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The question of whether all materials can solidify into the glassy form proposed by Turnbull half a century ago remains unsolved. Some of the simplest systems of monatomic metals have not been vitrified, especially the close-packed face-centred cubic metals. Here we report the vitrification of gold, which is notoriously difficult to be vitrified, and several similar close-packed face-centred cubic and hexagonal metals using a method of picosecond pulsed laser ablation in a liquid medium. The vitrification occurs through the rapid cooling during laser ablation and the inhibition of nucleation by the liquid medium. Using this method, a large number of atomic configurations, including glassy configurations, can be generated simultaneously, from which a stable glass state can be sampled. Simulations demonstrate that the favourable stability of monatomic metals stems from the strong topological frustration of icosahedra-like clusters. Our work breaks the limitation of the glass-forming ability of matter, indicating that vitrification is an intrinsic property of matter and providing a strategy for the preparation and design of metallic glasses from an atomic configuration perspective., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Purpose: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is regarded as an accelerated aging disease. Aging-related genes in COPD are still poorly understood., Method: Data set GSE76925 was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The "limma" package identified the differentially expressed genes. The weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) constructes co-expression modules and detect COPD-related modules. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and the support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) algorithms were chosen to identify the hub genes and the diagnostic ability. Three external datasets were used to identify differences in the expression of hub genes. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to verify the expression of hub genes., Result: We identified 15 differentially expressed genes associated with aging (ARDEGs). The SVM-RFE and LASSO algorithms pinpointed four potential diagnostic biomarkers. Analysis of external datasets confirmed significant differences in PIK3R1 expression. RT-qPCR results indicated decreased expression of hub genes. The ROC curve demonstrated that PIK3R1 exhibited strong diagnostic capability for COPD., Conclusion: We identified 15 differentially expressed genes associated with aging. Among them, PIK3R1 showed differences in external data sets and RT-qPCR results. Therefore, PIK3R1 may play an essential role in regulating aging involved in COPD.

A novel ion exchange strategy has been developed to enable the asymmetric construction of axially chiral sulfone-containing styrenes. This approach provides a practical synthesis pathway for various axially chiral sulfone-containing styrenes with good yields, exceptional enantioselectivities, and nearly complete E/Z selectivities. Additionally, the reaction mechanism is elucidated in detail through density functional theory (DFT) calculations.

Background: Transanal endoscopic intersphincteric resection (ISR) surgery currently lacks sufficient clinical research and reporting., Aim: To investigate the clinical effectiveness of transanal endoscopic ISR, in order to promote the clinical application and development of this technique., Methods: This study utilized a retrospective case series design. Clinical and pathological data of patients with lower rectal cancer who underwent transanal endoscopic ISR at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University between May 2018 and May 2023 were included. All patients underwent transanal endoscopic ISR as the surgical approach. We conducted this study to determine the perioperative recovery status, postoperative complications, and pathological specimen characteristics of this group of patients., Results: This study included 45 eligible patients, with no perioperative mortalities. The overall incidence of early complications was 22.22%, with a rate of 4.44% for Clavien-Dindo grade ≥ III events. Two patients (4.4%) developed anastomotic leakage after surgery, including one case of grade A and one case of grade B. Postoperative pathological examination confirmed negative circumferential resection margins and distal resection margins in all patients. The mean distance between the tumor lower margin and distal resection margin was found to be 2.30 ± 0.62 cm. The transanal endoscopic ISR procedure consistently yielded high quality pathological specimens., Conclusion: Transanal endoscopic ISR is safe, feasible, and provides a clear anatomical view. It is associated with a low incidence of postoperative complications and favorable pathological outcomes, making it worth further research and application., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors of this manuscript having no conflicts of interest to disclose., (©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aliphatic allylic amines are common in natural products and pharmaceuticals. The oxidative intermolecular amination of C(sp 3 )-H bonds represents one of the most straightforward strategies to construct these motifs. However, the utilization of widely internal alkenes with amines in this transformation remains a synthetic challenge due to the inefficient coordination of metals to internal alkenes and excessive coordination with aliphatic and aromatic amines, resulting in decreasing the reactivity of the catalyst. Here, we present a regioselective Cu-catalyzed oxidative allylic C(sp 3 )-H amination of internal olefins with azodiformates to these problems. A removable bidentate directing group is used to control the regiochemistry and stabilize the π-allyl-metal intermediate. Noteworthy is the dual role of azodiformates as both a nitrogen source and an electrophilic oxidant for the allylic C-H activation. This protocol features simple conditions, remarkable scope and functional group tolerance as evidenced by >40 examples and exhibits high regioselectivity and excellent E/Z selectivity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

An efficient palladium-catalyzed enantioselective direct N -alkylation of indoles using a novel type of axially chiral styrene-phosphine ligand SJTU-PHOS-1 was developed. This reaction demonstrated good functional group compatibility and a wide range scope of substrates in mild conditions. Moreover, the DFT calculations expounded the coordination mode of the metal catalyst and the axially chiral styrene-phosphine ligand in the enantioselectivity control.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi play an irreplaceable role in phosphorus cycling. However, ectomycorrhizal fungi have a limited ability to dissolve chelated inorganic phosphorus, which is the main component of soil phosphorus. Endofungal bacteria in ectomycorrhizal fruiting bodies are always closely related to the ecological function of ectomycorrhizal fungi. In this study, we explore endofungal bacteria in the fruiting body of Tylopilus neofelleus and their function during the absorption of chelated inorganic phosphorus by host pine through the ectomycorrhizal system. The results showed that the endofungal bacterial microbiota in the fruiting body of T. neofelleus might be related to the dissolution of chelated inorganic phosphorus in soil. The soluble phosphorus content in the combined system of T. neofelleus and endofungal bacteria Bacillus sp. strain B5 was five times higher than the sum of T. neofelleus -only treatment and Bacillus sp. strain B5-only treatment in the dissolution experiment of chelated inorganic phosphorus. The results showed that T. neofelleus not only promoted the proliferation of Bacillus sp. strain B5 in the combined system but also improved the expression of genes related to organic acid metabolism, as assesed by transcriptomic analysis. Lactic acid content was five times higher in the combined system than the sum of T. neofelleus -only treatment and Bacillus sp. strain B5-only treatment. Two essential genes related to lactate metabolism of Bacillus sp. strain B5, gapA and pckA , were significantly upregulated. Finally, in a pot experiment, we verified that T. neofelleus and Bacillus sp. strain B5 could synergistically promote the absorption of chelated inorganic phosphorus by Pinus sylvestris in a ternary symbiotic system. IMPORTANCE Ectomycorrhizal fungi (ECMF) have a limited ability to dissolve chelated inorganic phosphorus, which is the main component of soil phosphorus. In the natural environment, the extraradical hyphae of ECMF alone may not satisfy the phosphorus demand of the plant ectomycorrhizal system. In this study, our results innovatively show that the ectomycorrhizal system might be a ternary symbiont in which ectomycorrhizal fungi might recruit endofungal bacteria that could synergistically promote the mineralization of chelated inorganic phosphorus, which ultimately promotes plant phosphorus absorption by the ectomycorrhizal system., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

We propose and demonstrate deformed square cavity microlasers for realizing highly efficient output from a connected waveguide. The square cavities are deformed asymmetrically by replacing two adjacent flat sides with circular arcs to manipulate the ray dynamics and couple the light to the connected waveguide. The numerical simulations show that the resonant light can efficiently couple to the fundamental mode of the multi-mode waveguide by carefully designing the deformation parameter utilizing global chaos ray dynamics and internal mode coupling. An enhancement of approximately six times in the output power is realized in the experiment compared to the non-deformed square cavity microlasers, while the lasing thresholds are reduced by about 20%. The measured far-field pattern shows highly unidirectional emission agreeing well with the simulation, which confirms the feasibility of the deformed square cavity microlasers for practical applications.

Six new flavonols, including four glucosylated flavonols (dysosmaflavonoid A-D), one phenylpropanoid-substituted flavonol (dysosmaflavonoid E), and one phenyl-substituted flavonol (dysosmaflavonoid F), together with five known analogues, were isolated from the roots and rhizomes of Dysosma versipellis. Their structures were elucidated by comprehensive analysis of their NMR, IR, UV, HRESIMS, and HPLC data. The antioxidant activities of all isolated compounds were examined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Compounds 2, 3, 5-8, and 12 exhibited significant DPPH scavenging capacity with IC 50 values of 33.95, 39.02, 31.17, 32.79, 31.85, 30.48, and 23.75 μM, respectively, in comparison with Trolox (IC 50 , 15.80 μM). Compound 12 displayed more potent DPPH radical scavenging activity than prenylated and (or) glucosided derivatives (2-4, or 10). The preliminary structure-activity relationship showed that the catechol structure in flavonol is essential for DPPH radical scavenging effect., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing financial interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

A multiwavelength Brillouin fiber laser (MBFL) with a switchable channel spacing is demonstrated using a 1.55-µm single-mode AlGaInAs/InP hybrid square-rectangular laser as a seeding source. The scheme employs a highly nonlinear fiber loop with a feedback path to generate a 10-GHz-spacing MBFL. Then, assisted by a tunable optical bandpass filter, MBFLs with spacing from 20 GHz to 100 GHz at a step of 10 GHz are generated in another highly nonlinear fiber loop based on the cavity-enhanced four-wave mixing. More than 60 lasing lines with an optical signal-to-noise ratio over 10 dB are obtained successfully in all the switchable spacings. The total output power and the channel spacing of the MBFLs are proved to be stable.

How glasses relax at room temperature is still a great challenge for both experimental and simulation studies due to the extremely long relaxation time-scale. Here, by employing a modified molecular dynamics simulation technique, we extend the quantitative measurement of relaxation process of metallic glasses to room temperature. Both energy relaxation and dynamics, at low temperatures, follow a stretched exponential decay with a characteristic stretching exponent β = 3/7, which is distinct from that of supercooled liquid. Such aging dynamics originates from the release of energy, an intrinsic nature of out-of-equilibrium system, and manifests itself as the elimination of defects through localized atomic strains. This finding is also supported by long-time stress-relaxation experiments of various metallic glasses, confirming its validity and universality. Here, we show that the distinct relaxation mechanism can be regarded as a direct indicator of glass transition from a dynamic perspective., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Five pairs of new biflavonoid enantiomers, (±)-dysosmabiflavonoids A-E (1-5), two new biflavonoids, dysosmabiflavonoids F-G (6-7), and four biosynthetically related precursors (8-11) were isolated from the roots and rhizomes of Dysosma versipellis . Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including HR-ESI-MS and 2D NMR. Their absolute configurations were determined by comparison of the calculated and experimental ECD spectra. All isolated compounds were evaluated for AChE inhibitory activity. Compounds 6 and 7 exhibited more potent inhibitory activities with IC 50 values of 1.42 and 0.73 µM, respectively, than their biosynthetically related precursors kaempferol (8, 17.90 µM) and quercetin (9, 3.96 µM). The preliminary structure-activity relationship study indicated that the connection mode of biflavonoid subunits, oxidation degree of the C ring, and 3,4-dihydroxy group of the B ring were important structural factors for AChE inhibitory activity. Racemates 1-5 and their corresponding levorotatory and dextrorotatory enantiomers were tested for their potential to impede the generation of NO in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, and their mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory effect. Racemate 1 displayed more potent mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory activity (IC 50 , 28.27 µM) than the positive control kojic acid (IC 50 , 32.59 µM). D. versipellis may have therapeutic potential for melanogenesis disorders and neurodegenerative diseases., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Revealing the microscopic structural and dynamic pictures of glasses is a long-standing challenge for scientists 1,2 . Extensive studies on the structure and relaxation dynamics of glasses have constructed the current classical picture 3-5 : glasses consist of some 'soft zones' of loosely bound atoms embedded in a tightly bound atomic matrix. Recent experiments have found an additional fast process in the relaxation spectra 6-9 , but the underlying physics of this process remains unclear. Here, combining extensive dynamic experiments and computer simulations, we reveal that this fast relaxation is associated with string-like diffusion of liquid-like atoms, which are inherited from the high-temperature liquids. Even at room temperature, some atoms in dense-packed metallic glasses can diffuse just as easily as they would in liquid states, with an experimentally determined viscosity as low as 10 7  Pa·s. This finding extends our current microscopic picture of glass solids and might help establish the dynamics-property relationship of glasses 4 ., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Hyperglycemia has been widely reported to induce vascular senescence. We have previously demonstrated that angiotensin II (Ang II) could promote brain vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) senescence, and its type 2 (AT2) receptor deletion could enhance VSMC senescence. Therefore, we examined the possible cross-talk between Ang II and hyperglycemia on VSMC senescence, and the roles of AT2 receptor agonist, compound 21 (C21) on it., Methods: Aortic VSMCs were prepared from adult male mice and stimulated with Ang II and/or high glucose (Glu) and/or C21 and/or an autophagy inhibitor, 3-methyladenine (3-MA), and/or an autophagy agonist, rapamycin (RAP) for the indicated times. Cellular senescence, oxidative stress, and protein expressions were evaluated., Results: Combination treatment with Ang II and Glu synergistically increased the proportion of VSMC senescent area compared with control group and each treatment alone, which was almost completely attenuated by C21 treatment. Moreover, combination treatment induced significant changes in the levels of superoxide anion, the expressions of p21 and pRb, and the ratio of LC3B II/I expression, which were also significantly attenuated by C21 treatment. The proportion of VSMC senescent area and the levels of superoxide anion by combination treatment were increased after 3-MA treatment, and the proportion of senescent area and the expressions of p21 and pRb were decreased after RAP treatment, both of which were further attenuated by C21 treatment., Conclusions: Ang II and hyperglycemia synergistically promoted VSMC senescence, at least partly through the participation by autophagy, oxidative stress, and p21-pRb pathway, which could be inhibited by C21., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Metallic Mimosa pudica , a three-dimensional (3D) biomimetic structure made of metallic glass, is formed via laser patterning: Blooming, closing, and reversing of the metallic M. pudica can be controlled by an applied magnetic field or by manual reshaping. An array of laser-crystallized lines is written in a metallic glass ribbon. Changes in density and/or elastic modulus due to laser patterning result in an appropriate size mismatch between the shrunken crystalline regions and the glassy matrix. The residual stress and elastic distortion energy make the composite material to buckle within the elastic limit and to obey the minimum elastic energy criterion. This work not only provides a programming route for constructing buckling structures of metallic glasses but also provides clues for the study of materials with automatic functions desired in robotics, electronic devices, and, especially, medical devices in the field of medicine, such as vessel scaffolds and vascular filters, which require contactless expansion and contraction functions.

Glucose can serve as both the source of energy and regulatory signaling molecule in plant. Due to the environmental and metabolic change, sugar levels could affect various developmental processes. High glucose environment is hardly conductive to the plant growth but cause development arrest. Increasing evidence indicate that alternative splicing (AS) plays a pivotal role in sugar signaling. However, the regulatory mechanism upon glucose stress remains unclear. The full-length transcriptomes were obtained from the samples of Arabidopsis seedlings with 3% glucose and mock treatment, using Oxford Nanopore sequencing technologies. Further analysis indicated that many genes involved in photosynthesis were significantly repressed and many genes involved in glycolysis, mitochondrial function, and the response to oxidative stress were activated. In total, 1,220 significantly differential alternative splicing (DAS) events related to 619 genes were identified, among which 75.74% belong to intron retention (IR). Notably, more than 20% of DAS events come from a large set of glycine-rich protein ( GRP ) family genes, such as GRP7 , whose AS types mostly belong to IR. Besides the known productive GRP transcript isoforms, we identified a lot of splicing variants with diverse introns spliced in messenger RNA (mRNA) region coding the glycine-rich (GR) domain. The AS pattern of GRP s changed and particularly, the productive GRP s increased upon glucose stress. These ASs of GRP pre-mRNAs triggered by glucose stress could be abolished by AZD-8055, which is an ATP competitive inhibitor for the target of rapamycin (TOR) kinase but could be mimicked by H 2 O 2 . Additionally, AS pattern change of arginine/serine-rich splicing factor 31 ( RS31 ) via TOR pathway, which was previously described in response to light and sucrose signaling, was also induced in a similar manner by both glucose stress and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here we conclude that (i) glucose stress suppresses photosynthesis and activates the glycolysis-mitochondria energy relay and ROS scavenging system; (ii) glucose stress triggers transcriptome-wide AS pattern changes including a large set of splicing factors, such as GRP s and RS31 ; (iii) high sugars regulate AS pattern change of both GRP s and RS31 via TOR-ROS pathway. The results from this study will deepen our understanding of the AS regulation mechanism in sugar signaling., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Du, Bai, Chen, Wang, Wang and Zhang.)

Ectomycorrhiza-associated bacteria, especially endofungal bacterial microbiota (EBM) in the fruiting body, play important roles in driving the establishment and function of ectomycorrhizae. However, the influence of ectomycorrhizal fungus bolete identity on their EBM is still unclear. We analysed the EBM of three different bolete fruiting body species on Thousand Island Lake, including Tylopilus felleus, Tylopilus areolatus and Boletus queletii, and compared them with their corresponding mycosphere soil bacterial microbiota by high-throughput sequencing. The EBM was classified into Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Burkholderia and Stenotrophomonas genera. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria were predominant in the EBM of bolete fruiting bodies as well as their mycosphere soil, while Firmicutes was significantly higher in the EBM. Moreover, the core microbiome (342 operational taxonomic units) of the EBM was shared among the three bolete fungal species. The relative abundances of gene families related to cell cycle control and nucleotide, coenzyme and lipid metabolism were significantly higher in the EBM than in the corresponding mycosphere soil bacterial microbiota, but there was no difference among the three different boletes. The results suggested that the host identity of ectomycorrhizal fungus boletes could affect the EBM, which might be mainly due to the selection of host fungi for the different functional EBM needed., (© 2021 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We report the efficient syntheses of chiral tetrahydroindole pyrazolinones by the asymmetric [3 + 2] cascade cyclizations (indolizations) of simple aniline derivatives with pyrazolinone ketimines as 2C synthons. The chiral phosphoric-acid-catalyzed system uses a concerted π-π interaction/dual H-bond control strategy to catalytically direct the asymmetric aniline, which undergoes a highly chemo-, regio-, and enantioselective [3 + 2] cascade annulation, furnishing a series of optically active tetra-hydroindole pyrazolinones with two contiguous chiral aza-quaternary carbon centers in excellent yields with excellent enantioselectivities. This method features a relatively broad substrate scope for amines and 2-naphthylamines and highlights the emerging value of direct chiral indolizations from simple amine sources in organic synthesis.

By decreasing the rate of physical vapor deposition, ZrCuAl metallic glasses with improved stability and mechanical performances can be formed, while the microscopic structural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, with scanning transmission electron microscopy and high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction, we found that the metallic glass deposited at a higher rate exhibits a heterogeneous structure with compositional fluctuations at a distance of a few nanometers, which gradually disappear on decreasing the deposition rate; eventually, a homogeneous structure is developed approaching ultrastability. This microscopic structural evolution suggests the existence of the following two dynamical processes during ultrastable metallic glass formation: a faster diffusion process driven by the kinetic energy of the depositing atoms, which results in nanoscale compositional fluctuations, and a slower collective relaxation process that eliminates the compositional and structural heterogeneity, equilibrates the deposited atoms, and strengthens the local atomic connectivity.

Composting has become the most important way to recycle medicinal herbal residues (MHRs). The traditional composting method, adding a microbial agent at one time, has been greatly limited due to its low composting efficiency, mutual influence of microbial agents, and unstable compost products. This study was conducted to assess the effect of multi-phase inoculation on the lignocellulose degradation, enzyme activities, and fungal community during MHRs composting. The results showed that multi-phase inoculation treatment had the highest thermophilic temperature (68.2 °C) and germination index (102.68%), significantly improved available phosphorus content, humic acid, and humic substances concentration, accelerated the degradation of cellulose and lignin, and increased the activities of cellulase in the mature phase, xylanase, manganese peroxidase, and utilization of phenolic compounds. Furthermore, the non-metric multi-dimensional scaling showed that the composting process and inoculation significantly influenced fungal community composition. In multi-phase inoculation treatment, Thermomyces in mesophilic, thermophilic, and mature phase, unclassified_Sordariales, and Coprinopsis in mature phase were the dominant genus that might be the main functional groups to degrade lignocellulose and improve the MHRs composting process.

Background: Amyloid-β (Aβ) induces cerebrovascular damage and is reported to stimulate endothelial cell senescence. We previously demonstrated that angiotensin II (Ang II)-promoted vascular senescence. We examined the possible cross-talk between Ang II and Aβ in regulating brain vascular smooth muscle cell (BVSMC) senescence., Methods: BVSMCs were prepared from adult male mice and stimulated with Ang II (0, 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 nmol/l) and/or Aβ 1-40 (0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 3, and 5 µmol/l) for the indicated times. Cellular senescence was evaluated by senescence-associated β-galactosidase staining., Results: Treatment with Ang II (100 nmol/l) or Aβ (1 µmol/l) at a higher dose increased senescent cells compared with control at 6 days. Treatment with Ang II (10 nmol/l) or Aβ (0.5 µmol/l) at a lower dose had no effect on senescence whereas a combined treatment with lower doses of Ang II and Aβ significantly enhanced senescent cells. This senescence enhanced by lower dose combination was markedly blocked by valsartan (Ang II type 1 receptor inhibitor) or TAK-242 (Aβ receptor TLR4 inhibitor) treatment. Moreover, lower dose combination caused increases in superoxide anion levels and p-ERK expression for 2 days, NF-κB activity, p-IκB, p-IKKα/β, p16 and p53 expression for 4 days, and an obvious decrease in pRb expression. These changes by lower dose combination, except in p-IκB expression and NF-κB activity, were significantly inhibited by pretreatment with U0126 (ERK inhibitor)., Conclusions: Ang II and Aβ synergistically promoted BVSMC senescence at least due to enhancement of the p-ERK-p16-pRb signaling pathway, oxidative stress, and NF-κB/IκB activity., (© American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd 2020. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has important roles in cardiovascular disease. Angiotensin II (Ang II) and angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)) are major effector peptides of RAS. However, the roles of Ang II type 2 receptor (AT2R) need to be further explored and the roles of Ang-(1-7) are still not very clear on vascular calcification (VC). Therefore, we hypothesized they have effects on preventing VC in vivo and in vitro. VC model is established by inorganic phosphate (IP) cultured with vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) for in vitro study and by 5/6 nephrectomy in mice for in vivo study. Increased calcified nodules by Alizarin Red S staining and mRNA expressions of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and osteocalcin (OCN) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in calcified WT VSMC were significantly inhibited in calcified AT2R overexpression (SmAT2) VSMC or after Ang-(1-7) treatment. After 5/6 nephrectomy, the ratio of positive and total area by Alizarin Red S and von Kossa staining and mRNA expressions of BMP-2 and OCN were significantly increased in ApoE/AT2R knockout mice compared with apolipoprotein E knockout mice, and which were significantly inhibited with Ang-(1-7) administration. Both AT2R and Ang-(1-7) have the effects on preventing VC induced by IP, at least in part through inhibiting BMP-2, OCN expressions, and in which Ang-(1-7) had protective roles mainly through Mas receptor rather than AT2R.

The surface of glass is crucial for understanding many fundamental processes in glassy solids. A common notion is that a glass surface is a thin layer with liquid-like atomic dynamics and a thickness of a few tens of nanometers. Here, we measured the shear modulus at the surface of both millimeter-size and micrometer-size metallic glasses (MGs) through high-sensitivity torsion techniques. We found a pronounced shear-modulus softening at the surface of MGs. Compared with the bulk, the maximum decrease in the surface shear modulus ( G ) for the micro-scale MGs reaches ~27%, which is close to the decrease in the G upon glass transition, yet it still behaves solid-like. Strikingly, the surface thickness estimated from the shear-modulus softening is at least 400 nm, which is approximately one order of magnitude larger than that revealed from the glass dynamics. The unusually thick surface is also confirmed by measurements using X-ray nano-computed tomography, and this may account for the brittle-to-ductile transition of the MGs with size reductions. The unique and unusual properties at the surface of the micrometer-size MGs are physically related to the negative pressure effect during the thermoplastic formation process, which can dramatically reduce the density of the proximate surface region in the supercooled liquid state., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Crack propagation is the major vehicle for material failure, but the mechanisms by which cracks propagate remain longstanding riddles, especially for glassy materials with a long-range disordered atomic structure. Recently, cavitation was proposed as an underlying mechanism governing the fracture of glasses, but experimental determination of the cavitation behavior of fracture is still lacking. Here, we present unambiguous experimental evidence to firmly establish the cavitation mechanism in the fracture of glasses. We show that crack propagation in various glasses is dominated by the self-organized nucleation, growth, and coalescence of nanocavities, eventually resulting in the nanopatterns on the fracture surfaces. The revealed cavitation-induced nanostructured fracture morphologies thus confirm the presence of nanoscale ductility in the fracture of nominally brittle glasses, which has been debated for decades. Our observations would aid a fundamental understanding of the failure of disordered systems and have implications for designing tougher glasses with excellent ductility., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)

One new compound ( 1 ) and fifteen known phenolic compounds ( 2-16 ) were isolated and identified from the roots and rhizomes of Glycyrrhiza uralensis , including ten flavonoids, four coumarins, and two benzofurans compounds. Their structures were identified by NMR and MS analysis. Most of these compounds showed weak PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitory activities with the inhibition ratios from 30 to 65% at 100 uM. To our knowledge, it is the first time that their PD-1/PD-L1 inhibition activities were reported.

Endophytic bacteria are always related to the host different traits, including the secondary metabolites production. However, the effect and mechanism of endophytic bacteria in the mushrooms fruit body on mycelia are still not clear. In this study, we investigated the effect of endophytic bacterial metabolites on the quality of Lyophyllum decastes mycelia. Soluble sugars, starch, protein, free amino acids, 5'-Nucleotides, EUC, and organic acids contents of mycelia were analyzed. We found that endophytic bacterial metabolites significantly increased the contents of soluble sugars, starch, protein, free amino acids, organic acids, and EUC. The present study thus suggests that endophytic bacteria could promote the quality of Lyophyllum decastes by improving non-volatile taste components of mycelia., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A cobalt-catalyzed regio- and enantioselective γ-amination of β,γ-unsaturated N -acylpyrazoles that delivers the corresponding γ-amination products in good regio- and enantioselectivity has been established. Moreover, the nitrogen-containing compounds could be easily synthesized. DFT calculations have been provided to explain regio- and enantioselectivity for this γ-amination. The chiral γ-amination products were readily converted into the chiral γ-amino acid derivatives.

Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis (Willd. ex Adr. Juss) Müll. Arg.) is used for the extraction of natural rubber and is an economically and socially important estate crop commodity in many Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, China and several countries in Africa (Pu et al, 2007). Xishuangbanna City and Wenshan City are the main rubber cultivation areas in Yunnan Province, China. In November 2012, rubber tree showing typical wilt symptoms (Fig. 1 A) and vascular stains (Fig. 1 B) were found in Mengla County, Xishuangbanna City. This disease was destructive in these trees and plant wilt death rate reached 5%. The diseased wood pieces (0.5cm long) from trunk of rubber was surface disinfected with 75% ethanol for 30s and 0.1% mercuric chloride (HgCl2) for 2min, rinsed three times with sterile distilled water, plated onto malt extract agar medium (MEA), and incubated at 28℃. After 7 days, fungal-like filaments were growing from the diseased trunk. Six cultures from 6 rubber trunk were obtained and incubated on MEA at 28℃, after 7 days to observe the cultural features. The mycelium of each culture was white initially on MEA, and then became dark green. Cylindrical endoconidia apices rounded, non-septate, smooth, single or borne in chains (8.9 to 23.6 × 3.81 to 6.3μm) (Fig. 1 C). Chlamydospores (Fig. 1 D) were abundant, thick walled, smooth, forming singly or in chains (11.1 to 19.2 × 9.4 to 12.0μm). The mould fungus was identifed as Chalaropsis based on morphology (Paulin-Mahady et al. 2002). PCR amplification was carried out for 3 isolates, using rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) primer pairs ITS1F and ITS4 (Thorpe et al. 2005). The nucleotide sequences were deposited in the GenBank data base and used in a Blast search of GenBank. Blast analysis of sequenced isolates XJm8-2-6, XJm8-2 and XJm10-2-6 (accessions KJ511486, KJ511487, KJ511489 respectively) had 99% identity to Ch. thielavioides strains hy (KF356186) and C1630 (AF275491). Thus the pathogen was identified as Ch. thielavioides based on morphological characteristics and rDNA-ITS sequence analysis. Pathogenicity test of the isolate (XJm8-2) was conducted on five 1-year-old rubber seedlings. The soil of 5 rubber seedlings was inoculated by drenching with 40 ml spore suspension (106 spores / ml). Five control seedlings were inoculated with 40 ml of sterile distilled water. All the seedlings were maintained in a controlled greenhouse at 25°C and watered weekly. After inoculated 6 weeks, all the seedlings with spore suspension produced wilt symptoms, as disease progressed, inoculated leaves withered (Fig. 1 E) and vascular stains (Fig. 1 F) by 4 months. While control seedlings inoculated with sterile distilled water remained healthy. The pathogen re-isolated from all inoculated symptomatic trunk was identical to the isolates by morphology and ITS analysis. But no pathogen was isolated from the control seedlings. The pathogenicity assay showed that Ch. thielavioides was pathogenic to rubber trees. Blight caused on rubber tree by Ceratocystis fimbriata previously in Brazil (Valdetaro et al. 2015), and wilt by Ch. thielavioides was not reported. The asexual states of most species in Ceratocystis are "chalara" or "thielaviopsis" (de Beer et al. 2014). To our knowledge, this is the first report of this fungus causing wilt of rubber in China. The spread of this disease may pose a threat to rubber production in China.

Background: Perinatal depression is the most prevalent mental disorder during the perinatal period, and research suggests that it presents heterogeneously. We aimed to explore how subtypes of perinatal depression present in terms of multivariate patterns of stable characteristics., Methods: A cohort study was conducted from March 2016 to March 2018 with Chinese women in the prenatal period (n = 3186). Of the participants, 682 (21.41%) women with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale scores ≥10, indicating probable depression, were included, with the remaining 2504 (78.59%) representing the control group. We assessed mood distress, cognition, life history, emotional regulation, and personality, and used latent class analysis and latent transition analysis to identify perinatal depression subtypes. Of the 682 women with probable depression, only 598 were included in the full analyses, as they completed at least 10 questionnaires. A second, non-overlapping sample and a follow-up cohort were used., Results: We identified four subtypes: 1) a highly distressed type characterized by distress across all domains, high levels of rumination and neuroticism, and reduced trait mindfulness; 2) two moderately distressed types: one with high trauma and low perceived social support, and another with low trauma, high perceived social support, and expressive suppression; and 3) a slightly distressed subtype., Limitations: We only collected cost and time spent in hospital from medical records. We only had a small follow-up sample., Conclusions: This multidimensional subtyping of women with perinatal depression could help reduce the apparent heterogeneity of perinatal depression. Distinguishing the subtype characteristics facilitates identifying underlying causes of perinatal depression., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The glacial phase, with an apparently glassy structure, can be formed by a first-order transition in some molecular-glass-forming supercooled liquids. Here we report the formation of metallic glacial glass (MGG) from the precursor of a rare-earth-element-based metallic glass via the first-order phase transition in its supercooled liquid. The excellent glass-forming ability of the precursor ensures the MGG to be successfully fabricated into bulk samples (with a minimal critical diameter exceeding 3 mm). Distinct enthalpy, structure, and property changes are detected between MGG and metallic glass, and the reversed "melting-like" transition from the glacial phase to the supercooled liquid is observed in fast differential scanning calorimetry. The kinetics of MGG formation is reflected by a continuous heating transformation diagram, with the phase transition pathways measured at different heating rates taken into account. The finding supports the scenario of liquid-liquid transition in metallic-glass-forming liquids.

Background: To promote understanding of the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment or dementia, we explored the potential interaction between transient cerebral ischemia and amyloid-β (Aβ) infusion in mediating cognitive decline and examined the possible ameliorative effect of angiotensin II type 2 (AT 2 ) receptor activation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) on this cognitive deficit., Methods: Adult male wild-type mice (WT) and mice with VSMC-specific AT 2 receptor overexpression (smAT 2 ) were subjected to intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of Aβ1-40. Transient cerebral ischemia was induced by 15 min of bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) 24 h after Aβ injection., Results: Aβ injection in WT induced a cognitive decline, whereas BCCAO did not cause a significant cognitive deficit. In contrast, WT with BCCAO following Aβ injection exhibited more marked cognitive decline compared to Aβ injection alone, in concert with increases in superoxide anion production, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase activity, and expression of p22phox, p40phox, monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 and interleukin (IL)-1β in the hippocampus, and upregulation of RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end product), an Aβ transporter. BCCAO following Aβ injection further enhanced neuronal pyknosis in the hippocampus, compared with BCCAO or Aβ injection alone. In contrast, smAT 2 did not show a cognitive decline, increase in oxidative stress, inflammation, and RAGE level or neuronal pyknosis, which were induced by BCCAO with/without Aβ injection in WT., Conclusions: Transient cerebral ischemia might worsen Aβ infusion-mediated cognitive decline and vice versa, with possible involvement of amplified oxidative stress and inflammation and impairment of the RAGE-mediated Aβ clearance system, contributing to exaggerated neuronal degeneration. AT 2 receptor activation in VSMC could play an inhibitory role in this cognitive deficit.

In general, enantioselective C-H functionalization of N -monosubstituted anilines is a highly challenging task owing to the competitive chemoselective N-H bond insertion reactions. In this paper, we reported a direct highly chemo-, site-, and enantioselective para C-H aminoalkylation of N -monosubstituted aniline derivatives with isatin-derived ketimines in the presence of chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs) and offered a practical strategy for para asymmetric C-H functionalization of anilines containing N-H bonds.

A highly stable copper nanoclusters (CuNC) carrying 4-chlorothiophenol as a protective ligand is described. They display self-assembly-induced emission with excitation/emission maxima at 330/605 nm even in neutral or alkaline aqueous environment. The fluorescence of these CuNC is quenched by Hg(II). Quenching is mainly ascribed to the formation of a complex formed via Hg-S bonding between the Hg(II) ions and the ligand. This destroys the ordered architectures of the assembled CuNC. The assay enables Hg(II) to be determined with good sensitivity and a linear response ranging from 1 to 500 nM Hg(II) with a 0.3 nM limit of detection. In addition, the method was implemented in a test strip (which undergoes a color change from red to blue) that can be used for visual determination of Hg(II) in complex environmental water samples. Graphical abstractNovel and highly selective fluorimetric and colorimetric methods have been designed for mercury(II) ions determination based on stable self-assembly-induced emission of copper nanoclusters.

In this paper, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry(UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS)-based metabolomics approach was used to explore the mechanism of Danggui Buxue Tang(DBT) in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2 DM). T2 DM mice model was induced by high-sugar and high-fat fodder and streptozotocin(STZ). The routine indexes such as body weight, blood glucose, plasma insulin, IL-6 and related organ indexes were determined. The UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS technique was used to analyze the metabolism profile of serum samples between the control group and model group, and multiple statistical analysis methods including principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) were used to screen and identify biomarkers. Metabolic profiling revealed 16 metabolites as the most potential biomarkers distinguishing mice in model group from those in control group. The metabolomics pathway analysis(MetPA) was used to investigate the underlying metabolic pathways. Seven major metabolic pathways such the valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, fatty acid metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acid. Eleven metabolites such as taurocholic acid and palmitic acid were down-regulated in T2 DM mice, and five metabolites such as L-leucine and leukotriene E4 were up-regulated. Moreover, the sixteen biomar-kers of each administration group had a trend of returning to mice in control group. The significantly-altered metabolite levels indicated that DBT can improve the progression of type 2 diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity, regulating sugar and lipid metabolism disorders, and relieving inflammation.

Aims: To investigate clinically relevant subtypes of perinatal depressive symptoms., Design: Cross-sectional study., Methods: A sample of 2,783 women at different prenatal and postnatal periods was recruited between August 2015 - August 2017. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depressive symptoms. Data analyses consisted of latent class analysis (LCA), analysis of variance and multinomial logistic regression., Results: (a) Five latent subtypes (Classes 5/4/3/1/2) were identified: 'no symptoms', 'mild physio-somatic symptoms', 'severe physio-somatic symptoms and moderate anhedonia', 'moderate-to-severe symptoms' and 'severe symptoms'; (b) Postpartum women were more likely to belong to the severe depressive symptoms group, whereas pregnant women were likely to report severe physio-somatic symptoms; and (c) History of abortion and perinatal complications increased the likelihood of belonging to all moderate-to-severe classes. Lower levels of education increased the probability of belonging to Class 2. Younger women were more likely to be categorized into Classes 1 and 2., Conclusions: This is the first study to examine heterogeneity of perinatal depressive symptoms and delineate the characteristics of subtypes at different prenatal and postnatal periods via the PHQ-9, using LCA in a Chinese general population., Impact: This research details the heterogeneity of perinatal depressive symptoms and delineates the characteristics of subtypes at different prenatal and postnatal periods in a Chinese general population., (© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: To understand the basic information of anti-mitochondrial antibody (anti-AMA)-positive patients after initial diagnosis, and to set groundwork for further exploring the clinical significance of AMA in various diseases. Methods: Demographic data and related clinical information recorded through the Information System of Peking University People's Hospital from January 2013 to December 2016 were collected. Patients whose AMA and/or AMA-M2 first- tested as positive were recorded. Complications were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases. Results: A total of 1323 AMA positive cases were discovered for the first time. Among them, 78.0% were women, and the age of initial diagnosis was 56.8 ± 16.0 years. The first three initially diagnosed departments were rheumatology and immunology (37.4%), liver Disease (15.9%) and hematology (15.9%) relevant to musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases (45.2%), hematology and hematopoietic organs and immune diseases (30.6%) and circulatory system diseases (29.7%). There were 297 newly confirmed cases of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC); accounting for 89.2% of women, and the age of initial diagnosis was 60.1 ± 12.4 years. The top three departments of initially diagnosed as PBC were liver disease (37.7%), rheumatology (33.0%) and gastroenterology (15.2%), of which 39.7% had musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases, 27.9% had circulatory diseases, and 24.9 % were combined with endocrine and metabolic diseases. Conclusion: Besides PBC and other autoimmune diseases, AMA and / or AMA-M2 positivity can be observed in a variety of diseases in several clinical departments, and its clinical significance remains to be further clarified.

A rapid and label-free fluorescence sensing strategy has been established for the sensitive determination of melamine (MA) on the basis of poly(adenine) (poly (A))-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs). The poly(A)-templated AuNCs possessed excellent luminescence and photo-stability. In the presence of Hg 2+ , the luminescence of AuNCs was quenched by Hg 2+ through the metallophilic interactions between Au + and Hg 2+ . When melamine was introduced, the fluorescence intensity of sensing system could be recovered. There was a greater coordination interaction between Hg 2+ and melamine, which blocked the Hg 2+ -mediated fluorescence quenching of AuNCs. The assay allowed sensitive determination of melamine with a linear detection range from 50 nM to 100 μM. The limit of detection was as low as 16.6 nM. Furthermore, the label-free strategy was successfully employed for the detection of melamine concentration in real samples., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although great achievements have been made in the synthesis of giant lanthanide clusters, novel structural models are still scarce. Herein, we report a giant lanthanide cluster Dy 76 , constructed from [Dy 3 (μ 3 -OH) 4 ] and [Dy 5 (μ 4 -O)(μ 3 -OH) 8 ] building blocks. As the largest known Dy cluster, the structure of Dy 76 can be seen as arising from the fusion of two Dy 48 clusters; these clusters can be isolated under various synthetic conditions and were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. This new, fused structural model of the pillar motif has not been found in Ln clusters. Furthermore, the successful conversion of Dy 76 back into Dy 48 in a retrosynthetic manner supports the proposed fusion formation mechanism of Dy 76 . Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis suggests that the metal cluster skeleton of Dy 76 shows good stability in various solvents. This work not only reveals a new structural type of Ln clusters but also provides insight into the novel fusion assembly process., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Nonbiaryl N-C atropisomer is an important structural scaffold, which is present in natural products, medicines and chiral ligands. However the direct enantioselective C-H amination to access optically pure N-C atropisomer is still difficult and rare. Here we report a π-π interaction and dual H-bond concerted control strategy to develop the chiral phosphoric acids (CPAs) catalyzed direct intermolecular enantioselective C-H amination of N-aryl-2-naphthylamines with azodicarboxylates as amino sources for the construction of atroposelective naphthalene-1,2-diamines. This type of N-C atropisomers is stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen bond and the method features a broad range of substrates, high yields and ee values, providing a strategy to chirality transfer via the modification of N-C atropisomers.

Since their discovery in 1960 1 , metallic glasses based on a wide range of elements have been developed 2 . However, the theoretical prediction of glass-forming compositions is challenging and the discovery of alloys with specific properties has so far largely been the result of trial and error 3-8 . Bulk metallic glasses can exhibit strength and elasticity surpassing those of conventional structural alloys 9-11 , but the mechanical properties of these glasses are critically dependent on the glass transition temperature. At temperatures approaching the glass transition, bulk metallic glasses undergo plastic flow, resulting in a substantial decrease in quasi-static strength. Bulk metallic glasses with glass transition temperatures greater than 1,000 kelvin have been developed, but the supercooled liquid region (between the glass transition and the crystallization temperature) is narrow, resulting in very little thermoplastic formability, which limits their practical applicability. Here we report the design of iridium/nickel/tantalum metallic glasses (and others also containing boron) with a glass transition temperature of up to 1,162 kelvin and a supercooled liquid region of 136 kelvin that is wider than that of most existing metallic glasses 12 . Our Ir-Ni-Ta-(B) glasses exhibit high strength at high temperatures compared to existing alloys: 3.7 gigapascals at 1,000 kelvin 9,13 . Their glass-forming ability is characterized by a critical casting thickness of three millimetres, suggesting that small-scale components for applications at high temperatures or in harsh environments can readily be obtained by thermoplastic forming 14 . To identify alloys of interest, we used a simplified combinatorial approach 6-8 harnessing a previously reported correlation between glass-forming ability and electrical resistivity 15-17 . This method is non-destructive, allowing subsequent testing of a range of physical properties on the same library of samples. The practicality of our design and discovery approach, exemplified by the identification of high-strength, high-temperature bulk metallic glasses, bodes well for enabling the discovery of other glassy alloys with exciting properties.

Direct atomic-scale observations and measurements on dynamics of amorphous metallic nanoparticles (a-NPs) are challenging owing to the insufficient consciousness to their striking characterizations and the difficulties in technological approaches. In this study, we observe coalescence process of the a-NPs at atomic scale. We measure the viscosity of the a-NPs through the particles coalescence by in situ method. We find that the a-NPs have fast dynamics, and the viscosity of the a-NPs exhibits a power law relationship with size of the a-NPs. The a-NPs with sizes smaller than 3 nm are in a supercooled liquid state and exhibit liquid-like behaviours with a decreased viscosity by four orders of magnitude lower than that of bulk glasses. These results reveal the intrinsic flow characteristics of glasses in low demension, and pave a way to understand the liquid-like behaviours of low dimension glass, and are also of key interest to develop size-controlled nanodevices.

Objective To investigate the changes of serum melatonin(MLT)and glutathione(GSH)levels in patients with Parkinson's disease(PD)and explore their relationships with disease severity,cognitive dysfunction,and sleep disorders. Methods Totally 50 PD patients treated in our center from September 2017 to February 2018 were enrolled as the PD group,and 50 healthy controls matched with age and sex as the control group.The improved Hoehn and Yahr scale was used to assess the severity of PD.The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale was used to assess the cognitive function and Pittsburgh's Sleep Quality Index was used to detect the patient's sleep.The serum levels of MLT and GSH were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the results were compared. Results Serum MLT level in the PD group was significantly higher than that in the control group [(84.12±6.58)pg/ml vs.(46.29±9.73)pg/ml,P=0.000],and serum GSH level was significantly lower than that in the control group [(21.07±12.05)μmol/L vs.(77.73±39.90)μmol/L,P=0.000].There was a positive correlation between serum MLT level and H-Y grade(r=0.537,P=0.000),and there was a negative correlation between serum GSH level and H-Y grade(r=-0.596,P=0.000).Serum MLT was negatively correlated with GSH level in PD patients(r=-0.842,P=0.000).The MLT level in PD patients with sleep disorders was significantly higher than in those without sleep disorders [(85.79±6.45)pg/ml vs.(78.84±3.54)pg/ml,P=0.001];the level of GSH in PD patients with cognitive dysfunction was significant lower than in the non-cognitive dysfunction group [(17.47±10.67)μmol/L vs.(26.09±12.23)μmol/L,P=0.011]. Conclusions Serum MLT level increases and GSH level decreases in PD patients.Both MLT and GSH are correlated with PD severity,and there is a negative correlation between MLT and GSH.In addition,PD patients with sleep disorders have higher MLT level and those with cognitive impairment tend to have lower GSH level.

In this paper, the fluorescence signal of poly(A) DNA-templated Au nanoclusters (AuNCs) is found to be greatly quenched by photoinduced electron transfer (PET) when they are close to guanine (G)-rich DNA. Based on the findings, we have designed a low-cost fluorescence biosensing strategy for the sensitive detection of DNA. Highly luminescent and photo-stable poly(A) DNA-AuNCs were utilized as the fluorescent indicator and G-rich DNA was utilized as the fluorescent quencher. In the absence of target DNA, DNA-AuNCs failed to hybridize with the G-rich DNA and did not form the duplex DNA structure. Strong fluorescence intensity at 475 nm was observed due to the DNA-AuNCs being far away from the G-rich DNA. However, in the presence of target DNA, the DNA-AuNCs together with G-rich DNA could hybridize with the target DNA, leading to the 5' terminus of the DNA-AuNCs and the 3' terminus of G-rich DNA being in close proximity and promoting the cooperative hybridization. Therefore, a "Y" junction structure was formed and the G-rich sequences were brought close to the AuNCs. Therefore, the fluorescence intensity of the sensing system decreased significantly. Taking advantage of the poly(A) DNA-templated Au nanoclusters and G-rich DNA proximity-induced quenching, the strategy could be extended to determine other biomolecules by designing appropriate sequences of DNA probes., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

We aimed to confirm the role of miR-1296-5p in gastric cancer and to identify its target genes. The expression of miR-1296-5p was measured in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines. The function of miR-1296-5p was examined by the overexpression and inhibition of its expression in typical gastric cell lines as well as SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cells. The targets of miR-1296-5p were identified by a luciferase activity assay. We found that miR-1296-5p was down-regulated in gastric cancer tissue and cell lines, and low expression levels of miR-1296-5p were associated with advanced clinical stage. Moreover, miR-1296-5p inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cells. Then, we identified CDK6 and EGFR as novel targets of miR-1296-5p by a luciferase activity assay. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-1296-5p suppressed the expression of CDK6 and EGFR. Our results indicated a tumor-suppressive role of miR-1296-5p through the translational repression of oncogenic CDK6 and EGFR in gastric cancer., (© 2018 The Author(s).)

Vascular calcification is a common finding in atherosclerosis and in patients with chronic kidney disease. The renin-angiotensin system plays a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular remodeling. Here, we examined the hypothesis that angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2) stimulation has inhibitory effects on phosphate-induced vascular calcification. In vivo, calcification of the thoracic aorta induced by an adenine and high-phosphate diet was markedly attenuated in smooth muscle cell-specific AT2-overexpressing mice (smAT2-Tg) compared with wild-type and AT2-knockout mice (AT2KO). Similarly, mRNA levels of relevant osteogenic and vascular smooth muscle cell marker genes were unchanged in smAT2-Tg mice, while their expression was significantly altered in wild-type mice in response to high dietary phosphate. Ex vivo, sections of thoracic aorta were cultured in media supplemented with inorganic phosphate. Aortic rings from smAT2-Tg mice showed less vascular calcification compared with those from wild-type mice. In vitro, calcium deposition induced by high-phosphate media was markedly attenuated in primary vascular smooth muscle cells derived from smAT2-Tg mice compared with the two other mouse groups. To assess the underlying mechanism, we investigated the effect of PPAR-γ, which we previously reported as one of the possible downstream effectors of AT2 stimulation. Treatment with a PPAR-γ antagonist attenuated the inhibitory effects on vascular calcification observed in smAT2-Tg mice fed an adenine and high-phosphate diet. Our results suggest that AT2 activation represents an endogenous protective pathway against vascular calcification. Its stimulation may efficiently reduce adverse cardiovascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease., (Copyright © 2018 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Understanding landscape pattern change and its response to anthropogenic disturbance is of great significance for ecosystem conservation and management. Based on high-precision land use data from 1980 to 2015, we studied the spatial and temporal changes of landscape patterns in the Qinling Mountains and its response to anthropogenic disturbance by using the landscape pattern vulnerability index and human disturbance degree constructed by the landscape pattern index and the surface coverage classification system. The results showed that the degree of landscape fragmentation gradually increased in the Qinling Mountains. The landscape shape became more complex, the degree of landscape aggregation and connectivity decreased, and the spatial distribution of the landscape pattern index showed distinct features of topographic differentiation from 1980 to 2015. The fragility of the landscape pattern in the Qinling Mountains was on a downward trend as a whole. The spatial pattern of the low-vulnerable region had changed significantly, which mainly expanded from Xi'an and Hanzhong to the surrounding areas. The degree of anthropogenic disturbance in the landscape pattern of Qinling Mountains gradually increased. The spatial distribution was "high in the east, low in the west, high in the north-slope, low in the south-slope, high on the periphery, low in the middle". The fragility of landscape pattern, patch density and Shannon diversity index increased with the increases of anthropogenic disturbance, while the aggregation index and maximum patch index decreased. In the past 35 years, the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance, which gradually weakened the vulnerability of landscape pattern, also increased Shannon diversity index and the largest patch index gradually, while it had not significantly changed the patch density and the aggregation index.

A Rh(III)-catalyzed cascade [3 + 2] annulation of N-phenoxyacetamides with propiolates under mild conditions using the internal oxidative O-N bond as the directing group has been achieved. This catalytic system provides a regio- and stereoselective access to benzofuran-2(3 H)-ones bearing exocyclic enamino motifs with exclusive Z configuration selectivity, acceptable to good yields and good functional group compatibility. Mechanistic investigations by experimental and density functional theory studies suggest that a consecutive process of C-H functionalization/isomerization/lactonization is likely to be involved in the reaction.