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This paper is devoted to the prescribed performance control (PPC) for a class of strict-feedback nonlinear systems with input saturation constraints. With the help of an improved tuning function, the system can achieve the desired steady-state and transient performance in the pre-designed time. A new error transformation function is introduced, which has inherent robustness, so it does not need to use any approximation technique or calculate the analytical derivative. Compared with the relevant results, the proposed scheme has the same lower complexity, but better transient and steady-state performance, although there exists uncertain nonlinearity and uncertain disturbances in the system. Finally, the correctness of the above algorithm is verified by simulation experiments.

Dechlorination of coal-fired flue gas is a novel approach for realizing zero discharge of desulfurization wastewater. The core principle is to convert the HCl in the flue gas into chloride salt, which will migrate into the fly ash. Pilot-scale experiments were conducted to research the migration and agglomeration of chlorine in actual coal-fired flue gas in a power plant. The results indicate that the HCl removal efficiency in flue gas can rise to 70% at a Na/Cl molar ratio of 7.58 when using NaOH solution with clean water or a ratio of 8.93 when using NaOH solution with desulfurization wastewater. XPS shows that the characteristic peak of chloride in the dechlorinated ash is much more pronounced than that in the original ash. The content of inorganic chloride increases significantly with increasing Na/Cl or the utilization of desulfurization wastewater. SEM–EDS indicates that the various salts agglomerated on the fly ash surface notably increase after dechlorination. The contents of Na, Ca, Mg, Fe and S in the ash increase remarkably, especially with desulfurization wastewater. The chloride salts generated by flue gas dechlorination and the pollutants in the desulfurization wastewater are effectively agglomerated with the fly ash.

Object: L6 cells were cultured to explore the possible mechanism underlying the improvement of insulin resistance by Liraglutide (LR). Methods: Cells were divided into 5 groups—control, high-fat, 10 nmol/L LR + 0.6 mmol/L palmitic acid (PA) (10LR), 100 nmol/L LR + 0.6 mmol/L PA (100LR), and 1000 nmol/L LR + 0.6 mmol/L PA (1000LR). CCK-8 method to detect cell viability, GPO-PAP enzymatic method to detect intracellular triglyceride content, and reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting methods to detect fatty acid translocase CD36 (FAT /CD36) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) in L6 cells, glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression at the mRNA and protein levels, respectively, were performed. Results: We found that after PA intervention for 24 h, the cell viability decreased significantly; the cell viability of the LR group was higher than that of the high-fat group (P < 0.01). After PA intervention, compared with those in the high-fat group, GRP-78, FAT/CD36, FABP4 mRNA [(4.36 ± 0.32 vs 8.15 ± 0.35); (1.00 ± 0.04 vs 2.46 ± 0.08); (2.88 ± 0.55 vs 8.29 ± 0.52), P < 0.01] and protein [(3338.13 ± 333.15 vs 4963.98 ± 277.29); (1978.85 ± 124.24 vs 2676.07 ± 100.64); (3372.00 ± 219.84 vs 6083.20 ± 284.70), both P < 0.01] expression decreased in the LR group. The expression levels of GLUT4 mRNA [(0.75 ± 0.04 vs 0.34 ± 0.03), P < 0.01] and protein [(3443.71 ± 191.89 vs 2137.79 ± 118.75), P < 0.01] increased. Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that LR can reverse PA-induced cell inactivation and lipid deposition, which may be related to the change in GRP-78, FAT /CD36, FABP4, GLUT4 and other factors.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differences of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and galectin-3 concentrations in lobar pneumonia and bronchopneumonia induced by mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) in children and to explore these related factors predicting the severity of MP. METHODS: A total of 148 children with mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) and 32 healthy controls were analyzed from March 2017 to August 2018 in our province. Clinical information was collected from the hospitalized MP patients. The 148 patients with MPP were divided into two groups: lobar pneumonia group and bronchial pneumonia group. The 32 healthy children were considered the control group. The concentrations of TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 were examined in the serum of 148 children patients with MPP and 32 healthy children by double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 levels were obviously higher in both the lobar pneumonia and bronchial pneumonia groups, compared to those in the control group. Furthermore, these levels were significantly higher in the lobar pneumonia group, compared to the bronchial pneumonia group. After treatment, the levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 totally descended during the recovery period. CONCLUSION: There are differences in serum TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 concentrations in lobar pneumonia and bronchial pneumonia caused by MP in children. In general, the TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 levels were significantly higher in the lobar pneumonia group, when compared to the bronchial pneumonia group. This was because most lobar pneumonia cases are much more serious than bronchial pneumonia. Moreover, it has been proven that TNF-α, IL-6 and Gal-3 may play an important role in the pathogenesis development of MPP. At the same time, these are important issues in diagnosing MPP.

Background Thymidine Phosphorylase (TYMP) gene was of crucial significance in the process of colorectal cancer (CRC) development and also played an important role in capecitabine metabolism. Present study was to identify the association between TYMP polymorphism and prognosis of postoperative patients with CRC who received capecitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods A total of 218 patients with CRC who were treated with surgical resection and capecitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy were included in this study retrospectively. Peripheral blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) specimen of the patients with CRC were collected for the genotyping of TYMP polymorphism and TYMP mRNA expression, respectively. Univariate analysis of genotypes and prognosis was carried out by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and multivariate were adjusted by Cox regression analysis. Expression of TYMP according to genotype status was analyzed using non-parameter test. Results The median disease-free survival (DFS) of the 218 patients with CRC was 4.6 years, and the median overall survival (OS) was 5.8 years. Regarding the polymorphism analysis, only rs11479 was of clinical significance. The prevalence of rs11479 in TYMP among the 218 patients indicated that minor allele frequency was 0.20 (GG 141 cases, GA 68 cases and AA 9 cases), which accorded with Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (P=0.825). Prognostic analysis according to rs11479 genotype status suggested that the median DFS of patients with GG genotype and GA/AA genotype was 3.1 and 6.1 years, respectively (P=0.004). Furthermore, the median OS of patients with GG genotype and GA/AA genotype was 5.0 and 7.0 years, respectively (P=0.033). In order to adjust the confounding factors which might contribute to OS, a multivariate Cox regression analysis was introduced and the results exhibited that rs11479 polymorphism was an independent factor for DFS (HR=1.64, P=0.009). Additionally, of the 65 PBMC specimens, the mRNA expression results indicated that patients with GA/AA genotypes conferred significantly higher mRNA expression of TYMY than that of patients with GG genotype (P

Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), but there are few studies on the prediction of future cardiovascular events by Lp(a) and its LPA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The aim of this study was to investigate whether elevated Lp(a) and its SNPs can predict cardiovascular events. We evaluated whether Lp(a) and LPA SNPs rs6415084 and rs12194138 were associated with the incidence rate and severity of CHD. All participants were followed up for 5 years. Elevated Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for the risk and severity of CHD (CHD group vs. control group: OR = 1.793, 95% CI: 1.053–2.882, p = 0.043; multiple-vessel disease group vs. single-vessel disease group: OR = 1.941, 95% CI: 1.113–3.242, p = 0.027; high GS group vs. low GS group: OR = 2.641, 95% CI: 1.102–7.436, p = 0.040). Both LPA SNPs were risk factors for CHD, and were positively associated with the severity of CHD (LPA SNPs rs6415084: CHD group vs. control group: OR = 1.577, 95% CI: 1.105–1.989, p = 0.004; multiple-vessel disease group vs. single-vessel disease group: OR = 1.613, 95% CI: 1.076–2.641, p = 0.030; high GS group vs. low GS group: OR = 1.580, 95% CI: 1.088–2.429, p = 0.024; LPA SNPs rs12194138: CHD group vs. control group: OR = 1.475, 95% CI: 1.040–3.002, p = 0.035; multiple-vessel disease group vs. single-vessel disease group: OR = 2.274, 95% CI: 1.060–5.148, p = 0.038; high GS group vs. low GS group: OR = 2.067, 95% CI: 1.101–4.647, p = 0.021). After 5 years of follow-up, elevated Lp(a) and LPA SNPs rs6415084 and rs12194138 can independently predict cardiovascular events. The increase of serum Lp(a) and LPA SNPs rs6415084 and rs12194138 are associated with increased prevalence and severity of CHD, and can independently predict cardiovascular events.

Objective. To assess the effect of ligustrazine on airway remodeling in asthmatic rats. Methods. To collect studies on the effects of ligustrazine on airway remodeling in asthmatic rat models, PubMed, Embase, CBM, Cochrane, Chinese Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP, and Wanfang data (WANFANG) were searched using a computer. Two investigators independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and assessed the methodological quality by complying with the inclusion criteria. Moreover, a meta-analysis was conducted by adopting Stata 11.0. Results. On the whole, 10 articles were included. As indicated from the meta-analysis, we have the following: ① ligustrazine was capable of reducing the thickness of the airway smooth muscle and inhibiting the proliferation of smooth muscle (WMD = −5.98, 95% CI (−7.75, −4.42), P ≤ 0.001 ); ② ligustrazine could reduce the thickness of the airway wall and mitigate tracheal stenosis (WMD = 0.12, 95% CI (0.05, 0.20), P ≤ 0.001 ); ③ ligustrazine could decrease the number of eosinophils in the lung tissue and reduce airway inflammation (WMD = −14.47, 95% CI (−18.09, −10.86), P ≤ 0.001 ). Conclusion. Ligustrazine was demonstrated to be an effective therapeutic drug in asthmatic rats by preventing and treating airway remodeling. Further high-quality experimental studies should be conducted to investigate the mechanism of ligustrazine action in depth.

Background Synchronous colorectal cancer (SCRC) is featured by the presence of multiple primary tumor lesions in a single patient at initial diagnosis. It is less common with the prevalence of approximately 3.5% among colorectal cancer (CRC). Some studies of SCRC have been performed in patients with two tumor lesions. However, SCRC cases with three or more tumor lesions were rare and remained to be investigated. Case presentation In this case report, we presented a 56-year-old male SCRC case with quadruple tumor lesions which is rarely seen in clinical practice. After laparoscopic radical resection of sigmoid carcinoma and partial rectum resection, the four tumor samples were subjected to pathological evaluation and next-generation sequencing (NGS) based genetic profiling. The four tumor lesions included two adenocarcinomas with moderate differentiation at sigmoid colon and rectum respectively, a grade 1 neuroendocrine tumor (NET) at rectum and a high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia at ascending colon. Each tumor exhibited distinct histology types and mutation profiles. After surgical resection, the patient remained disease-free after four cycles of chemotherapy with oxaliplatin and capecitabine (XELOX). Conclusions The tumor lesions in this case showed different pathological and genetic features which indicats the heterogeneity of SCRC. The genomic profilling might provide novel insights to understand SCRC at molecular level.

BackgroundThe plant microbiome is an integral part of the host and increasingly recognized as playing fundamental roles in plant growth and health. Increasing evidence indicates that plant rhizosphere recruits beneficial microbes to the plant to suppress soil-borne pathogens. However, the ecological processes that govern plant microbiome assembly and functions in the below- and aboveground compartments under pathogen invasion are not fully understood. Here, we studied the bacterial and fungal communities associated with 12 compartments (e.g., soils, roots, stems, and fruits) of chili pepper (Capsicum annuumL.) using amplicons (16S and ITS) and metagenomics approaches at the main pepper production sites in China and investigated howFusariumwilt disease (FWD) affects the assembly, co-occurrence patterns, and ecological functions of plant-associated microbiomes.ResultsThe amplicon data analyses revealed that FWD affected less on the microbiome of pepper reproductive organs (fruit) than vegetative organs (root and stem), with the strongest impact on the upper stem epidermis. Fungal intra-kingdom networks were less stable and their communities were more sensitive to FWD than the bacterial communities. The analysis of microbial interkingdom network further indicated that FWD destabilized the network and induced the ecological importance of fungal taxa. Although the diseased plants were more susceptible to colonization by other pathogenic fungi, their below- and aboveground compartments can also recruit potential beneficial bacteria. Some of the beneficial bacterial taxa enriched in the diseased plants were also identified as core taxa for plant microbiomes and hub taxa in networks. On the other hand, metagenomic analysis revealed significant enrichment of several functional genes involved in detoxification, biofilm formation, and plant-microbiome signaling pathways (i.e., chemotaxis) in the diseased plants.ConclusionsTogether, we demonstrate that a diseased plant could recruit beneficial bacteria and mitigate the changes in reproductive organ microbiome to facilitate host or its offspring survival. The host plants may attract the beneficial microbes through the modulation of plant-microbiome signaling pathways. These findings significantly advance our understanding on plant-microbiome interactions and could provide fundamental and important data for harnessing the plant microbiome in sustainable agriculture.

Background. Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a common and severe complication in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Increased amount of circulatory small dense low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) particles is known to be a sign of dyslipidemia and can result in atherosclerosis. However, the association between serum sdLDL-C levels and CHD in T2DM patients remains unclear. Methods. A total of 3684 T2DM patients who received selective coronary angiography (CAG) were selected. For analyzing the association between sdLDL-C and CHD severity in T2DM, the patients with CHD were further divided into four subgroups according to the quartiles of sdLDL-C. A multivariate logistic regression was used for analyzing the risks and severity of CHD. A total of 3427 patients with continuous stable CHD were recruited and followed up for 5 years. Results. Serum sdLDL-C levels in the CHD group were significantly increased compared with those in the non-CHD group [0.80 (0.49) mmol/L vs. 0.70 (0.30) mmol/L, p < 0.001 ]. The results from CHD subgroup analysis indicated that the sdLDL-C levels in patients with multiple-vessel disease and high Gensini score (GS) were significantly increased. By adjusting the confounding factors and analyzing with multiple logistic regression, we found that sdLDL-C independently correlated with the presence and severity of CHD (CHD: OR = 2.257 ; multiple-vessel disease: OR = 3.288 ; high GS: OR = 2.554 ). A total of 484 major cardiovascular events (MACEs) were documented. After Kaplan-Meier analysis and chi-squared analysis, the incidence of MACEs in the high sdLDL-C group was higher than that in the low sdLDL-C group (16.04% vs. 12.25%, p = 0.002 ). Conclusion. In T2DM patients, elevated serum sdLDL-C may increase the severity of CHD and predict cardiovascular events in the future. Therefore, serum sdLDL-C may be a potential biomarker for the surveillance of CHD in T2DM patients.

A female infant, aged 43 days, had shortness of breath, cyanosis, groan, and dyspnea since birth. Physical examination showed cyanosis of lips and three-concave sign, and multiple lung imaging examinations showed diffuse ground-glass opacities in both lungs. The girl was given anti-infective therapy and continuous mechanical ventilation but there were no significant improvements in symptoms. Gene testing confirmed a compound heterozygous mutation, c.1890C > A(p.Tyr630Ter)+c.3208G > A(p.Ala1070Thr), in the ABCA3 gene, with the former from her father and the latter from her mother. Pathological examination of the lungs indicated pulmonary interstitial disease. The girl was diagnosed with infantile diffuse pulmonary interstitial disease caused by mutations in the ABCA3 gene. When full-term neonates experience shortness of breath and dyspnea after birth, pulmonary imaging suggests diffuse ground-glass changes, and conventional treatment is not effective (ventilator-dependent), congenital pulmonary surfactant metabolism defects needs to be considered. Gene testing, which can provide a basis for early intervention, prognostic evaluation, and genetic counseling, should be performed as early as possible.

OBJECTIVE: To study the value of fractional anisotropy (FA) of regions of interest (ROI) on magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in bilirubin-induced neurological dysfunction in neonates. METHODS: A total of 91 neonates with hyperbilirubinemia who were hospitalized from January 2017 to January 2018 were enrolled. According to the peak level of total serum bilirubin, they were divided into three groups:mild/moderate increase (n=45), severe increase (n=35), and extremely severe increase (n=11). According to the presence or absence of abnormal neurological manifestations, they were divided into two groups:neurological dysfunction (n=20) and non-neurological dysfunction (n=71). Ten healthy full-term infants were enrolled as the control group. Head DTI was performed for all neonates to measure the FA values of the bilateral globus pallidus, the anterior limb of the internal capsule, the posterior limb of the internal capsule, and the cerebellar dentate nucleus. RESULTS: The extremely severe increase group had significantly lower FA values of the globus pallidus than the control, mild/moderate increase, and severe increase groups (P < 0.05). The severe increase group had significantly lower FA values of the globus pallidus than the control group (P < 0.05). The extremely severe increase group had significantly lower FA values of the posterior limb of the internal capsule than the control, mild/moderate increase, and severe increase groups (P < 0.05). The neurological dysfunction group had significantly lower FA values of the globus pallidus and the posterior limb of the internal capsule than the non-neurological dysfunction group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Serum bilirubin level combined with the changes in the DTI FA values of the globus pallidus and the posterior limb of the internal capsule can be used to predict the injury of cerebral nuclei and white matter fibers.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the current status of antibiotic use for very and extremely low birth weight (VLBW/ELBW) infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) of Hunan Province. METHODS: The use of antibiotics was investigated in multiple level 3 NICUs of Hunan Province for VLBW and ELBW infants born between January, 2017 and December, 2017. RESULTS: The clinical data of 1 442 VLBW/ELBW infants were collected from 24 NICUs in 2017. The median antibiotic use duration was 17 days (range:0-86 days), accounting for 53.0% of the total length of hospital stay. The highest duration of antibiotic use was up to 91.4% of the total length of hospital stay, with the lowest at 14.6%. In 16 out of 24 NICUs, the antibiotic use duration was accounted for more than 50.0% of the hospitalization days. There were 113 cases with positive bacterial culture grown in blood or cerebrospinal fluid, making the positive rate of overall bacterial culture as 7.84%. The positive rate of bacterial culture in different NICUs was significantly different from 0% to 14.9%.The common isolated bacterial pathogens Klebsiella pneumoniae was 29 cases (25.7%); Escherichia coli 12 cases (10.6%); Staphylococcus aureus 3 cases (2.7%). The most commonly used antibiotics were third-generation of cephalosporins, accounting for 41.00% of the total antibiotics, followed by penicillins, accounting for 32.10%, and followed by carbapenems, accounting for 13.15%. The proportion of antibiotic use time was negatively correlated with birth weight Z-score and the change in weight Z-score between birth and hospital discharge (r(s)=-0.095, -0.151 respectively, P < 0.01), positively correlated with death/withdrawal of care (r(s)=0.196, P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Antibiotics used for VLBW/ELBW infants in NICUs of Hunan Province are obviously prolonged in many NICUs. The proportion of routine use of third-generation of cephalosporins and carbapenems antibiotics is high among the NICUs.

CyberKnife stereotactic body radiation therapy (CK-SBRT) has been applied to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients for several years. The study aim was to compare the efficacy of hepatic resection (HR) and CK-SBRT in naive small hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) patients with hepatitis virus-related cirrhosis using a 5-year follow-up study. This retrospective cohort study included 317 naive sHCC patients (246 men and 71 women) with hepatitis B or C virus cirrhosis who were treated with HR (n = 195) or CK-SBRT (n = 122) from November 2011 to December 2015. Cumulative overall survival (OS) rates and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were calculated using Kaplan–Meier method. After the propensity score-matched analysis, 104 patients were selected from each group for further analysis. The 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates were 96.2%, 89.4%, 85.5% and 70.7% in the HR group and 93.3%, 89.4%, 83.7% and 71.0% in the CK-SBRT group, respectively. The 1-, 2-, 3-, and 5-year PFS rates were 78.8%, 64.3%, 56.4% and 47.3% in the HR group and 84.5%, 67.8%, 58.9% and 49.0% in the CK-SBRT group, respectively. No significant difference was found between the two groups in the OS and PFS rates (OS, p = 0.673; PFS, p = 0.350). No death occurred due to the toxicity or complications of HR or CK-SBRT. CK-SBRT could be an effective alternative to HR for sHCC naive patients with hepatitis-related cirrhosis, especially if patients have higher CP scores and lower PLT counts. PLT counts should be factored into survival evaluation of HCC treatment.

Background: Elevated small density low – density lipoprotein cholesterol (sdLDL-C) particles are hallmarks of atherogenic dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which is hypothesized to drive atherosclerotic risk. The present study aims to investigate the association between serum sdLDL-C level and the presence and severity of coronary heart disease (CHD). Method: A total of 3684 consecutive patients with T2DM who received selective coronary angiography (CAG) were enrolled. The patients were subsequently divided into CHD and non-CHD groups according to results of CAG. The severity of CHD was evaluated by the number of stenotic, and the Gensini Score (GS).The patients were subsequently divided into four groups by the quartiles of sdLDL-C and evaluate the risk and severity of sdLDL-C and CHD.Results: The sdLDL-C levels in CHD group were significantly higher than non-CHD group [0.80 (0.49) mmol/L vs 0.70 (0.30) mmol/L, P < 0.001]. The results from CHD subgroup analysis indicated that the patients with multiple-vessel disease and high GS had higher sdLDL-C levels compared with those in their matched subgroups (P < 0.05). By adjusting the confounding factors and analyzing by the multiple logistic regression, sdLDL-C had independent correlation with the presence and severity of CHD [CHD: OR = 2.757, 95%, CI = 1.662 - 5.364, P = 0.023; multiple-vessel disease: OR = 3.788, 95%, CI = 1.866 - 7.685, P = 0.026; High GS: OR = 3.054, 95%, CI = 1.944 - 5.699, P = 0.022].Conclusion: In T2DM patients, the increase of sdLDL-C is related to the increase the prevalence and the severity of CHD. After adjustment for other risk factors, sdLDL-C was found to be an independent risk factor for CHD. Therefore, measuring sdLDL-C may allow for T2DM patients to predict the presence and severity of CHD.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of RNA interference in the inhibition of MUC1 gene expression in occurrence and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and its in-depth mechanisms. The OSCC and normal oral mucosa tissues, as well as normal oral epithelial cell line HOK and OSCC cell line SCC-4, Cal-27, TSCCA, Tca8113 were obtained to detect the expression of MUC1. Slug expression in OSCC and normal oral mucosa tissues was also determined. The OSCC cells were grouped to investigate the role of MUC1 gene silencing on proliferation, DNA replication, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, colony formation ability, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, and migration of OSCC cells. We first found higher positive rate of MUC1 and Slug expression in OSCC tissues. Next, it was determined that higher expression of MUC1 was found in OSCC tissues and cells. Furthermore, silencing of MUC1 declined Slug expression, inhibited the proliferation, DNA replication, cell cycle progression, and EMT while inducing apoptosis of OSCC cells. Our study suggests that overexpression of MUC1 is found in OSCC, and MUC1 gene silencing could inhibit the proliferation, invasion, and migration while inducing apoptosis of OSCC cells.

Bacteremic infections are the most common complications in patients with leukemia. This study aimed to assess the value of procalctionin levels in the detection of bacterial infections in leukemia patients. Blood samples of in-patients with leukemia were collected. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the correlation between the procalcitionin level on the day of the first positive blood culture and bacteremic infection. Infected patients had significantly higher procalctionin levels than uninfected patients (

Wheat is one of the most important food crops in China and worldwide. Wheat production is facing the stresses of different diseases including Fusarium head blight (FHB) which is more and more serious recently and leading to highly concerns. Unremitting efforts have been made on Fusarium head blight resistance breeding and comprehensive control technology development. Rapid progress has been achieved on discovering of resistant genetic resources, mapping of resistant QTL/genes, resistant QTL/genes cloning, gene functional research and molecular breeding. In this review, we summarize the current status of the research against FHB in wheat and discuss the issues of FHB resistance investigation to date. We also suggest emphasizing on gene cloning, developing more powerful functional markers, using haplotype-assisted selection (HAS) and marker-set-assisted selection (MSAS) for further deep FHB resistance study and breeding.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the PAQR3 gene expression and its methylation level in colorectal cancer tissues, as well as the association with colorectal cancer clinical data. In total, 54 cases of colorectal cancer tissue samples and normal adjacent tissue samples were collected between June, 2013 and July, 2014. RT-PCR and western blot analysis were used to detect the mRNA and protein levels of PAQR3 in colorectal samples, respectively. MSP was used to detect the methylation level of PAQR3 gene in colorectal samples, which was compared with colorectal data. The results showed that a decreased expression level of PAQR3 mRNA in colorectal cancer tissues and the expression reduction rate was 57.4% (31/54). Similarly, the expression level of PAQR3 protein was reduced in cancer tissues, and the reduction rate was 46.3% (25/54), while the protein expression reduction rate in cancer adjacent tissue was 5.6% (3/54), and the difference was statistically significant (P

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is an essential method of depositing and fabricating large-area and high-quality graphene. In this work, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation technology is adopted to simulate the fabrication of graphene on the copper (111) crystal surface by chemical vapor deposition method. In order to eliminate the adverse effects of traditional MD method, an adapted potential system between carbon and copper atoms is introduced into the modeling of deposition and growth simulation of graphene. The results reveal the microscale growth mechanism of the graphene depositing on Cu(111) crystal surfaces, and the influence of temperature and carbon deposition rate (CDR) on the quality of graphene. The simulation results indicate that the deposition and growth of graphene consists of two stages. The first stage is to form binary carbons, trinary carbons and carbon chains. The second stage is to form carbon rings and the defects healing. The research results also reveal that high temperature can provide the carbon atoms with sufficient energy, which can help the carbon atoms to skip the energetic barrier between the two stages, and then achieve the deposition and growth of graphene. Moreover, the influence of temperature and carbon deposition rate are investigated in detail. The temperature mainly affects the defects and the flatness of graphene. The defects of graphene are the least and the surface can become the flattest at a deposition temperature of 1300 K. Higher temperature can cause the carbon atoms to irregularly move, and lower temperature can suppress the catalysis of the copper substrate. Both the higher and lower temperature can degrade the quality of the graphene surface. The CDR can influence the defects of graphene in growth. The lower value of CDR can lead to local growth on the graphene surface because of the lower nucleation density while the higher CDR is also able to cause the defects to form because of the uneven free energy distribution on the copper surface that has thermal fluctuation. It is shown that graphene can present the flattest surface when the value of CDR is set to be 5 ps–1. According to the simulation process of deposition, it validates that the bi-layer and multi-layer graphene may grow based on the deposition of original single layer of graphene. As to the deposition and growth practice, it is suggested that the temperature 1300K should be suitable for the graphene CVD process of Cu(111) surface. The results in this work can provide a reference for understanding and implementing the fabrication of graphene on the Cu substrate by CVD methods.

The blades are important components of the inverted umbrella aerators. In this paper, the inverted umbrella aerator blade with curved surface, which was arranged according to the variable helix angle of logarithmic spiral line, was designed and simulated. Through the simulation and calculation of the flow field of oxidation ditch that pushed by the blade, based on the fluid-structure interaction analysis, the reliability of the impeller blades has been studied. All the results showing that the new type inverted umbrella surface aerator blade is reliable.

The cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) gene plays a key role in the metabolism of various carcinogens. The CYP1B1 Leu432Val polymorphism leads to leucine to valine substitution at codon 432. A lot of studies have shown that the CYP1B1 Leu432Val polymorphism was associated with urinary system cancers, especially prostate cancer. However, the results were still inconclusive. In this meta-analysis, by searching online databases and references of related reviews, we identified 17 eligible studies to assess the relationship between CYP1B1 Leu432Val polymorphism and urinary system cancers, including 7,783 cancer cases and 7,238 controls. By pooling all eligible studies, we found that the CYP1B1 Leu432Val polymorphism was not associated with overall urinary system cancers. However, in subgroup analyses, we found that the variant 432Val allele significantly increased the risk of prostate cancer (Val vs. Leu, odds ratio (OR) = 1.064, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.981–1.154; P heterogeneity = 0.002), while no association was found for bladder cancer (Val vs. Leu, OR = 0.942, 95 % CI 0.853–1.041; P heterogeneity = 0.504). No evidence of publication bias was found (Begg’s test, P = 0.053; Egger’s test, P = 0.073). In conclusion, based on 17 eligible studies, we found that the CYP1B1 Leu432Val polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, while no association of bladder cancer was observed.

With the popularity of Smartphones and the improvement of shopping experience, mobile shopping has become a fashion. In the mobile terminal business market, mobile shopping is developing rapidly, and the mobile shopping has become an important supplement to the online shopping market. Whether mobile shopping will replace the PC online shopping has become a hot topic in the industry. Considering these, this research will adopt interview, questionnaires and server log files to collect data, and explore purchase decisions for mobile shopping among Smartphone users in China. We expect to find the factors affecting mobile shopping among Smartphone users and the relationship between these factors and mobile shopping decision–making model. We expect that the findings have important significance on the design of mobile purchase website and online marketing strategy making.

From wheat field soil samples of Chang’an, Shanxi, seven multifunctional strains with the ability of solubilizing phosphate and potassium were isolated for its utilization as a biological fertilizer, and the most efficient strain named CX-7 was chosen for further study. CX-7 was identified as Paenibacillus kribbensis after a series of physiological and biochemical experiments, morphological observation and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The solubilization ability of CX-7 was tested in the condition of pure culture. The results show that 71.60 mg/L and 5.18 mg/L water-soluble phosphorus and 3.44 mg/L potassium can be released from phosphate powder, lecithin and potassium feldspar powder, respectively which means that CX-7 had the high degradation rate on inorganic phosphorus. Antagonistic experiment showed that CX-7 strain had widely antagonism against pathogenic microorganism (cotton yellow wilt pathogen, cotton wilt pathogen, wheat root rot diseases pathogen, wheat scab pathogens and Pestalotiopsis microspora). This suggests that the stain has potential for further evaluation for its use as a biological fertilizer and biological control regent. Key words: Paenibacillus kribbensis, phosphate solubilization, potassium solubilization, biological control regent.

In order to reduce the vast total harmonic distortion (THD) caused by hysteresis loop space vector control strategy in three-phase Voltage Source Rectifier (VSR), an optimized strategy based on fuzzy rules is proposed in the paper. In the new strategy, a current error vector threshold value was pre-set. When the actual current error value is less than the threshold, the hysteresis loop space vector control strategy will be adopted to reduce the switching frequency and loss. However, when the current error value is larger than the threshold, the optimized hysteresis loop control strategy based on fuzzy rules will be adopted to achieve the fast current tracking. Based on the new strategy, the simulation model has been established and simulated by matlab/simulink. And the results show that the optimized control strategy not only ensures the fast dynamic response with low switching frequency, but also reduces the current THD significantly. Finally, the feasibility and the superiority of the optimized strategy based on fuzzy rules have been further verified under a 1kW experiment system.

ICCD is one of the opto-electronic image sensors, commonly used in neutron low-light-level imaging system and the coupling of CCD and Image-Intensifier is the key technology in ICCD. This paper discussed the structure of ICCD, and simulated the coupling of relay lens, cone fibers and grin lens based on ZEMAX. We analyzed and checked their parameters such as geometric image, MTF, coupling efficiency, etc. Experimental results show that: The coupling of relay lens has high image quality; the coupling of cone fibers has high coupling efficiency; the performance of grin lens falls in between.

Background Rectal cancer is an important contributor to cancer mortality. Objective The objective of this paper is to identify key genes across three phenotypes (fungating, polypoid and polypoid & small-ulcer) of rectal cancer based on multiple differential expression networks (DENs). Methods Differential interactions and non-differential interactions were evaluated according to Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC) algorithm, and were selected to construct DENs. Topological analysis was performed for exploring hub genes in largest components of DENs. Key genes were denoted as intersections between nodes of DENs and rectal cancer associated genes from Genecards. Finally, we utilized hub genes to classify phenotypes of rectal cancer on the basis of support vector machines (SVM) methodology. Results We obtained 19 hub genes and total 12 common key genes of three largest components of DENs, and EGFR was the common element. The SVM results revealed that hub genes could classify phenotypes, and validated feasibility of DEN methods. Conclusions We have successfully identified significant genes (such as EGFR and UBC) across fungating, polypoid and polypoid & small-ulcer phenotype of rectal cancer. They might be potential biomarkers for classification, detection and therapy of this cancer.

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), which usually induces pulmonary symptoms, is more diagnosed in infant than in adult. Right-side hernia is rarer because the right pleuroperitoneal canal closes earlier and the liver buttresses the right diaphragm. We report an unusual case of a right-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia complicating with secondary common bile duct stones in a 43-year-old man.

Introduction In this study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of combined orthodontic-periodontic treatment in the treatment of patients with periodontitis and its effects on the levels of inflammatory cytokines. Methods A total of 117 patients with periodontitis were randomly assigned to the basic group (receiving basic periodontic treatment, n = 58) and the combined group (receiving combined orthodontic-periodontic treatment, n = 59). In addition, 52 healthy people without periodontal disease were selected as the normal group. Probing depth, tooth mobility, plaque index, clinical attachment level, and sulcus bleeding index were recorded. ELISA was applied to detect gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines. A 2-year clinical follow-up was conducted. Results Before treatment, the periodontal parameters (probing depth, tooth mobility, plaque index, clinical attachement level, and sulcus bleeding index) and GCF and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, interleukin-1β, interleukin-5, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α, and prostaglandin E2) in the combined and basic groups were higher than those in the normal group. After 6 and 18 months of treatment, the periodontal parameters and GCF and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines decreased in the combined and basic groups. The periodontal parameters and the GCF and serum levels of inflammatory cytokines in the combined group were significantly lower than those in the basic group after 18 months of treatment. The combined group had a lower recurrence rate compared with the basic group. Conclusions Combined orthodontic-periodontic treatment had good clinical efficacy in the treatment of periodontitis and could effectively decrease the levels of inflammatory cytokines.

Based on adaptive backstepping nonlinear control scheme and dissipative system theory, the robust adaptive nonlinear controller is designed for single machine infinite bus (SMIB) power system with static Var compensator (SVC), which conquers the obstacle of relative degree one of passivity feedback scheme. During the procedure of designing controller and parameter estimator, the uncertainties of disturbances and the damping coefficient are taken into account; therefore, the designed controller has the ability of robustness and adaptive estimation. The globally uniformly boundness of all the states in the system and the asymptotical stability of the system errors are verified by the theories. Simulation experiments show that not only the transient stability of the SVC power system is guaranteed, but also the robustness performance is significantly improved even with disturbances.

The aims of this work were to make use of carbonic materials to remove nitrobenzene in wastewater and investigate adsorption mechanism. The adsorption ability of different carbonic materials for nitrobenzene was compared. It was found that carbon nanotubes and carbon black exhibited higher adsorptive capacity than coconut activated carbon and granular activated carbon at the same experimental conditions. The specific surface areas and pore distribution was obtained by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption-desorption. We concluded that the capillary condensation in mesopores played an important role in the adsorption process owing to special nanostructure of carbon nanotubes and carbon black.

ZnO particles about 200 nm were prepared through a facile hydrothermal method. Compared with single ozonation, the degradation efficiency of phenol increased about 23.7% and the degradation efficiency of intermediates improved about four times in the presence of ZnO at 298 K. In addition, the catalyst had good stability in the ozonation process. The influence of temperature was investigated and it was found that the better catalysis efficiency could be obtained at lower temperature.

Total enantioselective synthesis of the natural (-)-Herbertenediol (1) was accomplished in eleven steps with an overall yield of 15% starting from the 2-methoxy-4-methyl-phenol. The total synthesis features asymmetric intramolecular Heck reaction and Wolff-Kishner-Huang reduction. (aR, aS)-Mastigophorenes A was also synthesized through the oxidative coupling reaction.

Natural brucite and magnesia were applied as catalysts in catalytic ozonation of phenol in this work. It was found that both brucite and magnesia had remarkable accelerations on degradation of phenol and removal of COD in water. On this basis, effective and feasible routes for catalytic ozonation of phenol in water were proposed. The influence of initial pH value, radical scavengers and reaction temperature were investigated. The results revealed that there were different ozonation mechanisms in two systems: molecular ozone direct oxidation mechanism was proved in catalytic ozonation with brucite, and hydroxyl radical mechanism was demonstrated to play a main role in catalytic ozonation with magnesia.

After removing gliadin and other proteins with 7.5% 2-propanol and 0.3 mol/L NaI, the total glutenin subunits were extracted with two kinds of buffer, one containing 25% 2-propanol, 0.04 mol/L Tris-HCI (pH=8.0), 10% SDS and 2% DDT and the other containing 25% 2-propanol, 0.04 mol/L Tris-HCI (pH=8.0), 10% SDS and 1.4% VP. In SDS-PAGE electrophoresis (4% stacking gel and 13% resolving ge1) system HMW-GS and LMW-GS were clearly separated by the improved method with only a single step. The background of the SDS-PAGE gel was gliadin-free. It was more effective and applicable to separate and distinguish the complex LMW-GS. This method will be used in wheat protein separation, variety identification and improvement.

Different lengths of short multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) were prepared by mechanical ball milling over 12 h. TEM observation indicated that the extent of shortening and opening of MWNTs increased on prolonging the milling time. The short nanotubes with length of 100–200 nm were obtained after ball milling for 30 h. The adsorptive performance for aniline in aqueous solution indicated that the adsorptive capacity of short open-ended MWNTs increased obviously from 15 to 36% compared to the unmilled MWNTs. The measurements of pore size distribution proved that the inner pore diameter of 3 nm remains constant and the aggregated pore diameter decreased obviously after ball milling. The increasing and expanding of hystersis loop in N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms confirmed that the capillarity plays an important role in adsorption on the milled short MWNTs.

Previous studies have shown that Arabidopsis equilibrative nucleoside transporters (AtENTs) possess transport activities when produced in yeast cells and are differentially expressed in Arabidopsis organs. Herein, we report further analysis on the nucleoside transport activities and transcriptional patterns of AtENT members. The recombinant proteins of AtENTs 3, 6, and 7, but not those of AtENTs 1, 2, 4, and 8, were found to transport thymidine with high affinity. Contrary to previous suggestion that AtENT1 may not transport uridine, this work showed that recombinant AtENT1 was a pH-dependent and high-affinity transporter of uridine. When grown on MS plates, the AtENT3 knockout plants were more tolerant to the cytotoxic uridine analog 5-fluorouridine than wild-type plants and the knockout plants of AtENT1 or AtENT6. Consistent with this observation, the AtENT3 knockout line exhibited a significantly decreased ability to take up [(3)H]uridine via the roots when compared with wild-type plants and the plants with mutated AtENT1 or AtENT6. This indicates that AtENT3, but not AtENTs 1 and 6, is the main transporter for uridine uptake in Arabidopsis roots. The transcription of AtENTs 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 was regulated in a complex manner during leaf development and senescence. In contrast, the six AtENT members were coordinately induced during seed germination. This work provides new information on the transport properties of recombinant AtENT proteins and new clues for future studies of the in vivo transport activities and physiological functions of the different ENT proteins in Arabidopsis plants.

In recent years, miR-1246 has been identified as a transcriptional target of p53 in Down syndrome and may provide a new p53-miR-1246-DYRK1A-NFAT pathway in cancer. The present study aimed to explore the role of miR-1246 in the tumorigenesis of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We found that wild-type p53 regulated the expression of miR-1246 in HCC cell lines, and alteration of miR-1246 modulated cell proliferation, colony formation ability and apoptosis. The nuclear factor I/B (NFIB), an oncogene, was identified as a direct target gene of miR-1246 using a fluorescent reporter assay. Overexpression of NFIB abolished the regulation of cell apoptosis caused by miR-1246 in HepG2 cells. This finding suggests that miR-1246 is regulated by p53 and suppresses the growth of human HCC by targeting NFIB. Here, we propose a new p53-miR-1246-NFIB pathway in HCC.

This is the first report indicating the Pd clusters filled in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) as catalyst applied in liquid phase benzene hydrogenation. The treatment of MWNT, filling of metals, the effects of the filling amount of palladium, evaluation of catalytic property, and the comparison with various conventional supports were investigated. The experiment results indicated that the Pd clusters filled in the inner of carbon nanotubes exhibited higher activity than other supports such as Y zeolite and activated carbon. According to various characterizations, the relationship between catalytic activity and the structure of the carrier was briefly discussed.

The effect of 975 W microwave irradiation on the crystalline structure of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) surface layer in Al/iPP/Al composite was studied by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and asymmetry diffraction geometry small-angle x-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that after about 60 min irradiation, the orientated structure and crystallinity of the iPP surface layer are dropped, crystal transformation (α → β) happens. The iterative peak-fit of XRD curves indicates that the reasons for crystal transformations are: the microwave effect causes the increase of the order level of the crystal lattice, the defaults within the β-crystals are, thus, reduced. D [300] (stands for β-form phase) becomes larger, β-form iPP becomes more perfect. With microscopic distortion coefficient e [300] and the microscopic stress of β-form becomes less attraction, the microscopic stress of the α-form goes up. This crystal transformation is useful for improving the toughness of iP...

The residual stress of the iPP surface layer in Al/iPP/Al under the influence of microwave irradiation was investigated by thin film (TF)-X-ray diffraction (XRD). Depending on the irradiation time, we calculated the macro residual stress, micro stress, and lattice static distortion stress. The results show that the macroscopic residual tensile stress of irradiated iPP samples dropped from about 12 MPa to 4 MPa. D(300) (the β crystal phase) becomes larger from about 4 to 10 nm as the irradiation time increased, and the β-form iPP becomes more perfect. However, for theα-form phase, D(110) remains almost stable. Moreover, the microscopic distortion coefficient e(300) that decreases from approximately 0.03 to 0.018, becomes smaller than e(110) parallel to the irradiation time, so the microscopic stress of the β-crystal is decreased. In addition, the lattice static distortion energy of the α-form greatly increases from 2 to 6 MPa, but the lattice static distortion energy of the β-crystals remains constant at about 1.5 MPa and is much smaller than that of the α-crystals at the same irradiation time. These calculated results are in good agreement with that of the crystallinity and order parameter of the β-crystals of the TF-XRD. The lattice distortion energy is a major portion of the plastic deformation, therefore, it suggests that the lattice static distortion energy is the main cause of α β crystalline transformation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3759–3765, 2004

Carbon nanotubes were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition and subsequently purified and oxidized by repeated treatment with nitric acid. After acid treatment the walls of carbon nanotubes became thinner and the surface area increased. The Ni-supported carbon nanotubes prepared by impregnation were applied to the cracking ofn- heptane to show an excellent activity. This indicates that the carbon nanotubes can serve as a good catalyst support with high dispersion of metallic components. The optimum Ni loading turned out to be about 5.2 mmol/g. The cracking product was found to contain mainly small hydrocarbons; thus the Ni-supported carbon nanotubes may be applied as a potential catalyst to the cracking of heavy hydrocarbons.