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Objective: We investigated the effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells (A2780, HO8910, and SKOV-3). Methods: Cytotoxicity assay was performed to determine the optimal doses of DHA in this experiment. The effects of DHA on invasion ability were assessed by invasion assay. The expressions of messenger RNA and/or proteins associated with invasion or metastasis were detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction or Western blot. The effect of DHA on cell metastasis was assessed in xenograft model of zebrafish. Results: Docosahexaenoic acid and >-linolenic acid could reduce the cell vitalities in dose-dependent manner. However, DHA inhibited the invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells, but >-linolenic acid did not (**P G 0.01). Docosahexaenoic acid could downregulate the expressions ofWAVE3, vascular endothelial cell growth factor, andMMP-9, and upregulate KISS-1, TIMP-1, and PPAR-F, which negatively correlated with cell invasion and metastasis (*P G 0.05). Docosahexaenoic acid restrained the development of subintestinal vessels and cancer cell metastasis in xenograft model of zebrafish (**P G 0.01). Conclusions: Docosahexaenoic acid inhibited the invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo through the modulation of NF-JB signaling pathway, suggesting that DHA is a promising candidate for ovarian cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azoxystrobin belongs to a kind of new strobilurin fungicides and its widely application to soils has become a common practice. However, little is known about the effect of azoxystrobin on soil microbial population and enzymatic activities. The impacts of azoxystrobin on cultivable soil microbial population, enzymatic activities and soil respiration were investigated under laboratory conditions. The fungicide was applied in 0.1, 1.0 and 10.0 mg kg-1 dry soil during the incubation period. For all treatments, microbial properties in soil were measured on days 7, 14, 21 and 28. The results showed that azoxystrobin applications reduced soil viable microbial numbers, soil respiration, and dehydrogenase and protease activities. However, the fungicide had no significantly adverse effect on urease activity. Azoxystrobin had strong positive effects on catalase in initial 21 days, but at the end of the experiment, catalase was recovered close to that of the control. Among the four enzymes, dehydrogenase was most sensitive to azoxystrobin. The authors suggest that azoxystrobin had an adverse effect on soil microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetraphenylethylene pillar[6]arenes with an AIE effect were synthesized for the first time. The fluorescence of the pillar[6]arenes could be quenched much more and much faster by TNT than by other nitroaromatics including 2,4,6-trinitrophenol, which could be used to detect TNT in air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel imidazolium macrocycle based on bridged tetraphenylethylene (TPE) was synthesized. Because it bears the bridged TPE units, this macrocycle not only displays an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect but also exhibits monomer emission, which is very rare in AIE compounds. With aggregation of the macrocycle, the aggregate emission increases while the monomer emission decreases. It was found that this imidazolium macrocycle can form a stable 2:1 complex with C60, which gives rise to quenching of both the aggregate emission and the monomer emission. Unexpectedly, the aggregate emission exhibited a higher quenching efficiency than the monomer emission, probably because one adsorbed C60 molecule could affect more macrocycle molecules in the aggregate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eight new metal coordination complexes, namely, [Co(BTA)2(H2O)4].6H2O (1), [Ni(BTA)2(H2O)4].6H2O (2), [Cu2(HBTA)4(BTA)2].2H2O (3), [Ag(BTA)(H2O)]n (4), [Zn(BTA)2(H2O)]n (5), [Cd(BTA)2(H2O)]n (6), [Cu2(μ3- OH)(BTA)3]n (7), and [Mn(BTA)2(H2O)2]n (8) [HBTA = 2-(1H-benzotriazol-1-yl)acetic acid], were obtained under hydrothermal conditions, by reacting the different metal salts with HBTA. The ligand HBTA was characterized by melting point (m.p.), elemental analysis (EA), infrared spectroscopy (IR), 1H NMR, and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Complexes 1-8 were structurally characterized by X-ray single-crystal diffraction, EA, IR, PXRD, and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). These complexes all display lowdimensional features displaying various zero-dimensional (0D), one-dimensional (1D), and twodimensional (2D) coordination motifs. Complexes 1 and 2 are isostructural and mononuclear; they show unique decamer water clusters with bis-boat conformations, which further extend to a 1D metal-water chain. Through intermolecular hydrogen bonds, these 1D metal-water chains extend to 3D supramolecular networks. Complex 3 shows a bi-nuclear structure. Complex 4 displays a 1D tape structure. There exist weak interactions between Ag...Ag. Complexes 5 and 6 form a 1D linear chain bridged by BTA anions. Complex 7 exhibits a 2D layer containing tetranuclear butterfly [Cu4(CO2)4(μ3-OH)] secondary building units (SBUs). Complex 8 possesses a 2D layer and further stacks via hydrogen bonding interactions to generate a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture. These results suggest that both the coordination preferences of the metal ions and the versatile nature of this flexible ligand play a critical role in the final structures. The luminescent spectra show strong emission intensities in complexes 3, 4, 5, and 6. Complexes 3, 5 and 6 display blue photoluminescence. However, complex 4 exhibits green fluorescence. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal the existence of antiferromagnetic interactions in both 7 and 8. Additionally, the ferroelectric and second-harmonic generation (SHG) properties of 5 are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the classical assumptions on f, a convergence criterion of Newton's method (independent of affine connections) to find zeros of a mapping f from a Lie group to its Lie algebra is established, and estimates of the convergence domains of Newton's method are obtained, which improve the corresponding results in Owren & Welfert (2000, BIT Numer. Math., 40, 121–145) and Wang & Li (2006, J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. A, 8, 978–986). Applications to optimization are provided and the results due to Mahony (1996, Linear Algebra Appl., 248, 67–89) are extended and improved accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In general Banach space setting, we study the perturbed distance function $${d_S^J(\cdot)}$$ determined by a closed subset S and a lower semicontinuous function J (·). In particular, we show that the Fréchet subdifferential and the proximal subdifferential of a perturbed distance function are representable by virtue of corresponding normal cones of S and subdifferentials of J (·). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAim:To generate a novel acute anemia model by compelled exercise.Methods:Young adult male mice were compelled to perform an acute exercise by electric stimulation for 30 min. Blood was taken from their tails to be used for detection immediately after exercise.Results:It was found that the red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit of exhausted mice were lower than that of sedentary mice without electric stimulation. The model is in line with the diagnostic criteria. As the mechanisms of the acute anemia model, it was found that the osmotic fragility of the RBC in model mice increased compared to that of normal mice, and that the deformation index, orientation index, small deformation index, deformability and orientation of RBCs in the model mice were reduced. The glutathione (GSH) levels in blood plasma were decreased. The liver, spleen, kidney had no detectable changes.Conclusion:To the best of our knowledge, these effects represent the success of a novel anemia model by compelled acute exercise. The oxidative damages on RBC and hemorheological changes are in part the causes of acute anemia in this model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-1,3,5-triazine) ecotoxicology in soil, the effect of atrazine on the activity of antioxidative enzymes (superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], and guaiacol peroxidase [POD]) was investigated in Vicia faba roots. Tissues from each treatment were collected on the days 7, 14, 21, and 28. Compared with the controls, SOD activity in V. faba roots was stimulated by the 2.5 mg/kg treatment and inhibited by the 5 and 10 mg/kg treatments, and CAT and POD activities in the 10 mg/kg treatment were inhibited on the whole. The Olive tail moments of single-cell gel electrophoresis of root cells were enhanced after treatment with different doses of atrazine on days 7, 14, 21, and 28, and significant differences were found compared to the controls. In conclusion, atrazine induces oxidative stress and DNA damage on V. faba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant and free radical scavenging capacities of arjunic acid, an aglycone obtained from the fruit of medicine Terminalia Fruit. Liver microsomes, mitochondria, and red blood cells (RBCs) were prepared from Wistar rats. The antioxidant capacity was determined by the inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation, hydrogen peroxide induced RBCs hemolysis, and RBCs autoxidative hemolysis. The free radical scavenging activity was tested by DPPH method and 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluoresc in diacetate (DCFH2-DA) assay. Ascorbic acid was chosen as the positive controls. Results showed that arjunic acid was a strong antioxidant and a free radical scavenger, more potent than ascorbic acid, in microsomes lipid peroxidation, DPPH, hydrogen peroxide induced RBCs hemolysis, and (DCFH2-DA) assay (p < 0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the RBCs autoxidative hemolysis assay (p > 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the microscopic origin of the ferromagnetism of Fe0.25TaS2 and its finite-temperature magnetic properties. The band structures of Fe0.25TaS2 are first obtained by the first-principles calculations and it is found that both conventional and Dirac carriers coexist in metallic Fe0.25TaS2. Accordingly, considering the spin-orbit coupling of Fe 3d ion, we derive an effective Ruderman–Kittle–Kasuya–Yosida-type Hamiltonian between Fe spins in the presence of both the conventional parabolic-dispersion and the Dirac linear-dispersion carriers, which contains a Heisenberg-like, an Ising-like and an XY-like term. In addition, we obtain the ferromagnetic Curie temperature Tc by using the cluster self-consistent field method. Our results could address not only the high ferromagnetic Curie temperature but also the large magnetic anisotropy in FexTaS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the Raman and photoluminescence spectra of Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods under high pressures using 514-nm and 532-nm laser light excitation. We observe transitions from the initial cubic phase to amorphous at pressures higher than 24 GPa for both Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods. In addition, Y2O3/Eu3+ and Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods exhibit different distorted states after the pressure has been raised to 8 GPa. The analyses of intensity ratios, I0−2/I0−1 from 5D0–7F2 to 5D0–7F1 and I0−2A/B of 5D0–7F2 transitions indicate that Y2O3/Eu3+/Mg2+ nanorods exhibit stronger local micro-surrounding characteristics for Eu3+ ions in a pressure-modulated crystal field. The doped Mg2+ ion results in reducing the crystal ionicity in the distorted lattice state under high pressures. The use of doped ions as an ion modifier can be applied to the study of small local microstructural changes through Eu3+ luminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives The aim of the present study was to investigate relationships between insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism at angiotensin-converting enzyme gene (ACE) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as their interactions on blood pressure. Methods Variants of ACE I/D were identified by polymerase chain reaction method and verified by DNA sequencing. PTSD symptoms were assessed by the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) based on DSM-IV-TR criteria among high school students at 6 months after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Results Female subjects were found to have higher prevalence of PTSD and PCL-C scores than male counterparts in the II homozygotes (p = .038 for PTSD and p = .003 for PCL-C scores) and the ID heterozygotes (p = .000 for PTSD and p = .000 for PCL-C scores), but not in the DD homozygotes. Male subjects with the ID (p = .046) or the DD genotype (p = .039) had lower pulse pressure (PP) than the male II homozygotes, while the female II homozygotes had lower diastolic blood pressure (DBP) than the female DD homozygotes (p = .036). ACE I/D, PTSD, or PCL-C scores, as well as gender and BMI, were found to be the predictors of PP. Conclusions These results indicate that there are interactions of ACE I/D and PTSD, together with gender and BMI, on PP. This finding may be the additional explanation for the heterogeneous relationships between PTSD and blood pressure, and suggest psychiatry care and different medication strategies for patients with comorbidities of PTSD and hypertension and with different genotypes of ACE I/D.