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Fluorescent probe is a kind of fluorescent system that can selectively combine specific substances to achieve qualitative or quantitative detection of targeted molecules. Most fluorescent probes are organic compounds containing conjugated double bond systems, which have special fluorescent properties and can be sensitive to changes in environmental characteristics. It has the advantages of simple operation and high sensitivity, therefore it is widely used in life science, environmental science and other fields. In recent years, biomass lignin-based fluorescent probes have been extensively studied and great progress has been made. Since lignin is a natural biomass material containing aromatic structures with has special optical properties, the fluorescence probes prepared by using lignin as a precursor material have improved the related properties to a certain extent. For example, lignin-based fluorescent probes have the advantages of low toxicity, good biocompatibility, good processability, and low cost. This paper reviews the preparation of lignin derivative fluorescent probes and various lignin-based carbon quantum dots (CQDs) fluorescent materials using lignin as raw materials and their applications in biochemical sensing, heavy metal ion detection, bioimaging, environmental detection, anti-counterfeiting printing, drug carriers and other fields. [Display omitted] • Review the properties and application of lignin-based fluorescent probes. • Design the fluorescent probes by using lignin as the substrate material. • Introduce the application prospects of lignin-based fluorescent probes. • Indicate ideas for the design and application of lignin-based fluorescent probes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a hollow type piezoelectric micromotor made of a PZT ceramic/metal composite cylinder with sizes of only 3.6 mm in diameter and 3.0 mm in length aiming at medical endoscope application. The hollow piezoelectric stator of the micromotor, acting as a nut, can excite E02-mode traveling wave along its circumferential direction, and a hollow rotor with a fine lens inside, acting as a screw, is driven to produce a spiral motion along its axis direction inside the hollow stator via the traveling wave. The features of the developed micromotors are its hollow, fine structure and submicrometer step resolution, ensuring that the optical path passes in a narrow and limited space and that the optical focal length is tuned precisely inside the endoscope, which is meaningful in medical diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In microwave heating applications, Lambert’s law is a common way to calculate power distribution. However, because of the complex application environment, Lambert’s law is not precise for the unknown power distribution on material surfaces. During the microwave heating process, the system process parameters can only be partly known by experience. Therefore, for such situations, to make the entire heating process safe, a sliding mode combined with a neural network algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is designed to calculate the suitable input power at each control period to make the material temperature follow the reference trajectory, which is determined by experience. The simulation and actual application results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can commendably control the heating process. The difference between the reference trajectory and the material sampling temperature may exceed 1°C initially. However, as time progresses, the difference gradually decreases. Nonetheless, due to the low conduction coefficient, a single microwave heating process may take a long time. Therefore, many actual applications combine convective heat transfer with microwave. This article also discusses the control method of multiple inputs including microwave power and convective heat transfer with unknown model parameters. Another neural network is constructed to identify the unknown parameters. The algorithm is designed to obtain the suitable input power and input convective heat transfer at each control period. The simulation results show that the control algorithm can work well under multiple inputs. The material temperature on both the surfaces and the interior can follow the reference trajectory with a satisfactory difference, and suitable inputs can be obtained with few fluctuations during the learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the concept of generalized phononic crystals (GPCs), a type of 1D cylindrical shell of generalized phononic crystals (CS-GPCs) where two kinds of homogeneous materials are arranged periodically along radial direction was proposed in this paper. On the basis of radial, torsional shear and axial shear vibrational equations of cylindrical shell, the total transfer matrix of mechanical state vector were set up respectively, and the bandgap phenomena of these three type waves were disclosed by using the method of transfer matrix eigenvalue of mechanical state vector instead of the previous localized factor analyses and Bloch theorem. The characteristics and forming mechanism of these bandgaps of CS-GPCs, together with the influences of several important structure and material parameters on them were investigated and discussed in detail. Our results showed that, similar to the plane wave bandgaps, 1D CS-GPCs can also possess radial, torsional shear and axial shear wave bandgaps within high frequency region that conforms to the Bragg scattering effect; moreover, the radial vibration of CS-GPCs can generate low frequency bandgap (the start frequency near 0 Hz), as a result of the double effects of wavefront expansion and Bragg scattering effect, wherein the wavefront effect can be the main factor and directly determine the existence of the low frequency bandgaps, while the Bragg scattering effect has obvious enhancement effect to the attenuation. Additionally, the geometrical and material parameters of units have significant influences on the wave bandgaps of CS-GPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a warm-season C4 grass that is a target lignocellulosic biofuel species. In many regions, drought stress is one of the major limiting factors for switchgrass growth. The objective of this study was to evaluate the drought tolerance of 49 switchgrass genotypes. The relative drought stress tolerance was determined based on a set of parameters including plant height, leaf length, leaf width, leaf sheath length, leaf relative water content (RWC), electrolyte leakage (EL), photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate (Tr), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and water use efficiency (WUE). Results: SRAP marker analysis determined that the selected 49 switchgrass genotypes represent a diverse genetic pool of switchgrass germplasm. Principal component analysis (PCA) and drought stress indexes (DSI) of each physiological parameter showed significant differences in the drought stress tolerance among the 49 genotypes. Heatmap and PCA data revealed that physiological parameters are more sensitive than morphological parameters in distinguishing the control and drought treatments. Metabolite profiling data found that under drought stress, the five best drought-tolerant genotypes tended to have higher levels of abscisic acid (ABA), spermine, trehalose, and fructose in comparison to the five most drought-sensitive genotypes. Conclusion: Based on PCA ranking value, the genotypes TEM-SEC, TEM-LoDorm, BN-13645-64, Alamo, BN-10860-61, BN-12323-69, TEM-SLC, T-2086, T-2100, T-2101, Caddo, and Blackwell-1 had relatively higher ranking values, indicating that they are more tolerant to drought. In contrast, the genotypes Grif Nebraska 28, Grenville-2, Central Iowa Germplasm, Cave-in-Rock, Dacotah, and Nebraska 28 were found to be relatively sensitive to drought stress. By analyzing physiological response parameters and different metabolic profiles, the methods utilized in this study identified drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive switchgrass genotypes. These results provide a foundation for future research directed at understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying switchgrass tolerance to drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature distribution reconstruction is of critical importance for circular area, and an ultrasonic technique is investigated to meet this demand in this paper. Considering the particularity of circular area, algorithm based on Markov radial basis approximation and singular value decomposition is proposed, while ultrasonic transducers layout and division of measured area are properly designed. The reconstruction performance is validated via numerical experiments using different temperature distribution models, and is compared with algorithm based on least square method. To study the anti-interference, various noises are adding to the theoretical value of time-of-flight. Experiment results indicate that the proposed algorithm can reconstruct temperature distribution with higher accuracy and stronger anti-interference, while without the problem of algorithm based on least square method that its reconstructions will lose much temperature information near the edge of measured area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous studies showed that 2-(2-benzofuranyl)-2-imidazoline (2-BFI), a ligand to type 2 imidazoline receptor, was protective against brain and spinal cord injury caused by experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In the present study, we investigated the effect of long-term administration of 2-BFI and the dose-dependent response relationship of long-term administration of 2-BFI with neuroprotection. Treatment with 2-BFI at doses of 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg for 14 days significantly reduced hind limb paralysis and the severity of EAE compared with the EAE control group. Long-term use of 2-BFI was not only safe to mice, but also dose-dependently reduced the expression of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, Interferon-γ and Interleukin-17A, compared with the EAE control group. Expressions of neuronal injury markers, including cytochrome c, AIF and β-APP, were also reduced significantly in response to long-term 2-BFI treatment. Together, these results provided new evidence to demonstrate that 2-BFI is a safe and effective candidate for further development as a therapeutic drug for treatment of multiple sclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature, especially temperature distribution, is one of the most fundamental and vital parameters for theoretical study and control of various industrial applications. In this paper, ultrasonic thermometry to reconstruct temperature distribution is investigated, referring to the dependence of ultrasound velocity on temperature. In practical applications of this ultrasonic technique, reconstruction algorithm based on least square method is commonly used. However, it has a limitation that the amount of divided blocks of measure area cannot exceed the amount of effective travel paths, which eventually leads to its inability to offer sufficient temperature information. To make up for this defect, an improved reconstruction algorithm based on least square method and multiquadric interpolation is presented. And then, its reconstruction performance is validated via numerical studies using four temperature distribution models with different complexity and is compared with that of algorithm based on least square method. Comparison and analysis indicate that the algorithm presented in this paper has more excellent reconstruction performance, as the reconstructed temperature distributions will not lose information near the edge of area while with small errors, and its mean reconstruction time is short enough that can meet the real-time demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is a large agricultural country with the most abundant straw resources in the world. In 2010, the amount of collected straw reached 700 million tons, Anaerobic digestion (AD) technology is a widely applied technology can achieve resource utilization of straw, as well as produce clean energy. Straw is one kind of typical carbon-rich biomass, which is easy to acidify in the AD process, even more influence the biogas production and system performance. Additive has the function of adjusting carbon-nitrogen ratio, promoting AD process and relieving acidification process, thus, adding additive has been considered as an alternative method to improve the AD process. In this study, the crushed corn straw were conducted in batch reactor with the feeding concentration of 6%TS at (40±1)°C, urea and inorganic salts soil were used as additives for the straw anaerobic digestion. There are six treatments in this study, including pure straw without adding additive (R1), adding urea with the C/N of 25/1(R2) and 30/1(R3), adding inorganic salts soil of 10 %(R4) and 20% (R5)( based on fresh weight of straw), as well as a control only adding inoculum (R6). The pH value, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) concentration, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration, biogas production and other indicators had been measured in the whole process of 49 days. Acidification phenomenon occurred in the second day for all the treatments and 300mL of cultivated inoculum was added for each treatment. The results indicated that adding inorganic salts soil and urea displayed significant buffering action to the straw anaerobic digestion process. The pH value of R1-R5 ranged at 6.11-6.60 6.69-7.09 6.60-7.16 6.30-7.01 and 6.39-6.97 from the third day to the seventh day, respectively. While the VFAs concentration of R1-R5 was 0.38, 0.37, 0.33, 0.22 and 0.17g/L among which, acetic acid accounting for 60.78% 43.82% 57.62% 21.00% and 27.64%, respectively. According to ATP results, the microorganisms quantity might increased by adding the urea and inorganic salts soil. The ATP peak of R1-R5 was 724, 996, 1236, 1040 and 1248nmol/L, respectively. Compared with the pure straw treatment(R1), R2-R5 made microorganisms quantity increased by 2.76×1011, 5.19×1011, 3.20×1011 and 5.31×1011 of per liter digested liquid, For the anaerobic digestion system with acidification problem and low methanobacteria activity, the promoting action of urea and inorganic salts soil may be influenced and weakened. Compared with the pure straw treatment, the more adding amount of urea and inorganic salts soil, the less of the biogas production, however, it could make the gas peaked one day, two days and four days earlier respectively by adding urea (25:1), adding urea (30:1) and adding 10% inorganic salts soil under the anaerobic digestion system with acidification problem and low methanobacteria activity. In short, it is a good solution to avoid acidification problem by adding urea and inorganic salts soil, the amount and regulation method should be further studied. It is helpful to avoid acidification problem and reduce the interference of promoting effects of adding urea and inorganic salts soil by changing the feeding way (like batch feeding way) and strengthening the microorganisms activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this experiment, a flip-chip light-emitting diode with photonic crystal was fabricated at the interface of p-GaN and Ag reflector via nanospheres lithography technique. In this structure, photonic crystal could couple with the guide-light efficiently by reason of the little distance between photonic crystal and active region. The light output power of light emitting diode with embedded photonic crystal was 1.42 times larger than that of planar flip-chip light-emitting diode. Moreover, the embedded photonic crystal structure makes the far-field divergence angle decreased by 18° without spectra shift. The three-dimensional finite difference time domain simulation results show that photonic crystal could improve the light extraction, and enhance the light absorption caused by Ag reflector simultaneously, because of the roughed surface. The depth of photonic crystal is the key parameter affecting the light extraction and absorption. Light extraction efficiency increases with the depth photonic crystal structure rapidly, and reaches the maximum at the depth 80 nm, beyond which light extraction decrease drastically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors identify a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein SOAR1 as a crucial player of ABA signalling, which localizes to both the cytosol and nucleus probably to regulate nuclear gene expression.A dominant suppressor of the ABAR overexpressor, soar1-1D, from CHLH/ABAR [coding for Mg-chelatase H subunit/putative abscisic acid (ABA) receptor (ABAR)] overexpression lines was screened to explore the mechanism of the ABAR-mediated ABA signalling. The SOAR1 gene encodes a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein which localizes to both the cytosol and nucleus. Down-regulation of SOAR1 strongly enhances, but up-regulation of SOAR1 almost completely impairs, ABA responses, revealing that SOAR1 is a critical, negative, regulator of ABA signalling. Further genetic evidence supports that SOAR1 functions downstream of ABAR and probably upstream of an ABA-responsive transcription factor ABI5. Changes in the SOAR1 expression alter expression of a subset of ABA-responsive genes including ABI5. These findings provide important information to elucidate further the functional mechanism of PPR proteins and the complicated ABA signalling network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: We have previously shown that Idazoxan (IDA), an imidazoline 2 receptor ligand, is neuroprotective against spinal cord injury caused by experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mouse, an animal modal of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the protective mechanism remains unclear. Here, we provided evidence to show that IDA confers neuroprotection through reduction in blood–brain barrier (BBB) damage. EAE was induced by immunizing C57 BL/6 mice with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein35–55 amino acid peptide (MOG35–55). IDA was administrated for 14 days after MOG immunization at 2mg/kg (i.p., bid). Significant reduction in BBB damage occurred in the IDA-treated group of mice compared with the saline-treated group, as evidenced by the reduction in Evan?s blue content in the brain tissue and the reduced BBB tight junction damage viewed under a transmission electron microscope. Moreover, EAE-induced reductions in tight junction proteins (JAM-1, Occludin, Claudin-5 and ZO-1) were also significantly ameliorated in IDA-treated mice, all of which supported the notion that IDA reduced BBB damage. Interestingly, the expression levels of extracellular matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and the ratio of MMP-9 against tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), which is known to be associated with MS-induced BBB damage, were significantly reduced in IDA-treated group, lending further support to the hypothesis that IDA confers brain protection through reducing BBB damage. This study raised a possibility that IDA is a promising pro-drug for development against MS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-binding (LHCB) proteins are the apoproteins of the light-harvesting complex of photosystem II. In the present study, we observed that downregulation of any of the six LHCB genes resulted in abscisic acid (ABA)-insensitive phenotypes in seed germination and post-germination growth, demonstrating that LHCB proteins are positively involved in these developmental processes in response to ABA. ABA was required for full expression of different LHCB members and physiologically high levels of ABA enhanced LHCB expression. The LHCB members were shown to be targets of an ABA-responsive WRKY-domain transcription factor, WRKY40, which represses LHCB expression to balance the positive function of the LHCBs in ABA signalling. These findings revealed that ABA is an inducer that fine-tunes LHCB expression at least partly through repressing the WRKY40 transcription repressor in stressful conditions in co-operation with light, which allows plants to adapt to environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs) are among the most effective antiretroviral drugs. They are characterized by highly cooperative dose-response curves that are not explained by current pharmacodynamic theory. An unresolved problem affecting the clinical use of PIs is that patients who fail PI-containing regimens often have virus that lacks protease mutations, in apparent violation of fundamental evolutionary theory. Here, we show that these unresolved issues can be explained through analysis of the effects of PIs on distinct steps in the viral life cycle. We found that PIs do not affect virion release from infected cells but block entry, reverse transcription, and post-reverse transcription steps. The overall dose-response curves could be reconstructed by combining the curves for each step using the Bliss independence principle, showing that independent inhibition of multiple distinct steps in the life cycle generates the highly cooperative dose-response curves that make these drugs uniquely effective. Approximately half of the inhibitory potential of PIs is manifest at the entry step, likely reflecting interactions between the uncleaved Gag and the cytoplasmic tail (CT) of the Env protein. Sequence changes in the CT alone, which are ignored in current clinical tests for PI resistance, conferred PI resistance, providing an explanation for PI failure without resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents chemical equations related to the article "Synthesis of Pyrrolo(spiro-[2.3']-oxindole)-spiro-[4.3'']-oxindole via 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition of Azomethine Ylides with 3-Acetonylideneoxindole" by S. Liang and others, in the periodical "Journal of Organic Chemistry" in 2013.

Increasingly, cities worldwide are striving for green travel and slow traffic, and vigorously developing people-oriented urban pedestrian traffic with sustainability has become a fixture in recent discourse. This paper comprehensively considers the sidewalk's facilities environment and the status of pedestrian traffic flow; divides the urban pedestrian road system (UPRS) into five subsystems around the underpass, overpass, crosswalk, sidewalk, and road crosswalk; and introduces the basic structure as well as the function of each system. Then, the indicators are classified into two types of crosswalk facilities and sidewalk facilities, and a comprehensive pedestrian road indicator system with the combination of subjective and objective is established. Consequently, the integration of the fuzzy AHP and DEA-based symmetrical technique for the subjective evaluation indicator combined with pedestrian traffic characteristics is developed. A nine-step semantics scale of relative importance was used so that the symmetry of the response of pedestrian satisfaction was maintained. Fuzzy evaluation based on AHP is further modeled, and the DEA is employed to achieve an overall evaluation of the quality of service (QoS) for UPRS. The applicability of the established evaluation system is finally verified through a real case study in Harbin, China. The serviceability assessment method in this paper provides a new idea for planners to conduct sustainability evaluation for UPRS in future urban renewal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three evolutionarily closely related WRKY-domain transcription factors WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60 in Arabidopsis were previously identified as negative abscisic acid (ABA) signalling regulators, of which WRKY40 regulates ABI4 and ABI5 expression, but it remains unclear whether and how the three transcription factors cooperate to regulate expression of ABI4 and ABI5. In the present experiments, it was shown that WRKY18 and WRKY60, like WRKY40, interact with the W-box in the promoters of ABI4 and ABI5 genes, though the three WRKYs have their own preferential binding domains in the two promoters. WRKY18 and WRKY60, together with WRKY40, inhibit expression of the ABI5 and/or ABI4 genes, which is consistent with their negative roles in ABA signalling. Further, genetic evidence is provided that mutations of ABI4 and ABI5 genes suppress ABA-hypersensitive phenotypes of the null mutant alleles of WRKY18 and WRKY60 genes, demonstrating that ABI4 and ABI5 function downstream of these two WRKY transcription factors in ABA signalling. A working model of cooperation of the three WRKYs in repressing ABI4 and ABI5 expression is proposed, in which the three WRKYs antagonize or aid each other in a highly complex manner. These findings help to understand the complex mechanisms of WRKY-mediated ABA signal transduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying cellular reservoirs of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is critical to finding a cure for HIV-1. In addition to resting CD4+ T cells, CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells have been proposed as another reservoir. We obtained bone marrow aspirates from 11 patients on ART who had undetectable plasma HIV-1 RNA. HIV-1 DNA was detected in CD4+ T cells from peripheral blood in all patients and from bone marrow cellular fractions containing T cells in most patients. We did not find HIV-1 DNA in highly purified CD34+ populations using either a sensitive real-time polymerase chain reaction assay or a coculture assay for replication-competent HIV-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two typical commercial palm oil-based margarines, denoted A (complained as with over-hardness) and B (commercially considered as with acceptable hardness), respectively, were compared in terms of hardness, solid fat content (SFC), lipid composition [fatty acid and triacylglycerol (TAG) composition], crystallization behavior and microstructure. On the basis of these results, the reason of over-hardness in margarine A was discussed. Margarine A showed higher hardness than margarine B with the differences increasing along with rise in temperature in the typical range from 15 to 30 °C. While margarine B has good quality and appropriate hardness, it showed SFCs higher than margarine A. Lipid composition analyses showed that margarine B has small amounts of medium chain fatty acids and higher content of monounsaturated TAGs [1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-oleoyl-glycerol (POP), 1,3-dipalmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-glycerol (PLP), 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-stearoyl-glycerol (POS)]. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that both margarines have β′ and β polymorphs with the β form being dominant in margarine B. Isothermal crystallization kinetics of both margarines under 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C, respectively, fitted using the Avrami model indicates that margarine B hardly crystallizes at temperatures ≥25 °C. Morphologic observations of the microstructure of both margarines by polarized light microscope and scanning electron microscopy showed that formation of large spherulites have an important influence on margarine texture. Occurrence of large spherulites in margarine B is considered to decrease the numbers of crystals and lessen mutual attraction with temperature increasing, which leads to weakened strength of the total network, even if margarine B has a higher SFC value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) plays a crucial role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the significance of circulating antibody to hepatitis B virus X antigen (anti-HBx) in sera remains unclear. In the present study, we examined the titers of anti-HBx (IgG) in the sera from 173 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 106 liver cirrhosis (LC), and 61 HCC by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. Our data showed that the positive rates of anti-HBx were higher in sera of LC (40.6%) and HCC (34.4%) than those of CHB (10.4%), P < .05. In all 40 patients with anti-HBx+ out of 340 patients, 39 (97.5%) were HBsAg/HBeAg/anti-HBc+ and 1 (2.5%) was anti-HBs+ (P < .01), suggesting that anti-HBx in sera is a marker of HBV replication rather than a protective antibody. Thus, our findings reveal that circulating anti-HBx in sera is one of the markers of development of LC and HCC mediated by HBV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Yangtze River traffic management, to manage ship sequencing and scheduling effectively and efficiently in restricted waterways has long been a challenging issue. This paper proposes a Sliding Window based Online ship Sequencing and Scheduling algorithm (OSS-SW) to tackle this problem. The OSS algorithm is capable of generating a more efficient ship sequence by introducing the 'position shift' concept which takes advantages of ships' sailing time differences in the restricted waterway. The sliding window mechanism on the other hand is introduced to handle the traffic uncertainties and to reduce the computational complexity. The impact of the restricted waterway congestion on the performance of OSS-SW is also investigated. Further, the parameter settings of the proposed OSS-SW are investigated in detail. Both simulation studies and the real data applications confirm that the proposed OSS-SW algorithm outperforms the existing widely adopted Traffic Signal Revealing System (TSRS) and the Expert System based algorithm (FAHP-ES) in solving the ship sequencing and scheduling problem. • An online sequencing and scheduling algorithm for inland waterway traffic management. • The ships' sailing time in the restricted waterway is considered. • The sliding window is to decrease the computational cost and to handle uncertainties. • The parameters are discussed in detail to find the optimal settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) serve an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic heart failure (CHF). A number of reports have illustrated the regulatory effect of serum exosomal miRNA on myocardial fibrosis. The present study aimed to investigate the expression of miR-320a in serum exosomes, as well as the effect of miR-320a on myocardial fibroblast proliferation. Serum exosome samples from 10 patients with CHF and 5 healthy volunteers were obtained and characterized. mRNA and protein expression levels were measured via reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting, respectively. The content of soluble growth stimulation expressed gene 2 (sST2) was determined via ELISA. HEH2 cell viability and apoptosis were detected by performing MTT assays and flow cytometry, respectively. The results demonstrated that serum miR-320a expression levels and sST2 content were significantly increased in patients with CHF compared with healthy controls, and the expression of serum miR-320a was significantly correlated with clinical CHF indexes. miR-320a expression levels were significantly increased in exosomes isolated from patients with CHF compared with those isolated from healthy controls. Phosphoinositide-3-kinase catalytic α polypeptide gene (PIK3CA) expression levels and sST2 content were increased in HEH2 cells following transfection with miR-320a mimics compared with NC-mimic, whereas miR-320a inhibitor displayed contrasting effects by reduced the cell viability and apoptosis in myocardial fibroblasts compared with the NC-inhibitor group. The protein expression levels of collagen I, collagen III, α-smooth muscle actin, phosphorylated (p)-mTOR (ser 2448)/mTOR, p-Akt (ser 473)/Akt, p-Akt (thr 308)/Akt and PIK3CA were significantly increased in miR-320a mimic-transfected HEH2 cells compared with the NC-mimics groups. By contrast, miR-320a inhibitor notably downregulated the expression levels of these proteins compared with the NC-inhibitor group. Collectively, the results of the present study demonstrated that miR-320a promoted myocardial fibroblast proliferation via regulating the PIK3CA/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in HEH2 cells, suggesting that serum exosomal miR-320a may serve as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of CHF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electric-field-induced spin accumulation phenomenon is presented for electroluminescent conjugated polymers as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). When an electric field is applied along a polymer chain and exceeds a critical value, it quenches the luminescence and dissociates the singlet exciton into two carriers with opposite spin signs. Simultaneously, the field drives these two opposite spin carriers to move in opposite directions, leading to spin accumulation at the two ends of the organic material LED, which can be detected through Kerr rotation microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The hierarchy of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in human umbilical cord blood has been disclosed. In this study we compare, for the first time, the angiogenic potential difference between two types of EPCs. We cultured mononuclear cells (MNCs) isolated from human umbilical cord blood using endothelial cell-conditioned medium and obtained two types of EPCs, referred to as circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) and high proliferative potential endothelial progenitor cells (HPP-EPCs). Both types of cells possess characteristics of EPCs, including expressing CD31, VE-cadherin, KDR and von Willebrand factor, uptake of Ac-LDL and binding to lectin. However, unlike CACs, which express CD14 but not CD133, HPP-EPCs express CD133 but not CD14. Also, unlike CACs, HPP-EPCs display stronger proliferation and clonogenic potential in vitro and show stronger ability to promote vascular growth in the hind-limb model of ischemia in mice (BALB/C-nu) in vivo. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The squeezing processes for sword beans of different moisture content were studied in this paper, and the rehydration properties of the resulting dehydrated products were investigated. Regression equations were established relating the finished-product rehydration characteristics to the squeezing and predehydration material conditions. An optimum squeezing process is also derivedi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conserved family of herpesvirus protein kinases plays a crucial role in herpesvirus DNA replication and virion production. However, despite the fact that these kinases are potential therapeutic targets, no systematic studies have been performed to identify their substrates. We generated an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein array to evaluate the targets of the EBV protein kinase BGLF4. Multiple proteins involved in EBV lytic DNA replication and virion assembly were identified as previously unrecognized substrates for BGLF4, illustrating the broad role played by this protein kinase. Approximately half of the BGLF4 targets were also in vitro substrates for the cellular kinase CDK1/cyclin B. Unexpectedly, EBNA1 was identified as a substrate and binding partner of BGLF4. EBNA1 is essential for replication and maintenance of the episomal EBV genome during latency. BGLF4 did not prevent EBNA1 binding to sites in the EBV latency origin of replication, oriP. Rather, we found that BGLF4 was recruited by EBNA1 to oriP in cells transfected with an oriP vector and BGLF4 and in lytically induced EBV-positive Akata cells. In cells transfected with an oriP vector, the presence of BGLF4 led to more rapid loss of the episomal DNA, and this was dependent on BGLF4 kinase activity. Similarly, expression of doxycycline-inducible BGLF4 in Akata cells led to a reduction in episomal EBV genomes. We propose that BGLF4 contributes to effective EBV lytic cycle progression, not only through phosphorylation of EBV lytic DNA replication and virion proteins, but also by interfering with the EBNA1 replication function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifteen cases of endometrial cancer were administered daily doses of 600 mg of MPA after surgery to prevent the recurrence of cancer. The initiation times of coagulation (time necessary for fibrin network formation) were measured with a highly sensitive damped oscillation rheometer and compared with those of 15 control patients who were not administered MPA. Biochemical studies of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis were also done. The initiation times of coagulation were 19.0 ± 1.8 minutes (min mean ± standard deviation) after 3-6 months and 16.0 ± 2.0 min after 9-12 months ofMPA administration, both times being significantly shorter compared with the controls (24.0 ± 2.5 min). Hematocrit values, platelet counts and fibrinogen levels were similar between the two groups. Activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was significantly decreased and antithrombin III activity (AT III), thrombin-antithrombin complex (TAT), plasminogen level, plasmin-α[sub 2] plasmin inhibitor complex level (PIC) and the fibrin degradation product level (FDP) were significantly increased in the MPA group compared with the control group. Accelerated coagulation of blood was definitely induced by high-dose MPA but antithrombin and fibrinolytic activities were also induced, and, thus, thromboembolic complications were prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Au-PbS-CdS nanodumbbells (NDs) with double Au caps on the ends have been synthesized by a simple three-step wet-chemical method. The results show that, a L-SPR induced lateral electric field distribution around this hybrid can be tactfully achieved by adjusting the size of Au caps and their distance, and the dual-plasmon-induced wide spectral coupling between metal and semiconductor can also be observed. Also, the intimate and multi-interface contacts (such as PbS-CdS, Au-PbS and Au-CdS) in these heterostructures provide multiple channels for high-speed photogenerated charge carrier transfer. These will provide a new possibility for high efficiency utilization of solar energy. Subsequently, we have further evaluated the photocatalytic performance of the designed Au-PbS-CdS ND photocatalysts through photocatalytic H 2 generation and degradation tests of rhodamine B. The H 2 generation rate of the photocatalyst was measured to be 6.31 times higher than that of the mixture of nanoparticles (NPs) (nearly 1.34 times that of core-shell nanorod (NRs) structures). The corresponding rate constant of RhB photodegradation is respectively about 2.35 and 6.41 times that of the NRs and mixture of pure semiconductor NPs. Specifically, the photocatalytic activities of Au-PbS-CdS ND photocatalysts increase with Au caps enlarging. Our results demonstrate that Au-PbS-CdS NDs with double Au caps on the end possess more outstanding visible/NIR-light-driven photocatalytic actives. • Au-PbS-CdS nanodumbbells with double Au caps on the ends have been synthesized by a three-step wet-chemical method. • L-SPR induced intense lateral electric field distribution can be tactfully achieved by effective coupling between Au caps. • The designed photocatalyst presents excellent performance in photocatalytic H 2 generation and rhodamine B degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New device: a self-powered UV photodetector. • New operation: the device generates electricity and outputs photodetecting signal. • New application: a self-powered smog monitoring system. • New mechanism: the coupling of hydrovoltaic and photoelectric effect. A self-powered UV photodetector based on the coupling of hydrovoltaic and photoelectric properties has been fabricated for application in smog monitoring system in IoT. [Display omitted] We report a novel self-powered ultraviolet (UV) photodetector as sensor node in the internet of things (IoT). The working mechanism of the device relies on the coupling of hydrovoltaic and photoelectric effect of ZnO nanowire arrays. The photodetector can long-term work without any external batteries or power supply units, and the natural water (such as rain, river water and etc) can be used as the fuel to powering the system. Water flow and evaporation on the aligned ZnO nanowire arrays can generate power, and the outputting current is dependent on the UV illumination as photodetecting signal. The UV photodetector has rapid response/recovery processes, and the outputting current increases from 0.112 to 1.899 μA under UV illumination (365 nm, 20 mW cm−2). The UV photodetector as sensor nodes can be integrated with wireless transmitters, constructing self-powered smog monitoring systems in IoT. The self-powered photodetecting signal can reflect the smog degree, and the wireless transmitter can send the smog information to the mobile equipment or cloud. The present results can stimulate a new research trend on the next generation of photodetectors and promote the development of environment monitoring technique in IoT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is necessary to prepare porous lactose in order to improve the dissolution behavior of insoluble active ingredient. In this study, polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 (PVP K30) was firstly utilized as a templating agent with different use levels in preparing porous lactose. Then, the physical properties were profoundly characterized. Finally, the porous lactose was also employed as a health functional food/drug carrier to explore the effect on the dissolution behavior of curcumin. The results confirmed that (i) porous lactose was successfully prepared using PVP K30 as templating agent; (ii) PVP K30 significantly improved the yield of lactose in the spray drying; (iii) the improved powder properties of porous lactose were more conducive to the downstream operating process for the preparation of health functional food or drug; and (iv) the porous lactose significantly improved the dissolution behavior of curcumin. Therefore, the results obtained are beneficial to boosting the development of porous materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on targeting immutable viral components such as the functions of essential viral proteins being needed for clearing HIV-1 infection. Topics include using germline-encoded pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) for detecting microbial products; and characterized by the presence of a caspase recruitment domain or a pyrin domain co-oligomerize.

Microorganisms play important roles in the degradation of volatile organic compounds. Aeromonas salmonicida strain (AEP-3) generated from biomass in the citric acid fermentation industry was screened and subjected to denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting and 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The growth conditions of AEP-3 in Luria–Bertani broth were optimized at 25 °C and approximately pH 7. AEP-3 was used to degrade ethyl formate, propionic aldehyde, or acetone alone and their mixture. The concentrations of ethyl formate, propionic aldehyde, and acetone were below 7500, 600, and 800 mg L−1, respectively, and their maximum degradation efficiencies were 100%, 92.41%, and 34.75%. AEP-3 first degraded acetone and propionic aldehyde in the mixture, followed by ethyl formate. The degradation pathways of these organic compounds in the mixture and their substrate interactions during degradation were explored. Propionic aldehyde was first converted into propionic acid in the metabolic process and was involved in the subsequent carboxylic acid cycle. By contrast, ethyl formate was first hydrolyzed into formic acid and ethanol. Then, formic acid participated in the cyclic metabolism of carboxylic acid, whereas, ethanol was hydrolyzed into acetaldehyde and acetic acid through alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase. Additionally, acetone directly interacted with nitrate in the medium under the action of hydrogen ions and produced carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen. Overall, this study provides a new degrading bacterium biodegradability toward the exhaust gas of citric acid fermentation. Image 1 • Biodegradation of VOCs in the exhaust gas of citric acid fermentation. • Role of Aeromonas salmonicida strain in degradation of VOCs was evaluated. • Degradation pathways of the three VOCs in the mixture were explored. • The study provided a newly degrading bacterium with biodegradability towards VOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. Current studies have shown that PNPLA3 (Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3) rs738409 G/C gene polymorphism is associated with adult nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [1, 2].But there is no consensus on the relationship between PNPLA3 rs738409 G/C gene polymorphism and children NAFLD due to differences in population samples. To this end, a meta-analysis of published research is conducted to comprehensively assess the relationship between PNPLA3 gene polymorphism and NAFLD in children. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL databases from inception to May 2019. Case-control studies assessing the relationship between PNPLA3 rs738409 G/C gene polymorphism with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Random effects model was used to quantify the association between the PNPLA3 rs738409 G/C gene polymorphism and the susceptibility of children's NAFLD. Fixed effects model was used to quantify the relationship between the PNPLA3 rs738409 G/C gene polymorphism and the severity of NAFLD in children. The Stata 12.0 software was employed for data analysis. Results: A total of nine case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis containing data of 1173 children with NAFLD and 1792 healthy controls. Five studies compared NAFLD children and non-NAFLD healthy populations. Statistical analysis showed that PNPLA3 gene polymorphism was significantly associated with children's NAFLD in the allele contrast, dominant, recessive and over dominant models (G vs C,OR = 3.343, 95% CI = 1.524–7.334; GG + GC vs CC,OR = 3.157, 95% CI = 1.446–6.892;GG vs GC + CC,OR = 5.692, 95% CI = 1.941–16.689; GG + CC vs GC,OR = 2.756, 95% CI = 1.729–4.392). Four case-control studies compared Children with nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) and children with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The results showed that the PNPLA3 gene polymorphism was also significantly associated with the severity of NAFLD in children in recessive gene model (GG vs GC + CC,OR = 14.43, 95% CI = 5.985–34.997); The Egger's test revealed no significant publication bias. Conclusions: Meta-analysis showed that PNPLA3 gene polymorphism was significantly associated with susceptibility and severity of NAFLD in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes of microbes, bioactive compounds, protein structures, and noodle qualities in Qingke barley (one of the Tibetan barleys) fresh noodles (QBFN) stored at 25°C were evaluated. The results showed that an increase in total plate count (TPC) and total mold count (TMC) occurred after 12 hr, and Pantoea, Erwinia, Bacillus for the bacteria, Penicillium and Aspergillus for the mold became dominant spoilage microorganisms at the end of storage.In addition, according to the microbial growth at 25°C, the microbial growth models were built for both TPC and TMC, and the microbial growth models were well fitted by logistic model, with higher fitting precision. The fitting equations were Y = 3.7642–3.7/[1+(t/26.597)3.1], R2 = 0.9942 and Y = 1.7553–1.7546/[1+(t/19.8)3.4], R2 = 0.9999. Due to the polyphenol oxidization (PPO), the total phenol and flavonoid contents decreased from 77 and 36 mg/100 g to 49 and 18 mg/100 g, respectively. The pH value, color, textural properties, and cooking quality decreased significantly (p < .05). The disulfide (SS) bond content decreased from 2.9 to 1.6 µmol/g, while the free sulfydryl (SH) content increased from 0.9 to 1.3 µmol/g; the cost of a significant reduction in α‐helix induced an increase in the random coil with the deterioration of QBFN. The relative abundance of strong bounded water decreased while the relative abundance of weakly bounded water and free water increased, which indicated the destruction of the structure of protein encapsulating starch in QBFN. Moreover, Pearson correlation analysis showed that changes of TPC, TMC, SS/SH bond content, and water state were also significantly correlated with the appearance, textural properties, and cooking quality of QBFN. Practical applications: Investigating changes in microbe diversity, bioactive compound, protein structure, water state, and noodle quality during storage at 25 ± 1°C will help us understand the mechanisms and dynamics of QBFN deterioration. Identification of the dominant microbes that contribute to noodle spoilage and the changes of bioactive compounds help us determine suitable methods to inhibit the growth of microbes and to prevent the loss of bioactive compounds. Moreover, correlation analysis may help us understand the relationship between noodle quality and microbe, water state, and protein structure, and provide a theoretical basis for improving noodle quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Chiral alcohols and their derivatives are important building blocks for the synthesis of high-valued chemicals. • Carbonyl reductases have been demonstrated to be valuable biocatalysts in the asymmetric reduction of carbonyl compounds. • For the activity of a carbonyl reductase Ac CR to be improved, semi-rational engineering was performed. • Three Ac CR variants were applied for chiral alcohols synthesis with excellent product yields and enantiomeric excess. Chiral alcohols and their derivatives are vital building blocks to synthesize pharmaceutical drugs and high-valued chemicals. Wild-type carbonyl reductase Ac CR from Acetobacter sp. has ideal enantioselectivity toward 11 prochiral substrates (e.e. >99%) but poor activity. In this work, a semi-rational engineering was performed to enhance the activity of Ac CR. Fortunately, three positive double-mutants (mut-E144A/G152 L, mut-G152 L/Y189 N, and mut-I147 V/G152 L) with specific activity 17–61 folds higher than that of enzyme without modified were achieved. Kinetic studies suggested that the catalytic efficiencies (k cat / K m) of these mutants were also well enhanced. Finally, these modified mut- Ac CRs were successfully applied in asymmetric reductions of 11 structurally diverse prochiral substrates (200 mM) with excellent product yields (76.8%–99.1%) and enantiomeric excess (e.e. >99%), which provides an alternative strategy for efficient synthesis of chiral alcohols for pharmaceuticals industry with ideal yield and enantioselectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth-most common malignancy worldwide. Multiple previous studies have assessed the relationship between TM6SF2 gene polymorphism and the risk of developing HCC, with discrepant conclusions reached. To assess the association of TM6SF2 rs58542926 T/C gene polymorphism with liver cancer, we performed the current meta-analysis.Methods: This study queried the MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL databases from inception to April 2019. Case-control studies assessing the relationship between TM6SF2 rs5854292 locus polymorphism and liver cancer were selected according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Stata 12.0 software was employed for data analysis.Results: A total of 5 articles, encompassing 6873 patients, met inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Statistical analysis showed that the TM6SF2 gene polymorphism was significantly associated with liver cancer in the allele contrast, dominant, recessive and over dominant models (T vs C, OR = 1.621, 95%CI 1.379-1.905; CT + TT vs CC. OR = 1.541, 95%CI 1.351-1.758; TT vs CT + CC, OR = 2.897, 95%CI 1.690-4.966; CC + TT vs TC, OR = 0.693, 95%CI 0.576-0.834). The Egger's test revealed no significant publication bias.Conclusion: The present findings suggest a significant association of TM6SF2 gene polymorphism with HCC risk in the entire population studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ε‐poly‐L‐lysine (ε‐PL) is a cationic polypeptide. As a natural antibacterial peptide, it has attracted much attention in the food, biomedical, and chemical industries because of its wide antibacterial spectrum and safety. Use of ε‐PL in the food industry is common, due to its biological activity and functional properties. This paper focuses on the physiochemical properties, safety, antibacterial activity, antibacterial mechanism of action, and applications of ε‐PL in improving the quality and shelf life of various foods. Practical applications: As green consumerism is becoming more popular, there is a growing demand for natural preservatives. This work provides basic theories and methods for the application of ε‐PL in food preservation. This paper gives scientific guidelines for consumers and producers of agricultural products. Thus, it may promote the utilization of ε‐PL in the food industry and reduce the use of chemical preservatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Illumination-invariant local binary descriptor learning method for face recognition. • The dynamic thresholds strategy is determined to extract LNMLCP features. • EDA and fuzzy fusion framework are further employed to improve face recognition rate. Traditional face recognition method usually faces the challenge of varying lighting condition. In this paper, we propose an illumination-invariant local binary descriptor learning method for face recognition. Unlike local binary descriptor (LBP) and its variants, which usually utilize the rigid sign function for binarization despite of data distributions. We first determine a dynamic thresholds strategy including the information of illumination variation to extract nonlinear multi-layer contrast features. Specially, Exponential Discriminant Analysis (EDA) is designed to act as preprocessing which can contribute to improve the discriminative ability of the face image by enlarging the margin between different classes relative to the same class. To further improve the recognition performance, we combined our preliminary work, the adaptive fuzzy fusion framework, to integrate the recognition results for multi-scale features spaces. Extensive experiments conducted on four face databases validate the effectiveness of the proposed method for illumination face recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the galvanic effect of pyrite and arsenopyrite during the leaching pretreatment of gold ores was determined with the use of electrochemical testing (open circuit potential, linear sweep voltammetry, Tafel, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)) and frontier orbit calculations. The results show that (i) the linear sweep voltammetry curve and Tafel curve of the galvanic pair are similar to those of arsenopyrite, (ii) the corrosion behavior of the galvanic pair is consistent with that of arsenopyrite, and (iii) the galvanic effect promotes the corrosion of arsenopyrite by simultaneously increasing the cathode and anode currents and reducing oxidation resistance. The frontier orbit calculation explains the principle of the galvanic effect of pyrite and arsenopyrite from the view of quantum mechanics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CDPKs (Ca2+-Dependent Protein Kinases) are very important regulators in plant response to abiotic stress. The molecular regulatory mechanism of CDPKs involved in salt stress tolerance remains unclear, although some CDPKs have been identified in salt-stress signaling. Here, we investigated the function of an Arabidopsis CDPK, CPK12, in salt-stress signaling. The CPK12-RNA interference (RNAi) mutant was much more sensitive to salt stress than the wild-type plant GL1 in terms of seedling growth. Under NaCl treatment, Na+ levels in the roots of CPK12-RNAi plants increased and were higher than levels in GL1 plants. In addition, the level of salt-elicited H2O2 production was higher in CPK12-RNAi mutants than in wild-type GL1 plants after NaCl treatment. Collectively, our results suggest that CPK12 is required for plant adaptation to salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Janus-like Au-AgAuS hybrid nanoboats (NBs) with controllable half shells were prepared by using seed-mediated growth method. Their tunable plasmon properties were investigated by using UV-Vis spectra and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. With the shell thicknesses increasing, the red shifting of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks and an obvious enhancement of transverse SPR band have been observed for the Janus-like NBs. The effects of shell thicknesses and covered areas on local electric field of Janus-like Au-AgAuS NBs were further studied by FDTD simulation, which proposed an effective method to manipulate the electromagnetic field distributions of metal plasmonic nanostructures. In addition, served as solution-based active SERS substrates, the SERS performances of Au NRs and Janus-like Au-AgAuS NBs with different shell thicknesses have been further estimated by using rhodamine B as probe molecules. Compared with the others, Au-AgAuS NBs with about 2.82-nm shell displayed the best SERS performance with good reproducibility in our experiments, owing to the effective plasmonic enhancement and load capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence changes of hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia from 2009 to 2016 and the effectiveness of yearly physical examinations to hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia prevention in Chengdu. Methods: A total of 794 residents (499 males) who have undergone annual health check-ups for 8 consecutive years (from 2009 to 2016) in Chengdu, a city in southwest China were selected as the follow-up group, 7226 residents in 2009 and 75,068 residents in 2016 who underwent health examinations in the same hospital were chosen to be the contemporary control group. The concentration of fasting serum triglyceride(TG), total cholesterol(TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and glucose were measured and compared among these groups. Results: There was a clear rise in the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia from 2009 to 2016 (p < 0.05). The follow-up group didn't show difference in levels of serum lipids and glucose compared with the general population after an 8-years' consecutive physical examination (p > 0.05), the follow-up cohort in the 8th year exhibited significant increases in serum total cholesterol and glucose compared with the 1st year (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia were increased significantly from 2009 to 2016. Annual physical examination didn't show a positive effect in the prevention of hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia. Health education should be improved to ensure the fulfillment of the preventive objective of yearly physical examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can reduce plasma HIV-1 levels to below the detection limit. However, due to the latent reservoir in resting CD4+ cells, HAART is not curative. Elimination of this reservoir is critical to curing HIV-1 infection. Agents that reactivate latent HIV-1 through nonspecific T cell activation are toxic. Here we demonstrate in a primary CD4+ T cell model that the FDAapproved drug disulfiram reactivates latent HIV-1 without global T cell activation. The extent to which disulfiram reactivates latent HIV-1 in patient cells is unclear, but the drug alone or in combination may be useful in future eradication strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]