ng/mL, respectively. The LODs for α-amanitin, β-amanitin and γ-amanitin in mushroom samples were 4.55, 4.9, and 4.45 ng/mL. The spiked results were also confirmed by HPLC, which showed a good correlation (R 2 = 0.996) between the two methods. The results indicated that the developed assay was reliable and suitable for the detection of amatoxins in mushroom samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbonated water injection (CWI) is a promising method for coupled enhanced oil recovery and CO 2 geological storage. Nanomaterials can efficiently improve CO 2 absorption in conventional absorbents. Therefore, there could be a possibility for using nanomaterials to increase CO 2 solubility in carbonated water (CW) and thereby enhance oil recovery and CO 2 storage capacity. In this study, the stabilities of different nanofluids and nanomaterial-enhanced CW were examined by the Zeta potential, particle size, high-pressure and high-temperature visual observation, and transmittance measurements. Then, a series of CO 2 mass transfer and solubility experiments were conducted in a PVT cell to evaluate the feasibility of enhancing CO 2 solubility in CW by nanomaterials and to study the effects of nanomaterial type, concentration, initial pressure, and temperature. Finally, a model was proposed to calculate the diffusion coefficients, pseudo-diffusion coefficient, and CO 2 solubility in CW under various conditions. The results revealed that the SiO 2 -enhanced CW exhibited better stability compared with Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , and MWCNT-enhanced CW. For the 0.1 wt% SiO 2 -enhanced CW at experimental conditions (12 MPa and 30 °C), the E S is 1.17, indicating that the CO 2 solubility in SiO 2 -enhanced CW is enhanced by 17% compared with that in CW because of Brownian motion, shuttle effect, and hydrodynamic effect. Increasing the temperature has a negative influence on the CO 2 solubility of SiO 2 -enhanced CW, while an increase in pressure improved the CO 2 solubility capacity. The maximum and average relative error percentages between the calculated and experimental CO 2 solubility in SiO 2 -enhanced CW are 10.65% and 3.18%, respectively, indicating the accuracy of the model to determine the CO 2 solubility in SiO 2 -enhanced CW. • The SiO 2 NPs markedly enhanced the CO 2 mass transfer and solubility in CW. • The SiO 2 -enhanced CW exhibited the best stability in this study. • There is an optimal SiO 2 NP concentration for enhancing the CO 2 solubility in CW. • An increase in pressure improved the CO 2 solubility capacity of SiO 2 -enhanced CW. • The model has high accuracy to determine the CO 2 solubility in SiO 2 -enhanced CW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of multifunctional cathode with high-efficiency and stable catalytic activity for simultaneously producing and activating H 2 O 2 is an effective way for promoting the performance of heterogeneous electro-Fenton process (HEF). In addition, accelerating mass transfer by adopting a flow-through reactor is also great importance because of its better utilization of catalysts and adequate contact of the contaminant with the oxidants generated on the electrode surface. Herein, a novel flow-through HEF (FHEF) system was designed for the degradation of trimethoprim (TMP) using bifunctional cathode with a sandwich structure FeOCl nanosheets loaded onto carbon cloth (CC) and activated carbon fiber (ACF) (FeOCl/CC/ACF). The cathode exhibited excellent performance in activating H 2 O 2 for the in-situ generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH). The electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements and radical quenching tests proved that the high production of •OH in the FHEF process was favorable to the high catalytic efficiency. 25 mg L−1 TMP was entirely degraded after 60 min, with the TOC removal of 62.6% (180 min) at pH 6.8, 9.0 mA cm−2, and flux rate 210 mL min−1. Moreover, the degradation rate still could reach 83% (60 min) after 10 cycles without obvious valence and crystal phase changes. Simultaneously, the current utilization rate has also been greatly enhanced, with an average current efficiency of 69.9% and a low energy consumption of 0.28 kWh kg−1. The reasonable degradation pathways for TMP were proposed based on the UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS results. Finally, the results of toxicological simulation showed a declining trend in the toxicity of the samples during TMP degradation. These results claim that the FeOCl/CC/ACF-FHEF system is an efficient and economical technology for the treatment of organic contaminants in effluents. [Display omitted] • A flow-through heterogeneous electro-Fenton (FHEF) system was developed. • FeOCl/CC/ACF cathode with functions of producing and activating H 2 O 2. • FeOCl/CC/ACF-FHEF process was efficient to degrade TMP. • The degradation pathways of TMP were investigated and proposed. • Intermediates and end products showed less biotoxicity than original TMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pervasive use of pyrethroids is seriously hazardous to the environment and even human health. Enzymatic bioremediation is potentially a rapid and environmentally friendly technology to combat the pollution of pyrethroid pesticides. The hydrolysis of ester linkages is the initial and critical enzymatic step in microbial degradation pathways. Here, the versatile and thermostable esterase Est816 was cloned and its new function, pyrethroid-hydrolysis activity, was expanded. To further improve its pyrethroid-hydrolysis ability, Est816 was modified by rational design. After two rounds of mutation, the best-performing mutant, Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V, was obtained, which could completely degrade 1 mg/L λ-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, and deltamethrin within 20 min, and efficiently degrade fenvalerate, reaching over 80% conversion. Degradation activity analyses showed that three substitutions (A216V, K238 N and M97V) were beneficial for enhancing the activity of Est816. Enzymatic characterization showed that Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V inherited broad substrate specificity and possessed excellent stability and adaptability over wide ranges of temperature and pH, which is essential for bioremediation in frequently changing conditions. Furthermore, Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V had the best degradation effect on all four pyrethroid residues in Panax notoginseng root, with more than 87% conversion after 24 h. Pyrethroid residues in tea, cucumber, and soil were reduced by more than 76%, 80%, and 76%, respectively. Taken together, these findings highlight the great potential of Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V in the bioremediation of pyrethroid-contaminated soil and agricultural products. [Display omitted] • The mutant Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V could completely degrade λ-cyhalothrin, cypermethrin, and deltamethrin within 20 min. • Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V possessed broad substrate specificity and excellent thermostability and pH adaptability. • The degradation rates of Est816 A216V/K238N/M97V for four pyrethroid residues in Panax notoginseng root were all above 87%.Pyrethroid residues on tea, cucumber and soil were reduced by more than 76%, 80%, and 76%, respectively [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-reactive influenza virus-specific antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC)-activating antibodies are readily detected in healthy adults. However, little is known about the kinetics of these ADCC responses. We used retrospective serial blood samples from healthy donors to investigate this topic. All donors had ADCC responses against 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) virus (A[H1N1]pdm09) and avian influenza A(H7N9) virus hemagglutinins (HAs) despite being seronegative for these viruses in standard hemagglutination inhibition and microneutralization serological assays. A(H1N1)pdm09 exposure did not boost ADCC responses specific for H7 HA antigens. H7 HA ADCC responses were variable longitudinally within donors, suggesting that these cross-reactive antibodies are unstable. We found no correlation between ADCC responses to the H7 HA and either influenza virus-specific immunoglobulin G1 concentration or age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation leads to obvious morbidity and mortality in patients after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Current immunosuppressive therapy reduces the frequency of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and is generally accepted as a high risk factor for viral recurrence. In the present study, we investigated the influence of cyclosporin A (CsA) and rapamycin (RAPA), two commonly used immunosuppressive agents, on murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) recurrence by two allo-HCT models: one with mild and one with severe GVHD. In models with mild GVHD and partial immune recovery, transplanted mice with CsA and RAPA showed a higher viral load and impaired CMV-specific immune recovery compared to those with placebo. In contrast, in HCT models with severe GVHD, groups treated with immunosuppressive therapy showed alleviation of viral recurrence as well as GVHD-related symptoms. In addition, no CMV-specific immune reconstitution was found in any group, implying immunosuppressive therapy was not relevant to antiviral response. Furthermore, a significant correlation between MCMV DNA copies and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was found, and recipients with immunosuppressive therapy showed a lower level of TNF-α. Finally, using lenalidomide (an inhibitor of TNF-α), a lower viral load was found in animals with lenalidomide. Having received lenalidomide, recipients showed no statistical difference in viral load between groups with and without immunosuppressive therapy. Taken together, we provide evidence of the dual effect of immunosuppressive therapy on viral reactivation. Importantly, we found that immunosuppressive therapy had the ability to alleviate viral load by reducing TNF-α in a mouse model with severe GVHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Via Sr-site substitution, a series of Sr 0.95 M 0.05 Li 2 Ti 6 O 14 (M z+ = Na + , Cu 2+ , In 3+ ) are prepared as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. It is found that the introduction of Na + , Cu 2+ or In 3+ into the crystal lattice can reduce the charge-transfer resistance and improve the lithium-ion diffusion coefficient of SrLi 2 Ti 6 O 14 . Especially for In 3+ -doping, it exhibits more obvious effect on these improvements. Furthermore, the substitution of Sr 2+ by In 3+ can also enhance the electronic conductivity via inducing a reduction of an equivalent number of Ti cations from Ti 4+ to Ti 3+ . As a result, Sr 0.95 In 0.05 Li 2 Ti 6 O 14 shows the best cycle and rate properties among all as-prepared samples. In addition, in-situ observation also proves that Sr 0.95 In 0.05 Li 2 Ti 6 O 14 is a zero-strain lithium storage compound during charge/discharge process. As a result, it delivers a lithium storage capacity of 136.4 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 , 126.3 mAh g −1 at 400 mA g −1 and 121.0 mAh g −1 at 600 mA g −1 . In contrast, SrLi 2 Ti 6 O 14 only presents a charge capacity of 138.3 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 , 120.3 mAh g −1 at 400 mA g −1 and 111.3 mAh g −1 at 600 mA g −1 . Therefore, In 3+ -doping is an effective method to enhance the electrochemical properties of SrLi 2 Ti 6 O 14 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple myeloma (MM) secreted exosomes are essential in MM-related complications such as osteolytic bone lesions and renal failure, but their role and underlying mechanism in cardiac complications has not yet been clarified. Here, we investigated the effects of U266 (a MM cell line) exosomes (U266-exo) on regulating the viability, cell cycle, oxidative stress and apoptosis of H9C2 cells and the role of circ-CACNG2 in these effects. We found that U266-exo coculture significantly inhibited viability and promoted apoptosis of H9C2 cells, and serum exosomes of MM patients harbored high level of circ-CACNG2. The clinical data analyses indicated that circ-CACNG2 was an independent prognostic and diagnostic indicator of MM-related cardiac complications. Also, in vitro experiments showed that circ-CACNG2 inhibited viability and promoted apoptosis of H9C2 cells. RIPA, pull-down assays, dual-luciferase reporter assays, and RNA FISH assays revealed that miR-197-3p could bind to circ-CACNG2 and caspase3 directly. Rescue experiments proved that circ-CACNG2 can increase the expression of caspase3 by binding to and decreasing the expression of miR-197-3p. In conclusion, MM-exosomes could inhibit cardiomyocyte viability and promote apoptosis partially through circ-CACNG2/miR-197-3p/caspase3 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental challenge for developing an effective and safe HIV-1 vaccine is to identify vaccine immunogens that can initiate and maintain immune responses leading to elicitation of broadly neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies (bnAbs) through complex maturation pathways. We have previously found that HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) lack measurable binding to putative germline predecessors of known bnAbs and proposed to search for non-HIV immunogens that could initiate their somatic maturation. Using bnAb b12 as a model bnAb and yeast display technology, we isolated five (poly)peptides from plant leaves, insects, E. coli strains, and sea water microbes that bind to b12 putative germline and intermediate antibodies. Rabbit immunization with the (poly)peptides alone induced high titers of cross-reactive antibodies that neutralized HIV-1 isolates SF162 and JRFL. Priming rabbits with the (poly)peptides followed by boosts with trimeric gp140SF162 and then resurfaced Env (RSC3) induced antibodies that competed with mature b12 and neutralized tier 1 and 2 viruses from clade B, C and E, while control rabbits without (poly)peptide priming induced antibodies that did not compete with mature b12 and neutralized fewer isolates. The degree of competition with mature b12 for binding to gp140SF162 correlated with the neutralizing activity of the rabbit IgG. Reversing the order of the two boosting immunogens significantly affected the binding profile and neutralization potency of the rabbit IgG. Our study is the first to provide evidence that appears to support the concept that non-HIV immunogens may initiate immune responses leading to elicitation of cross-clade neutralizing antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Service-oriented architectures make establishing comprehensive profiles of smart factories feasible. In this paper, an energy tree model is used to describe a profile that shapes energy system dynamics. The energy tree shows an overall and detailed profile that combines information communication technologies and ontology knowledge bases. A 7-level network protocol defines sustainable communication services for accumulating local information to maintain the global energy tree in real time. The communication protocol manages everchanging temporal and spatial misalignments by aligning groups of energy resources that are temporally or spatially related. Meanwhile, correlated domain information regarding industrial processes is formulized into ontology models. Ontology-based semantic contexts allocate knowledge-supported attributes to energy resources, including systems, resources, and users. The key objective of context awareness is to align attributes and to intensify couplings between different energy resources by decomposing and aggregating internal ontology models. Intertemporal and interspatial correlations of energy resources are made available by the cooperative transmission of ontology-based semantic contexts in the protocol framework. An informational architecture based on the conceptual energy tree finally can be established using incomplete measurement data and reasoning for large-scale industrial networks. A Smart Grid application instance is given to demonstrate the functionalities of energy tree dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural products from fungi represent an important source of biologically active metabolites notably for therapeutic agent development. Genome sequencing revealed that the number of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in fungi is much larger than expected. Unfortunately, most of them are silent or barely expressed under laboratory culture conditions. Moreover, many fungi in nature are uncultivable or cannot be genetically manipulated, restricting the extraction and identification of bioactive metabolites from these species. Rapid exploration of the tremendous number of cryptic fungal BGCs necessitates the development of heterologous expression platforms, which will facilitate the efficient production of natural products in fungal cell factories. Host selection, BGC assembly methods, promoters used for heterologous gene expression, metabolic engineering strategies and compartmentalization of biosynthetic pathways are key aspects for consideration to develop such a microbial platform. In the present review, we summarize current progress on the above challenges to promote research effort in the relevant fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Diffusion measurements were carried out of GSM-HO systems at high pressures • A novel model is proposed to describe the diffusion process of GSMs in HO • The developed model incorporates the oil swelling effect and density variation • A density model for GSM-HO systems is proposed based on experimental data • The model is validated against available data in the literature A reliable estimation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (D) of gaseous solvent mixtures (GSMs) in heavy oil (HO) is necessary for the design of GSM-based recovery techniques. In this study, diffusion measurements of GSM-HO systems were carried out at various temperatures (25°C to 54.2°C) and pressures (5 to 10 MPa). Then, a novel mathematical model was proposed to describe the diffusion process of GSMs in HO considering the oil swelling effect and density variation. The oil swelling effect was described with a newly developed density model of GSM-HO systems. Finally, the developed model was solved via a numerical method to determine the D of GSMs in HO and the dynamic processes of HO swelling under varied temperature and pressure conditions. The results indicated that the D values at the measured temperatures and pressures ranged from 3.81-22.62×10−10 m2•s−1. The average D value of the GSMs increased with temperature and pressure. The GSM concentration in HO, the height of the GSM-HO interface, and the swelling velocity of HO rapidly increased at the early stage and then slowly increased over time. The maximum GSM concentration was observed at the GSM-HO interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have synthesized a series of zeolite ZSM-5 samples with hierarchical porous structure and tunable accessibility using organosilane as silanizing agent. Their structural and textural properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nitrogen adsorption. We derived the acidity property and accessibility of acidic sites in the hierarchical zeolites from the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of samples with the adsorption of pyridine and 2,6-dimethylpyridine (DMPy), and found that the accessibility index was linearly correlated with the external surface area of hierarchical zeolite whose hierarchical factor is a constant. Furthermore, the hierarchical ZSM-5 has exhibited a high catalytic activity and long life in both benzylation reaction of benzene by benzyl alcohol and methanol-to-gasoline reaction. The results show that the present synthesis route is highly effective to enhance the accessibility of Brønsted acid sites in zeolite ZSM-5. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Spray-drying and freeze-drying strategies were used to obtain novel protein powders from an aqueous combination of sodium caseinate and blackcurrant concentrate. The powders differed in physical and functional properties. The effects of incorporating these different novel protein powders into a cookie recipe at a replacement level of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% were evaluated in relation to the physicochemical and nutritional properties of cookies. Colour, and texture properties of the cookies, important factors for customer acceptance, changed (p < 0.05) with the addition of these protein ingredients. Protein content increased (p < 0.05) with increasing addition levels, as too did the antioxidant values of the cookies. The addition of these novel protein ingredients reduced (p < 0.05) starch digestion, indicating the potential to be used to develop some functional foods with hypoglycemic effects. • Blackcurrant concentrate, encapsulated in sodium caseinate, has beenincorporated in cookies. • Physical characteristics of fortified cookies were influenced by the encapsulates. • Encapsulates has increased phenolic content and antioxidant activity of fortified cookies. • Encapsulates decreased the in vitro glycaemic response, namely thehypoglycaemic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a novel thermal agent, supercritical multi-thermal fluid (SCMTF) has great potential to be used for heavy oil reservoirs. However, its viability and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mechanisms have not been investigated. Therefore, a series of tests were conducted in a newly designed autoclave to compare crude oil pyrolysis in steam, supercritical water (SCW), SCW + supercritical nitrogen (scN 2), SCW + supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2) and SCMTF, and the viability of SCMTF was evaluated. Then, the possible mechanisms of pyrolysis in SCMTF were proposed. Finally, the effects of temperature, pressure, and the amount of SCMTF on pyrolysis in SCMTF were investigated. The results show that the SCMTF treatment of raw crude oil at 653 K and 23 MPa resulted in molecular weight, density and C 15+ content reduction rates of 44.67%, 6.45% and 12.06%, respectively, and gave a gas yield of 7.91 wt % and an increase in the light oil fraction of 10.17 wt %. SCMTF is more effective than steam, SCW and SCW + scN 2 for upgrading heavy oil. In detail, SCW dominates the pyrolysis processes; scCO 2 accelerates dealkylation, and increases oil mobility by dissolution and light hydrocarbons extraction; and scN 2 can maintain reservoir pressure and form a gas-cap, which reduces heat loss. Increases in scCO 2 fraction, temperature, pressure and the amount of SCMTF can enhance the heavy oil upgrading. However, pyrolysis at a high temperature is adverse to light oil production (the oil product yield was merely 67.10% at 683 K) due to undesirably high gas and coke yields of 13.32% and 19.58%, respectively. • SCMTF is a more effective agent than steam and SCW for heavy oil upgrading. • Dealkylation and condensation occur during pyrolysis with SCMTF. • The scN 2 can maintain the pressure and may form a gas-cap to reduce heat losses. • The scCO 2 can enhance the heavy oil upgrading and extract the light oil fraction. • There is an optimum operating temperature for an SCMTF process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Appropriate brassinosteroid (BR) signal strength caused by exogenous application or endogenous regulation of BR-related genes can increase crop yield. However, precise control of BR signals is difficult and can cause unstable effects and failure to reach full potential. Phosphorylated BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 (BRI1), the rate-limiting receptor in BR signalling, transduces BR signals, and we recently demonstrated that modifying BRI1 phosphorylation sites alters BR signal strength and botanical characteristics in Arabidopsis. However, the functions of such phosphorylation sites in agronomic characteristics of crops remain unclear. Results: In this work, we investigated the roles of tomato SlBRI1 threonine-1050 (Thr-1050). SlBRI1 mutant cu3-abs1 plants expressing SlBRI1 with a non-phosphorylatable Thr-1050 (T1050A), with a wild-type SlBRI1 transformant used as a control, were examined. The results showed enhanced autophosphorylation of SlBRI1 and BR signal strength for cu3-abs1 harbouring T1050A, which promoted yield through increased plant expansion, leaf area, fruit weight and fruit number per cluster but reduced nutrient contents, including ascorbic acid and soluble sugar levels. Moreover, plant height, stem diameter, and internodal distance were similar between the transgenic plants. Conclusion: Our results reveal the biological role of Thr-1050 in tomato and provide a molecular basis for establishing high-yield crops by precisely controlling BR signal strength via phosphorylation site modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]