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An efficient approach to access α-arylacetylene-substituted pyrrolidine and piperidine derivatives has been developed through a samarium diiodide-mediated addition–elimination process of N-α-radicals with arylacetylene sulfones.

A catalyzed process for the synthesis of the 4,6-substituted 3,4-dihydro-1,3-oxazin-2-one skeleton has been developed through cycloaddition of in situ generated acyliminium intermediates with alkynes.

Face mask is now a common feature in our social environment. Although face covering reduces our ability to recognize other's face identity and facial expressions, little is known about its impact on the formation of first impressions from faces. In two online experiments, we presented unfamiliar faces displaying neutral expressions with and without face masks, and participants rated the perceived approachableness, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and dominance from each face on a 9-point scale. Their anxiety levels were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. In comparison with mask-off condition, wearing face masks (mask-on) significantly increased the perceived approachableness and trustworthiness ratings, but showed little impact on increasing attractiveness or decreasing dominance ratings. Furthermore, both trait and state anxiety scores were negatively correlated with approachableness and trustworthiness ratings in both mask-off and mask-on conditions. Social anxiety scores, on the other hand, were negatively correlated with approachableness but not with trustworthiness ratings. It seems that the presence of a face mask can alter our first impressions of strangers. Although the ratings for approachableness, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and dominance were positively correlated, they appeared to be distinct constructs that were differentially influenced by face coverings and participants’ anxiety types and levels.

An efficient approach to access α-arylacetylene-substituted pyrrolidine and piperidine derivatives has been developed through a samarium diiodide-mediated addition-elimination process of pyrrolidine and piperidine

Enzyme reaction has been accepted widely in numerous applications owing to the high efficiency and stereo-selectivity, as well as simple preparation by gene engineering. However, the fragility and complex purification process of the enzyme are long-standing problems which limit the large-scale application. One possible solution may be the enzyme immobilization. As one type of porous material with high loading capacity and designable functionality, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are ideal choices for the immobilization of enzyme with a considerable interest in recent years. In this study, d-amino acid transaminase (DAT), an important enzyme for industrial synthesis of d-Ala, was covalently immobilized on the surface of a star MOFs material, UiO-66-NH2. Interestingly, we found that the nanoscale hybrid enzyme UiO-66-NH2-Gd-DAT not only maintained the high catalytic efficiency but also got rid of the interference of polluting enzymes, which meant that we could obtain efficient and stereo-selective immobilized enzyme without complex purification process. In general, our findings demonstrated that using UiO-66-NH2 might be a promising strategy to immobilize enzyme and produce effective biocatalyst with high activity and stereo-selectivity.

The cognitive representation of oneself is central to other sociocognitive processes, including relations with others. It is reflected in faster, more accurate processing of self-relevant information, a “self-prioritisation effect” (SPE) which is inconsistent across studies in autism. Across two tasks with autistic and non-autistic participants, we explored the SPE and its relationship to autistic traits, mentalizing ability and loneliness. A SPE was intact in both groups, but together the two tasks suggested a reduced tendency of late-diagnosed autistic participants to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar others and greater ease disengaging from the self-concept. Correlations too revealed a complex picture, which we attempt to explore and disentangle with reference to the inconsistency across self-processing studies in autism, highlighting implications for future research.

A catalyzed process for the synthesis of the 4,6-substituted 3,4-dihydro-1,3-oxazin-2-one skeleton has been developed through cycloaddition of

Research has consistently demonstrated that faces manipulated to appear more masculine are perceived as more dominant. These studies, however, have used forced-choice paradigms, in which a pair of masculinized and feminized faces was presented side by side. These studies are susceptible to demand characteristics, because participants may be able to draw the conclusion that faces which appear more masculine should be rated as more dominant. To prevent this, we tested if dominance could be perceived when masculinized or feminized faces were presented individually for only 100 ms. We predicted higher dominance ratings to masculinized faces and better memory of them in a surprise recognition memory test. In the experiment, 96 men rated the physical dominance of 40 facial photographs (masculinized = 20, feminized = 20), which were randomly drawn from a larger set of faces. This was followed by a surprise recognition memory test. Half of the participants were assigned to a condition in which the contours of the facial photographs were set to an oval to control for sexual dimorphism in face shape. Overall, men assigned higher dominance ratings to masculinized faces, suggesting that they can appraise differences in facial sexual dimorphism following very brief exposure. This effect occurred regardless of whether the outline of the face was set to an oval, suggesting that masculinized internal facial features were sufficient to affect dominance ratings. However, participants' recognition memory did not differ for masculinized and feminized faces, which could be due to a floor effect.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes motor dysfunction and depression, which hinders the recovery of motor function. Body weight-supported treadmill training (BWSTT) should be considered an effective method for functional rehabilitation after SCI, as it is an efficacious intervention in healthcare with no side effects. Because exercise exerts different effects on motor function recovery and inhibiting depression after SCI, we aimed to determine the appropriate intensity of BWSTT. In this study, fixed durations, frequencies, and percentages of BWSTT with different speeds of BWSTT (7, 15, and 21 cm/s) were chosen to explore the appropriate intensity, which affected the recovery of motor function and antidepressant effects on SCI rats. Based on our results, BWSTT at 21 cm/s produced the best outcomes for motor function recovery and the spinal cord levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB). The antidepressant effects of BWSTT at 15 and 21 cm/s were confirmed based on the increasing sucrose preference, the time spent in the central area and social time, and reduced immobility time. BWSTT at 15 and 21 cm/s improved the modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis by decreasing serum corticosterone levels and increasing hippocampal glucocorticoid receptor levels. In addition, higher levels of neurogenesis-related proteins were observed in the hippocampus of the group subjected to BWSTT at 21 cm/s than in the other groups. Thus, BWSTT at 21 cm/s is a potentially favorable treatment that synchronously improves motor function recovery and exerts an antidepressant effect.

Although the recognition of facial expressions seems automatic and effortless, discrimination of expressions can still be error prone. Common errors are often due to visual similarities between some expressions (e.g., fear and surprise). However, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying such a confusion effect. To address this question, we recorded the magnetoencephalography (MEG) while participants judged facial expressions that were either easily confused with or easily distinguished from other expressions. The results showed that the fusiform face area (FFA), rather than the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), played a preponderant role in discriminating confusable facial expressions. No difference between high confusion and low confusion conditions was observed on the M170 component in either the FFA or the pSTS, whilst a difference between two conditions started to emerge in the late positive potential (LPP), with the low confusion condition eliciting a larger LPP amplitude in the FFA. In addition, the power of delta was stronger in the time window of LPP component. This confusion effect was reflected in the FFA, which might be associated with the perceptual-to-conceptual shift.

Research has shown that observers often spontaneously extract a mean representation from multiple faces/objects in a scene even when this is not required by the task. This phenomenon, now known as ensemble coding, has so far mainly been based on data from Western populations. This study compared East Asian and Western participants in an implicit ensemble-coding task, where the explicit task was to judge whether a test face was present in a briefly exposed set of faces. Although both groups showed a tendency to mistake an average of the presented faces as target, thus confirming the universality of ensemble coding, East Asian participants displayed a higher averaging tendency relative to the Westerners. To further examine how a cultural default can be adapted to global or local processing demand, our second experiment tested the effects of priming global or local processing orientation on ensemble coding via a Navon task procedure. Results revealed a reduced tendency for ensemble coding following the priming of local processing orientation. Together, these results suggest that culture can influence the proneness to ensemble coding, and the default cultural mode is malleable to a temporary processing demand.

Most types of spinal cord injury (SCI) observed in humans can be replicated in adult rat models, which are widely used for laboratory studies of SCI rehabilitation. To ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of an SCI rat model, the minimal time spent performing the laminectomy procedure and the damage caused to the body are of great importance. We describe and evaluate the effectiveness and advantages of a laminectomy auxiliary device (LAD) for removing the rat vertebral lamina without injuring the spinal cord. The incision size, success rate, operation duration, body weight, BBB score, step detection, latency and amplitude of transcranial electrical motor-evoked potentials (tceMEPs), and serum MDA and SOD levels were recorded in 8 normal rats, 8 rats treated with traditional laminectomy and 8 rats treated with LAD laminectomy. Compared with traditional laminectomy, in our LAD, the surgical incision was smaller (approximately 2.2 and 1.3 cm, respectively), the success rate was higher (88.89% and 100%, respectively) and the duration shorter (14.644±1.617 and 4.821±0.668 minutes, respectively). Compared with normal rats, those treated with either laminectomy using LAD or the traditional method showed slower body weight gain and temporarily increased oxidative stress levels. However, there were no significant differences between these two groups. Our results show that laminectomy using this LAD provides three main advantages in rats: a high success rate, time savings, small incisions and reduced trauma. We believe this LAD can be used as an effective assistant tool for rodent laminectomy.

Purpose: To explore the influence of cumulative fluid balance (CFB) on volume status in patients with heart failure (HF).Methods: A total of 206 patients were enrolled and divided into groups of decreasing estimated plasma volume status (△ePVS(-)) (n=106) and increasing estimated plasma volume status(△ePVS(+)) (n=100), or groups of alleviated clinical congestion score(△CCS(-)) (n=86) and aggravated clinical congestion score(△CCS(+)) (n=120) according to the change of plasma volume and congestion status respectively. Data on patients’ general information and CFB at 1 to 7 days were compared between two pairs of groups respectively.Results: The incidence of positive CFB ranged from 65.53% to 74.76%, and cumulative volume (CV) were from (0.23±1.00)L to (2.36±5.46)L at 1 to 7 days. CV at 4 to 7 days in the △ePVS(+) and △CCS(+) groups were significantly higher than that in △ePVS(-) and △CCS(-) groups respectively. When CV at 4 to 7 days reached 2.308L, 3.361L, 3.625L, and 3.816L, the AUC of ePVS were 0.672, 0.722, 0.644, and 0.754, respectively (P＜0.05), while when CV reached 2.308L, 3.383L, 4.670L, and 4.622L, the AUC of CCS were 0.625, 0.696, 0.656, and 0.709, separately (P＜0.05). Conclusions: Patients with HF have a high incidence of positive CFB. CV at 4 to 7 days was an independent risk factor for △ePVS(+) and △CCS(+). It is suggested that the duration and volume of positive CFB should not exceed 3 days and 2.308L.

Perception of facial expression is essential for social interactions. Although a few competing models have enjoyed some success to map brain regions, they are also facing difficult challenges. The current study used an updated activation likelihood estimation (ALE) method of meta-analysis to explore the involvement of brain regions in facial expression processing. The sample contained 96 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) studies of healthy adults with the results of whole-brain analyses. The key findings revealed that the ventral pathway, especially the left fusiform face area (FFA) region, was more responsive to facial expression. The left posterior FFA showed strong involvement when participants passively viewing emotional faces without being asked to judge the type of expression or other attributes of the stimuli. Through meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) of the main brain regions in the ventral pathway, we constructed a co-activating neural network as a revised model of facial expression processing that assigns prominent roles to the amygdala, FFA, the occipital gyrus, and the inferior frontal gyrus.

In most studies of facial attractiveness perception, judgments are based on the whole face images. Here we investigated how attractiveness judgments from parts of faces compare to perceived attractiveness of the whole face, and to each other. We manipulated the extent and regions of occlusion, where either the left/right or the top/bottom half of the face was occluded. We also further segmented the face into relatively small horizontal regions involving the forehead, eyes, nose, or mouth. The results demonstrated the correlated nature of face regions, such that an attractiveness judgment for one face part can be highly predictive of the attractiveness of the whole face or the other parts. The left/right half of the face created more accurate predictions than the top/bottom half. Judgments involving a larger area of the face (i.e., left/right or top/bottom halves) produced more accurate predictions than those derived from smaller regions, such as the eyes or the mouth alone, but even the smallest and most featureless region investigated (the forehead) provided useful information. The correlated nature of the attractiveness of face parts shows that perceived attractiveness is determined by multiple covarying cues that the visual system can exploit to determine attractiveness from a single glance.

A new approach to access 1-benzylisoindoline and 1-benzyl-tetrahydroisoquinoline has been developed through nucleophilic addition of organozinc reagents to N,O-acetals. A number of substituted organozinc reagents were amenable for this transformation, and the desired products were obtained with excellent yields. Moreover, Sc(OTf)3 proved to be an effective catalyst for the formation of 1-benzylisoindoline and 1-benzyl-tetrahydroisoquinoline using such nucleophilic addition.

Fungi represent the dominant eukaryotic group in the deep biosphere and well-populated in the anaerobic coal-bearing sediments up to ∼2.5 km below seafloor (kmbsf). But whether fungi are able to degrade and utilize coal to sustain growth in the anaerobic sub-seafloor environment remains unknown. Based on biodegradation investigation, we found that fungi isolated from sub-seafloor sediments at depths of ∼1.3-∼2.5 kmbsf showed a broad range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) anaerobic degradation rates (3-25%). Among them, the white-rot fungus Schizophyllium commune 20R-7-F01 exhibited the highest degradation, 25%, 18% and 13%, of phenanthrene (Phe), pyrene (Pyr) and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP); respectively, after 10 days of anaerobic incubation. Phe was utilized well and about 40.4% was degraded by the fungus, after 20 days of anaerobic incubation. Moreover, the ability of fungi to degrade PAHs was positively correlated with the anaerobic growth of fungi, indicating that fungi can use PAHs as a sole carbon source under anoxic conditions. In addition, fungal degradation of PAHs was found to be related to the activity of carboxylases, but little or nothing to do with the activity of lignin modifying enzymes such as laccase (Lac), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and lignin peroxidase (LiP). These results suggest that sub-seafloor fungi possess a special mechanism to degrade and utilize PAHs as a carbon and energy source under anaerobic conditions. Furthermore, fungi living in sub-seafloor sediments may not only play an important role in carbon cycle in the anaerobic environments of the deep biosphere, but also be able to persist in deep sediment below seafloor for millions of years by using PAHs or related compounds as carbon and energy source. This anaerobic biodegradation ability could make these fungi suitable candidates for bioremediation of toxic pollutants such as PAHs from anoxic environments.

Fungi have been reported to be the dominant eukaryotic group in anoxic sub-seafloor sediments, but how fungi subsist in the anoxic sub-marine sedimental environment is rarely understood. Our previous study demonstrated that the fungus, Schizophyllum commune 20R-7-F01 isolated from a ~2 km sediment below the seafloor, can grow and produce primordia in the complete absence of oxygen with enhanced production of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), but the primordia cannot be developed into fruit bodies without oxygen. Here, we present the individual and synergistic effects of oxygen and BCAAs on the fruit-body development of this strain. It was found that the fungus required a minimum oxygen concentration of 0.5% pO2 to generate primordia and 1% pO2 to convert primordia into mature fruit body. However, if BCAAs (20 mM) were added to the medium, the primordium could be developed into fruit body at a lower oxygen concentration up to 0.5% pO2 where genes fst4 and c2h2 playing an important role in compensating oxygen deficiency. Moreover, under hypoxic conditions, the fungus showed an increase in mitochondrial number and initiation of auto-phagocytosis. These findings suggest that the fruit-body formation of S. commune may have multiple mechanisms, including energy and amino acid metabolism in response to oxygen concentrations.

Ensemble coding is the ability of the visual system to extract a summary statistic from a set of stimuli. For example, observers often spontaneously extract an average face identity from a set of faces. Ensemble coding is known to operate in the frame of a distributed/global attention model. Because both attention and holistic processing are modulated by emotion – where positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and facilitate global processing, whereas negative emotions narrow the scope of attention and promote local processing – the current research explored whether emotional states could affect visual averaging of multiple face identities. Participants completed an ensemble-coding task before and after their emotion was induced via film clips. In the ensemble-coding task, a set of four face identities was shown briefly, followed by a probe face. Participants judged whether the probe face was presented in the preceding set. Evidence for ensemble coding was indexed by responses that treated an average face of the preceding set as a member of that set. The results showed that the tendency to choose this average was modulated by emotional states. Visual averaging increased after seeing positive film clips, but decreased after seeing negative film clips. These results support Frederickson’s broaden-and-built theory, and extended its application to ensemble perception.

The (1&ndash, x)Ca0.61La0.26TiO3-xNd(Mg0.5Ti0.5)O3 [(1&ndash, x)CLT-xNMT, x = 0.35~0.60] ceramics were prepared via microwave sintering. The effects of sintering temperature and composition on the phase formation, microstructure, and microwave dielectric properties were investigated. The results show that the microwave sintering process requires a lower sintering temperature and shorter sintering time of (1&ndash, x)CLT-xNMT ceramics than conventional heating methods. All of the (1&ndash, x)CLT-xNMT ceramics possess a single perovskite structure. With the increase of x, the dielectric constant (&epsilon, ) shows a downward trend, the quality factor (Qf) drops first and then rises significantly, the resonance frequency temperature coefficient (&tau, f) keeps decreasing. With excellent microwave dielectric properties (&epsilon, = 51.3, Qf = 13,852 GHz, &tau, f = &minus, 1.9 &times, 10&minus, 6/&deg, C), the 0.65CLT-0.35NMT ceramic can be applied to the field of mobile communications.

Linked to https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33813/

High-entropy oxides (HEOs) have attracted more and more attention because of their unique structures and potential applications. In this work, (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 HEO powders were synthesized via a facile solid-state reaction route. The confirmation of phase composition, the observation of microstructure, and the analysis of crystal structure, distribution of elements, and valences of elements were conducted by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Furthermore, a (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/nickel foam ((FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/NF) electrode was prepared via a coating method, followed by the investigation of its supercapacitor performance. The results show that, after calcining (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 powders at 900 &deg, C for 2 h, a single spinel structure (FCC, Fd-3m, a = 0.8399 nm) was obtained with uniform distribution of Fe, Co, Cr, Mn, and Zn elements, the typical characteristic of a high-entropy oxide. In addition, the mass specific capacitance of the (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4/NF composite electrode was 340.3 F&middot, g&minus, 1 (with 1 M KOH as the electrolyte and 1 A&middot, 1 current density), which indicates that the (FeCoCrMnZn)3O4 HEO can be regarded as a prospective candidate for an electrode material in the field of supercapacitor applications.

Enzyme reaction has been accepted widely in numerous applications owing to the high efficiency and stereo-selectivity, as well as simple preparation by gene engineering. However, the fragility and complex purification process of the enzyme are long-standing problems which limit the large-scale application. One possible solution may be the enzyme immobilization. As one type of porous material with high loading capacity and designable functionality, Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are ideal choices for the immobilization of enzyme with a considerable interest in recent years. In this study, d-amino acid transaminase (DAT), an important enzyme for industrial synthesis of d-Ala, was covalently immobilized on the surface of a star MOFs material, UiO-66-NH

The 0.65Ca0.61La0.26TiO3-0.35Sm(Mg0.5Ti0.5)O3[0.65CLT-0.35SMT] ceramic was prepared by the solid-state reaction method. The effects of sintering process on its microstructure and grain growth behavior were investigated. The Hillert model and a simplified Sellars model were established by linear regression, and the Sellars-Anelli model with a time index was established by using a nonlinear regression method. The results show that the grain size gradually increases with the increase of sintering temperature and holding time. Meanwhile, the sintering temperature has a more significant effect on the grain growth. The grain sizes of 0.65CLT-0.35SMT ceramic were predicted by the three models and compared with the experimentally measured grain size. The results indicate that for the 0.65CLT-0.35SMT ceramic, the Hillert model has the lowest prediction accuracy and the Sellars-Anelli model, the highest prediction accuracy. In this work, the Sellars-Anelli model can effectively predict the grain growth process of 0.65CLT-0.35SMT ceramic.

Tubulin-targeting drugs have increasingly become the focus of anticancer drugs research. Twenty-five novel benzimidazole grafted benzsulfamide-containing pyrazole ring derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for bioactivity as potential tubulin polymerization inhibitors. Among them, compound 30 showed the most excellent inhibition against tubulin assembly (IC50 = 1.52 μM) and in vitro growth inhibitory activity against a panel of four human cancer cell lines (IC50 = 0.15, 0.21, 0.33 and 0.17 μM, respectively for A549, Hela, HepG2 and MCF-7). It could also validly induce A549 cell apoptosis, cause cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase and disrupt the cellular microtubule network. These results, along with molecular docking data, provided an important basis for further optimization of compound 30 as a potential anticancer agent.

Fungi dominated the eukaryotic group in the anaerobic sedimentary environment below the ocean floor where they play an essential ecological role. However, the adaptive mechanism of fungi to these anaerobic environments is still unclear. Here, we reported the anaerobic adaptive mechanism of Schizophyllum commune 20R-7-F01, isolated from deep coal-bearing sediment down to ~2 km below the seafloor, through biochemical, metabolomic and transcriptome analyses. The fungus grows well, but the morphology changes obviously and the fruit body develops incompletely under complete hypoxia. Compared with aerobic conditions, the fungus has enhanced branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis and ethanol fermentation under anaerobic conditions, and genes related to these metabolisms have been significantly up-regulated. Additionally, the fungus shows novel strategies for synthesizing ethanol by utilizing both glycolysis and ethanol fermentation pathways. These findings suggest that the subseafloor fungi may adopt multiple mechanisms to cope with lack of oxygen.

For comprehensive insights into the change of sulfate reduction pathway responding to the toxic stress and the shift of microbial community and performance of sulfate reduction, we built a laboratory-scale expanded granular sludge bed reactor (EGSB) treating high-sulfate wastewater with elevated aniline concentrations from 0 to 480 mg/L. High-throughput sequencing and metagenomic approaches were applied to decipher the molecular mechanisms of sulfate reduction under aniline stress through taxonomic and functional profiles. The increasing aniline in the anaerobic system induced the accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFA), further turned the bioreactor into acidification, which was the principal reason for the deterioration of system performance and finally resulted in the accumulation of toxic free sulfide. Moreover, aniline triggered the change of bacterial community and genes relating to sulfate reduction pathways. The increase of aniline from 0 to 320 mg/L enriched total sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB), and the most abundant genus was Desulfomicrobium, accounting for 66.85–91.25% of total SRB. The assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway was obviously inhibited when aniline was over 160 mg/L, while genes associated with dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathways all exhibited an upward tendency with the increasing aniline content. The enrichment of aniline-resistant SRB (e.g. Desulfomicrobium) carrying genes associated with the dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathway also confirmed the underlying mechanism that sulfate reduction turned into dissimilation under high aniline condition. Taken together, these results comprehensively provided solid evidence for the effects of aniline on the biological sulfate reduction processes treating high-sulfate wastewater and the underlying molecular mechanisms which may highlight the important roles of SRB and related sulfate reduction genes during treatment.