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To clean tobacco leaves adhering to the emptied tobacco baskets in vacuum conditioning station in primary processing line, a robot was designed, it was composed of a six-axis manipulator, a vision inspection system and a cleaning device. To ensure the smooth movement of the manipulator and avoid the vibration and impact of the cleaning robot, the S-shaped trajectory is modified by sine function. The vision inspection system is used to control the cleaning track of the manipulator following the binarization of the images of the tobacco leaves in the tobacco basket, zoned BLOB (binary large object) analysis and data integration and formatting. The basket cleaning is completed by brushing and compressed air blowing, and the size and shape of the brush are optimized through orthogonal test. The robot was tested on the tobacco leaves for cigarette brand "Golden Leaf (Hard Hongqiqu)" in Anyang Cigarette Factory. The results showed that compared with manual cleaning, the tobacco loss reduced by about 20 000 kg/year. The saving in total raw materials and labor cost reached about 1 154 thousand RMB yuan/year. This technology provides a support for decreasing the tobacco loss in primary processing line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-polydopamine-graphene oxide-TiO2 (nano-PDA@GO-TiO2) composites were prepared by dopamine modified graphene oxide (GO) and loaded nano-TiO2 on the surface of GO. The structure and morphology of nano-PDA@GO-TiO2 composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Transmission electron microscope (TEM) Results demonstrate that the introduction of dopamine to functionalize the GO could self-polymerize polydopamine (PDA) on the surfaces of the GO and endow abundant chemical groups reduce the GO. The interaction between the GO and nano-TiO2 particles could prevent graphene nanosheets from restacking and nano-TiO2 particles from agglomeration. Nano-PDA@GO-TiO2 composite material was used as the nano-filler, and nano-PDA@GO-TiO2 composites waterborne epoxy resin coatings (PGT/WEP) were prepared by dispersing a different content of nano-PDA@GO-TiO2 composites into waterborne epoxy resin with the help of ultrasonic dispersion and mechanical agitation. The physical properties of PGT/WEP coatings, such as hardness, impact resistance, and adhesion, were tested and the electrochemical performance was evaluated. The results show that dispersing 2% nano-PDA@GO-TiO2 composites in waterborne epoxy resin could significantly improve the physical properties and corrosion resistance of waterborne epoxy resin coating when compared with pure waterborne epoxy coating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is critical for induction of invasiveness and metastasis in HCC. Growing evidence indicates that upregulation of Snail, the major EMT inducer, significantly correlates with the metastasis and poor prognosis of HCC. Here, we investigate the underlying mechanism of miR-30b in suppressing metastasis of hepatoma cells by targeting Snail. In this study, we found that miR-30b was significantly downregulated and negatively associated with Snail production in HCC cell lines with higher metastatic potentials. Gain- and loss-of-function studies revealed that miR-30b could dramatically inhibit in vitro HCC cell migration and invasion. In vivo orthotopic liver xenograft model further demonstrated that stable over-expression of miR-30b significantly repressed the local invasion and lung metastasis of hepatoma cells. Meanwhile, the restoration of miR-30b expression suppressed the distant colonization of hepatoma cells. Both gain- and loss-of-function studies showed that miR-30b suppressed the EMT of hepatoma cells as indicated by the morphology changes and deregulation of epithelial and mesenchymal markers. Using RNAi, we further investigated the role of Snail in HCC cell EMT and demonstrated that knockdown of Snail significantly inhibited the EMT and cancer cell metastasis. Additionally, miR-30b exhibited inhibitory effects on HCC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, our findings highlight the significance of miR-30b downregulation in HCC tumor metastasis and invasiveness, and implicate a new potential therapeutic target for HCC metastasis. J. Cell. Physiol. 232: 625-634, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deubiquitinating enzyme, USP7/ HAUSP (herpesvirus-associated ubiquitin-specific protease), is a key regulator of the tumor suppressor p53 and plays a major role in regulating genome stability. Here, we report that the protein stability of USP7 is regulated by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. We identified the thyroid hormone receptor interactor 12 (Trip12) as a ubiquitin E3 ligase for USP7. We also found that Trip12 affects USP7-mediated stabilization of p53 and the checkpoint proteins 53 BP1 and Chk1. Knockdown of Trip12 leads to an increased cell population in G1 phase, mimicking USP7 overexpression. In contrast, Trip12 overexpression increased the number of cells in intra-S-phase, phenocopying the USP7 knockdown phenotype. Therefore, our data reveal an important modulatory role for Trip12 in the USP7-dependent DNA damage response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staphylococcus aureus is a common human pathogenic bacteria that can cause serious infections, including lethal staphylococcal pneumonia. The development of antimicrobial resistance has limited treatment options for this pathogen; consequently, novel antibiotics and strategies are urgently desired to combat these infections. In recent years, virulence factors secreted by pathogenic microorganisms have been developed as targets for drug discovery. Alpha-hemolysin, a pore-forming cytotoxin that is secreted by most S. aureus strains, is essential for the pathogenesis of S. aureus pneumonia. In this study, we report that apigenin, a compound extracted from parsley that has no antimicrobial activity vs. S. aureus in vitro, can remarkably decrease the production of α-hemolysin at low concentrations. When added to the A549 cells and S. aureus co-culture system, apigenin protected A549 cells from α-hemolysin-mediated injury. Furthermore, in vivo tests indicated that apigenin alleviated injury of the lung tissue and decreased cytokine levels in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in the mouse model of S. aureus pneumonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A trimethine cyanine dye (MTC) was developed for Cu2+ detection. MTC can exhibit different aggregation modes, such as monomers, dimers, H- and J-aggregates. Here, G-quadruplex (G2) with modification of an alkyne at the 5′ end could regulate J-aggregates of MTC to monomers. Upon addition of Cu2+, sodium ascorbate, and another sequence (G1) with azide modification at the 3′ end, a new sequence was ligated by click chemistry of azide-alkyne cycloaddition, accompanied by MTC monomers assembling into J-aggregates again. The colors of the solution turned pink to blue. This strategy shows high specificity and selectivity and can realize monitoring Cu2+ in tap water. This simple method uses only a Uv-vis instrument to finish Cu2+ detection. A cyanine dye transformation between J-aggregates and monomers was applied to monitor the Cu2+ level via Cu+-promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition of two rich guanine sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Discussion and conclusion Sperm DNA fragmentation testing is a valuable tool for predicting male infertility independent of routine semen analysis. However, it remains unclear whether sperm DNA fragmentation affects in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes, especially their live birth rates. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sperm DNA fragmentation on the cumulative live birth rates over 1 year of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment.This retrospective study included 5050 couples who had undergone in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment from 2016 to 2022. These patients were divided into four groups according to their sperm DNA fragmentation percentages (group 1: sperm DNA fragmentation ≤10%, group 2: > 10% to ≤20%, group3: > 20% to ≤30%, and group 4: > 30%) determined using the sperm chromatin dispersion assay. Both conservative and optimistic methods were used for estimating cumulative live birth rates, the primary outcome, was defined as an ongoing pregnancy leading to live birth that had arisen from all embryo transfers performed within 1 year following the first ovum pick‐up.The conservative and optimistic cumulative live birth rates showed no significant differences between sperm DNA fragmentation groups when total patients or in vitro fertilization patients were analyzed while adjusting for the confounders. However, compared with those in the group with low sperm DNA fragmentation values (≤10%), the conservative cumulative live birth rate was significantly decreased in intracytoplasmic sperm injection patients in the group with sperm DNA fragmentation > 30%, and the optimistic cumulative live birth rates were significantly decreased in intracytoplasmic sperm injection patients in the three groups with high sperm DNA fragmentation values (> 10% to ≤20%, > 20% to ≤30%, > 30%). These results were further confirmed by the analyses of smooth curves generated by generalized additive models. In intracytoplasmic sperm injection patients, the cumulative live birth rates decreased significantly as the sperm DNA fragmentation increased (p = 0.034), and these effects were stronger with the increase in female age. A similar pattern of correlation between sperm DNA fragmentation and cumulative live birth rate was found in in vitro fertilization patients, but the correlation was not significant (p = 0.232).Sperm DNA fragmentation has a significant effect on the cumulative probability of achieving a live birth during 1 year of treatment involving intracytoplasmic sperm injection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuum membrane distillation is a widely used process, which has a series of advantages. It is also suitable or the regeneration process of MDEA. This paper introduces the reaction mechanism of MDEA and H2S, the relationship of solution regeneration temperature and solution flow rate on regeneration rate, as well as the influence of vacuum side vacuum degree on membrane flux. The results show that the regeneration temperature is the most important factor of regeneration ate. The increasing of regeneration temperature will significantly improve the regeneration rate. When the temperature is 100 °C , the regeneration rate can reach 95%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]