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Begonia nangunheensis belonging to Begonia sect. Platycentrum is described and illustrated as a new species in Caryota obtusa forests in Yunnan province of China. It is similar to Begonia siamensis in 3-winged fruits, 2-loculed ovary and axile placentation with 2 segments per locule, but differs in its glabrous petiole and abaxial leaf-blade, ovate outer tepals and oblanceolate to narrowly obovate inner tepals of staminate flower, and the unequal pistillate tepals. The new species is assigned to Critically Endangered according to the guidelines of IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (version 13).

Current studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are closely related in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Previous studies have shown that miR-125b promotes fibrosis and up-regulates in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and further experiments showed that circ_LAS1L had multiple binding sites of miR-125b, and their expression was inversely related in AMI patients and CFs. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), pull down, and dual luciferase reporter gene assay all confirmed that miR-125b directly bound to circ_LAS1L. Circ_LAS1L overexpression promoted the expression of downstream target gene secreted frizzled-related protein 5 (SFRP5), inhibited the expression of alpha-SMA, collagen I, and collagen III, inhibited CF proliferation and migration, and promoted apoptosis. When cotransfected with circ_LAS1L overexpression vector and miR-125b mimics, the above gene expression and CF biological behaviours did not change significantly. But when cotransfected with circ_LAS1L overexpression vector and SFRP5 siRNA, SFRP5 expression was still down-regulated, the expression of alpha-SMA, collagen I, and collagen III was up-regulated, and the proliferation and migration of CFs were increased. Therefore, circ_LAS1L inhibits the activity of miR-125b by adsorbing it, thus promoting the expression of SFRP5 and then regulating the biological characteristics of CFs. These findings may provide an important experimental basis for the regulation of myocardial fibrosis after myocardial infarction. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: Studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play important roles in cardiovascular diseases, but there are few studies on their roles in the process of myocardial fibrosis. In this study, we found that circ_LAS1L was down-regulated in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients and cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and could bind directly to miR-125b, thereby promoting the expression of downstream target gene secreted frizzled-related protein 5 (SFRP5), ultimately inhibiting the activation, proliferation and migration of CF, and promoting apoptosis. This suggests that circ_LAS1L/miR-125b/SFRP5 pathway can regulate the biological function of CF and may play an important role in the process of myocardial fibrosis, thus providing an important theoretical basis for the regulation of myocardial fibrosis after myocardial infarction.

The combustion properties, flame retardant property, thermal degradation and component of pyrolysis products of calcium alginate fibers were investigated in this paper. The limiting oxygen index value of calcium alginate fibers was 34.4 showing no combustion in the air. The fiber extinguishes instantly when it is moved away from the fire. During the combustion process, the heat release rates (HRR), effective heat combustion (EHC) and total heat release (THR) of calcium alginate fibers were lower than those of cotton fibers, but higher than those of sodium alginate. The carbon dioxide yield rate of calcium alginate fibers was higher than that of cotton fibers but lower than that of sodium alginate. Calcium carbonate and calcium hydroxide, which are beneficial to hamper fibers combustion and diffusion of heat and oxygen, were formed during thermal degradation of calcium alginate fibers. There were 15 kinds of pyrolysis products in gas phase of calcium alginate fibers at 350°C and 45 kinds at 700 °C, while there were 26 kinds of pyrolysis products of sodium alginate at 350°C and 26 kinds at 700°C. Based on a series of study, the flame retardant mechanism of calcium alginate fibers was analyzed.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) gelatinous films prepared in stationary culture were dried by three different drying methods: hot air drying, vacuum drying and vacuum freezing drying. The structure of dried bacterial cellulose films was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and mechanical properties were tested. The results showed that the surface of films prepared by hot air drying were uniform and dense, cavities and cracks configurations existed in vacuum dried films, and layer and porous structures were observed in vacuum freezing dried films. FTIR spectra and X-ray pattern confirmed that vacuum freezing drying reduced the strength of hydrogen bonds between cellulose macromolecules and the degree of crystallinity of BC films but had little influence on the crystal structure. For those reasons, mechanical properties of BC films prepared by vacuum freezing drying were lower than that of those films by other methods.

The authors developed a prototype of a warship maintenance system. The process started by defining the maintenance requirements of warship equipment. Next, a planning scheme was development for a maintenance network. An optimization target for the plan and indexes for assessment were established. Based on the above work, a simulation model was proposed with two layers: a base and a workshop. Dispatching rules were then formulated for the simulation. Experimental results proved the validity of the model and the dispatching algorithm. It was found that the model can solve the capacity evaluation problem for maintenance systems and provides a scientific basis for decision-maker to make decisions regarding equipment maintenance.

Coal liquefaction residue (CLR), coming from a direct coal liquefaction pilot plant, was used to investigate its rheological characteristics and the effects of temperature, oil and asphaltene, as well as solid content on its rheological characteristics. CLR is a kind of non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluid, whose viscosity index decreases with increasing temperature, and approaches Newtonian fluid behavior at high temperature. The apparent viscosity of CLR drops greatly without peak as it is sensitive to temperature. After adding a little recycled oil (REC) into CLR, its apparent viscosity decreases remarkably. However, after the addition of a little asphaltene into CLR, its apparent viscosity increases at a low temperature and decreases at a high temperature. In addition, solid content is the factor of increasing the apparent viscosity all the time. All the results indicate that the apparent viscosity of CLR has a close relation with oil, asphaltene, and solid contents. The relationship between the apparent viscosity and temperature can be expressed by Arrhenius Equation. But there is a flex point during heating, and the viscous flow activation energy at the low temperature is greater than that at the high temperature.

To evaluate the anticancer effect of chrysin and its additive combination with low-dose cisplatin in human glioma (U87) cancer cells and to study its underlying mechanism.Inverted phase and fluorescence microscopic studies were done to demonstrate the effect of chrysin and its combination with cisplatin on cellular morphology and apoptosis. Annexin V-FITC assay was used to quantify the extent of apoptosis in chrysin and chrysin+cisplatin treated cells. Flow cytometry using propidium iodide (PI) as a staining agent was used to study the effect of chrysin and its combination with cisplatin on cell cycle phase distribution.The results showed chrysin brought about a potent and dose-dependent antiproliferative effect in human glioma cancer cells. However, the combination of chrysin with low dose cisplatin led to a much higher growth inhibitory effects indicating an additive effect between the two compounds. The combined effect of chrysin and cisplatin also gave rise to a greater apoptosis induction as well as cell cycle arrest in comparison to the treatment by chrysin or cisplatin alone. Fluorescence microscopy as well as inverted phase contrast microscopy also revealed that the combination of chrysin plus cisplatin resulted in greater apoptosis induction as well as cell morphology alterations. Combination treatment of chrysin and cisplatin resulted in greater percentage of cells in early as well as in late apoptotic stages. The combination effect was also seen in mitochondrial membrane potential loss.Chrysin additively potentiates the antiproliferative, cell cycle arrest and apoptotic activity of cisplatin in human glioma cancer (U87) cells.

In the HLA framework, aimming at the ship repair enterprise, this paper establishes a evaluation simulation system based on multi-agent,then designs the simulation process of system and completes the implementation details of the agent model. A results of simulation example shows that the system can provide a rational assessment of repair capabilities, in order to provide important support for enterprise decision-making.

Aiming at the task time sequence constraint and resource constraint multi-project scheduling problem, this paper bases on MMAS algorithm, adopts pseudorandom proportion to select rules in the process of constructing solutions, and then introduces TS algorithm with 2-opt strategy to further optimize each iterative results. Through presenting the example of project emulation, it indicates that the modified ant algorithm is feasible and has good optimizing function.

To prepare a porcine aortic valve (PAV) free of the cellular components.The cellular components of porcine PAV were completely removed using trypsin and Triton X-100, and the acellular PAV was examined microscopically with HE staining with its physical and chemical properties assessed. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the integrity of the collagen and elastin and the DNA contents in the PAV was detected to confirm the total removal of the cellular components. With the fresh PAV as the control, small pieces of the acellular PAV were implanted into the subcutaneous tissues of 4 rabbits, and 4 weeks after the implantation, the implants were harvested for microscopic observation.The cellular components were effectively removed from the cusps and roots of the PAV by trypsin and TritonX-100, with marked soluble protein loss [(0.24-/+0.04)% vs (0.48-/+0.12)%] and significantly increased water content [(92.2-/+1.5)% vs (89.2-/+1.6)%]. The acellular PAV still maintained good fibrous scaffold structure and the shrinkage temperature and tension at fracture underwent no significantly changes [(67.9-/+1.0) degrees celsius; vs (68.8-/+0.8) degrees celsius; and (489.3-/+19.0) g/mm2 vs (540.7-/+19.5) g/mm2, respectively]. The PAVs implanted in rabbits showed only mild tissue reaction with a few infiltrating neutrophils, lymphocytes and plasmocytes observed 4 weeks later. The accelular PAV caused obviously milder inflammatory reactions than fresh PAV.The acellular PAV prepared by treatment with trypsin and Triton X-100 retains good fibrous scaffold structure and mechanical strength with low antigenicity.

In order to evaluate capability of maintenance system, we have defined the maintenance support plan of warship equipment, built the substance modeling of maintenance system, abstracted the network plan of maintenance, established the optimization target of plan and the indexes of capability assessment, built two tier modeling and the algorithm of sea base and factory based on agent. The test have proved the validity of modeling and algorithm, it can provide a science approach for command man making a decision of equipment support.

A CdS:CdO/Si multi-interface nanoheterostructure array (CdS:CdO/Si-NPA) is prepared by a chemical bath deposition method, and three emission bands are observed in the as-grown CdS:CdO film. By measuring its temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, the variation trends of the peak energies and intensities with temperature for the three bands are obtained. Based on the theoretical analyses and fitting results, the non-radiative recombination processes corresponding to the PL quenching for the three emission bands are attributed to the thermally activated transition between heavy-hole and light-hole levels (at low temperature) and the thermal escape due to the scattering from longitudinal optical phonons (at high temperature), the transition from acceptor levels to surface states, and the transition related to surface defect states, respectively. The clarification of the non-radiative recombination processes in CdS:CdO/Si-NPA might provide useful information for promoting the performance of optoelectronic devices based on CdS/Si nanoheterostructures.