Search

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) currently is developing a mat-supported wellhead production platform concept as an alternative solution to conventional jacket platforms in shallow-water oil fields. The platform is towed to the site with the mat foundation elevated. The mat then is lowered and embedded in the seabed as the hull is jacked out of the water. Steel pipe piles subsequently are driven through the tubular legs of the platform. After grouting the connection, the pile foundations provide permanent support for the platform. The mat foundation therefore provides only temporary support to the platform. This paper presents a case study focusing on the installation behavior of the mat foundation in a soft soil site as part of the platform concept development and suitability evaluation. The study determined (1) the expected penetration depth under the platform's self-weight considering its irregular geometry and soft over stiff clay stratigraphy; (2) the target center of gravity to achieve even penetration and the potential for tilt development in the case of offset from the target position; (3) the effectiveness of using ballast tanks to correct the tilt; and (4) settlement after the installation due to dissipation of pore pressure and creep. Advanced large-deformation finite-element simulations featuring a strain softening soil model and analytical analyses were performed. A dedicated lab testing program geared was designed and executed to provide the necessary soil parameters for the analyses. This paper presents the techniques and considerations that were applied in this study and insights gained into the installation and subsequent postinstallation behavior of large-area mat foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Exposure to PFOS and EtFOSAA affects urea cycle metabolism in maternal serum of pregnant women. • PFOS and EtFOSAA exhibit different association with key amino acid metabolites. • PFOS, but not EtFOSAA, activates energy metabolism pathways. High-resolution metabolomics (HRM) profiling of metabolic fingerprints can improve understanding of how poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) induce metabolic alterations of in utero environment and impact fetal health. HRM profiling and quantification of PFASs were performed for 397 maternal perinatal serum samples collected from 1959-1967 in the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS). We used Metabolome-Wide Association Studies (MWAS) and pathway enrichment analysis for metabolic associations with PFOS, its precursor EtFOSAA, and EtFOSAA-to-PFOS ratio. Distinct metabolic profiles were found with EtFOSAA and PFOS. Urea cycle metabolites such as arginine, lysine and creatine had opposite associations with EtFOSAA (negative) and PFOS (positive); whereas, carnitine shuttle metabolites were found to be exclusively and positively associated with PFOS indicating perturbation in fatty acid metabolism. These differential metabolic associations for precursor and end-product represent an important first step in identifying how PFASs alter the in utero environment and potentially leads to disease risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Maternal exposure to DDT and DDE is associated with changes in metabolome. • Differential metabolic pathways were linked to serum p , p '-DDT and p , p '-DDE levels. • Consistent changes in amino acid metabolism was found in DDT-treated mice. The advancement of high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) and metabolome-wide-association study (MWAS) enables the readout of environmental effects in human specimens. We used HRM to understand DDT-induced alterations of in utero environment and potential health effects. Endogenous metabolites were measured in 397 maternal perinatal serum samples collected during 1959-1967 in the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) and in 16 maternal postnatal serum samples of mice treated with or without DDT. MWAS was performed to assess associations between metabolites and p , p '-DDT, o , p '-DDT and p , p '-DDE levels, followed by pathway analysis. Distinct metabolic profiles were found with p , p '-DDT and p , p '-DDE. Amino acids such arginine had a strong association with p , p '-DDT and o , p '-DDT in both women and mice, whereas lipids and acyl-carnitine intermediates were found exclusively associated with p , p '-DDE in CHDS women indicating mitochondrial impairment. It suggests that the role of serine and fatty acid metabolism on the causal disease pathway should be examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hierarchical community network to integrate exposome and metabolome. • Fatty acid and mitochondria related pathways are among associations with DDTs and PFASs. • Breast cancer risk in offspring positively associated with PCB compounds, negatively with PFASs. • Small number of metabolic phenotypes may account for large number of exposures. Even though the majority of population studies in environmental health focus on a single factor, environmental exposure in the real world is a mixture of many chemicals. The concept of "exposome" leads to an intellectual framework of measuring many exposures in humans, and the emerging metabolomics technology offers a means to read out both the biological activity and environmental impact in the same dataset. How to integrate exposome and metabolome in data analysis is still challenging. Here, we employ a hierarchical community network to investigate the global associations between the metabolome and mixed exposures including DDTs, PFASs and PCBs, in a women cohort with sera collected in California in the 1960s. Strikingly, this analysis revealed that the metabolite communities associated with the exposures were non-specific and shared among exposures. This suggests that a small number of metabolic phenotypes may account for the response to a large class of environmental chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Exposure to PFOS and EtFOSAA affects urea cycle metabolism in maternal serum of pregnant women. • PFOS and EtFOSAA exhibit different association with key amino acid metabolites. • PFOS, but not EtFOSAA, activates energy metabolism pathways. High-resolution metabolomics (HRM) profiling of metabolic fingerprints can improve understanding of how poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) induce metabolic alterations of in utero environment and impact fetal health. HRM profiling and quantification of PFASs were performed for 397 maternal perinatal serum samples collected from 1959-1967 in the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS). We used Metabolome-Wide Association Studies (MWAS) and pathway enrichment analysis for metabolic associations with PFOS, its precursor EtFOSAA, and EtFOSAA-to-PFOS ratio. Distinct metabolic profiles were found with EtFOSAA and PFOS. Urea cycle metabolites such as arginine, lysine and creatine had opposite associations with EtFOSAA (negative) and PFOS (positive); whereas, carnitine shuttle metabolites were found to be exclusively and positively associated with PFOS indicating perturbation in fatty acid metabolism. These differential metabolic associations for precursor and end-product represent an important first step in identifying how PFASs alter the in utero environment and potentially leads to disease risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Large diameter monopiles are typical foundation solutions for offshore wind turbines. In design of the monopile foundations in sand, it is necessary to understand the drainage conditions of the foundation soil under the design loading conditions as the soil performance (strength and stiffness) is highly dependent on the drainage conditions. This paper presents a numerical investigation into this issue, with a purpose to develop a simple design criterion for assessing the soil drainage conditions around a monopile in sand. It is found that for typical monopile foundations in sand, the drainage condition during a single load cycle is generally expected to be undrained. However, the current state-of-practice uses p-y springs derived for drained soil responses for monopile design. The impact of this discrepancy on monopile foundation design was evaluated and found to be insignificant due to the relatively low level of loading as compared to the capacity of the soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Samples of canola meal (CM), a by-product of canola oil extraction, with different particle sizes and canola protein (CP) content were obtained by ball milling followed by air classification. In an effort to produce highly deformable "green" biodegradable materials, these CM samples were used to prepare CM bioplastics and their mechanical properties were characterized and compared. It was found that greater CP content led to an increase in elongation at break and a decrease in tensile strength; however, particle size of CM had no apparent impact on the tensile properties. Considering its high mechanical properties and miscibility with the CM matrix, cellulose fiber (CF) was added to the composite formulation to fabricate samples with enhanced tensile strength. The effects of fiber loading on mechanical and thermal properties were characterized using tensile testing and dynamic mechanical analysis. Marked improvements in tensile strength and modulus were found with increasing fiber content above 5 wt%, while mechanical properties were constant between fiber contents of 1-5 wt% because of the inefficient packing of the CF, indicating that the fiber content of 5 wt% is a percolation threshold to increase the mechanical property of the CM composite. The DMA results illustrate that the addition of fiber produced an increase in storage modulus and decreased damping factors for the composites with > 5 wt% CF, reflecting strong interfacial adhesion between CM and CF which resulted in a decrease in chain mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper presents a constitutive model to describe undrained cyclic stress-strain responses of soft clays based on the equivalent visco-elastic and creep theories. The hysteretic and nonlinear stress-strain responses of soft clays are described using the equivalent visco-elastic relationship and variations of the cyclic modulus and the damping ratio with the octahedral shear strain, respectively in the model. The cyclic accumulative strain is described using the Mises creeping potential function and the associated flow rule. The method determining the model parameters is given by static and cyclic triaxial tests. The finite element method to analyze deformation of anchor foundation in soft clay under static and cyclic loads is developed based on the model. For the method, a cyclic loading time history is divided into a series of incremental loading sub-processes which include one load cycle at least. The cyclic stress-strain responses of soil elements at any time are not tracked in detail and determined by the equivalent visco-elastic calculations for every loading sub-process. The accumulative deformation of anchor foundations is calculated using the initial strain algorithm. The method has been implemented in ABAQUS Software by developing interface programs. Model tests of the suction anchors are conducted and predicted using the method. Comparisons of predicted and model test results show that the method can be used to evaluate cyclic stability and reveal the failure process and mechanism of anchor foundations by analyzing deformation time-histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canola meal (CM), a by-product of canola oil extraction, was modified by poly (styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (PSG) and could potentially be used as a sustainable natural composite. Infrared analysis indicated that PSG could efficiently react with the proteins in CM and become covalently bonded. DSC results revealed that the modified CM composites showed new glass transition temperatures ( T g ) decreasing with the introduction of PSG, which were attributed to the disruption of intermolecular association. Torque curves and melt flow index tests showed the flow property of the modified CM composites increased due to interference by PSG of the hydrogen and disulfide bonding among the protein species. DMA results showed greater amorphous character for the modified CM composites and new glassy plateaus with increased storage moduli, indicating a change in molecular structure and enhancement in mechanical property and usability below T g . Furthermore, the thermostability, the tensile strength, and the elastic moduli of the modified CM composites increased because of the formation of cross-linked proteins in the CM composites, which will potentially increase the application value in some fields, such as single-use agricultural planting containers replacing high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) containers, and food or coffee trays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Integrative analysis of high dimensional omics data is becoming increasingly popular. At the same time, incorporating known functional relationships among variables in analysis of omics data has been shown to help elucidate underlying mechanisms for complex diseases. In this article, our goal is to assess association between transcriptomic and metabolomic data from a Predictive Health Institute (PHI) study that includes healthy adults at a high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Adopting a strategy that is both data‐driven and knowledge‐based, we develop statistical methods for sparse canonical correlation analysis (CCA) with incorporation of known biological information. Our proposed methods use prior network structural information among genes and among metabolites to guide selection of relevant genes and metabolites in sparse CCA, providing insight on the molecular underpinning of cardiovascular disease. Our simulations demonstrate that the structured sparse CCA methods outperform several existing sparse CCA methods in selecting relevant genes and metabolites when structural information is informative and are robust to mis‐specified structural information. Our analysis of the PHI study reveals that a number of gene and metabolic pathways including some known to be associated with cardiovascular diseases are enriched in the set of genes and metabolites selected by our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the usage value of canola meal (CM), a by-product of canola oil extraction, poly (styrene- co -maleic anhydride-co-glycidyl methacrylate) (PSMG) was prepared and used as a novel chain extender to modify CM. FTIR tests showed that cross-linking took place in the CM matrix and PSMG was covalent bonded with canola proteins; furthermore, the surface of fibers present in the CM composite was covered by proteins, attributed to the reactivity of anhydride groups on PSMG. The modified CM composites showed more apparent amorphous characteristic with the addition of PSMG, according to DSC results. DMA results suggested that cross-linked proteins could be further coupled by glycerol reacting with the anhydride groups remaining in the cross-linked proteins, and thus the storage moduli and the glass transition temperature ( T g ) of the modified CM composites increased with the addition of more PSMG. The reactions of proteins with proteins, proteins with fibers, and proteins with glycerol were further confirmed by TGA. SEM images showed that the CM matrix became much denser and the interfacial adhesion between fibers and the CM matrix was increased by the chemical modification, which also contributed to an increase in the tensile strength of the modified CM composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two branched canola protein isolates (CPI) with different branching degree were prepared using bis-epoxide as a chain extender. It was found that the branching reaction may take place in any protein fraction in native CPI; furthermore, by increasing the amount of chain extender, more native protein chains in CPI were coupled to form branches. In the study of flow properties of native and branched CPI solutions, it was found that the apparent viscosities of two branched CPI remarkably increased compared to that of native CPI over all concentrations tested. At 22 °C and pH 7, native CPI solution showed slight shear thinning behavior with the increase of shear rate; however, shear thickening was observed at low shear rate for branched CPI. Furthermore, shear thickening was more pronounced with the increase of branching degree and concentration of branched CPI solution. Shear thinning behavior of native CPI became marked at pH 11; however, the shear thickening property of branched sample was weakened at high pH. The novel findings in flow properties of the branched CPI solution could be potentially applied in the food industry, such as increasing foaming property and gelling ability of food products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linked canola protein isolate (CPI) films were prepared using a bisepoxide as a chain extender by wet cast followed by heat compression. By DSC measurements, it was verified that the cross-linking reaction took place in the CPI matrix and was completed in 10 min at 90 °C. FTIR analysis confirmed that the chain extenders were covalently bonded with CPI chains. The reaction led to the formation of a cross-linked architecture which was revealed by an increase in molecular weight of the modified CPI films. The newly formed chain architecture increased the thermostability of CPI as evaluated by TGA; furthermore, the thermostability increased with the increase in cross-linking degree of the modified CPI films. DMA results of the unmodified CPI film showed that microcosmic phase separation occurred between two major proteins, cruciferin and napin in CPI; however, the extent of phase separation decreased with the increase of chain extenders and finally disappeared because of the increased compatibility between cruciferin and napin. Elastomeric mechanical behavior was observed with the introduction of cross-linked architecture in the modified CPI films. At low humidity of 55%, the cross-linked CPI films showed an increase in tensile strength and a decrease in elongation at break. At high humidity of 98%, the increase in hydrophobicity of cross-linked CPI matrix resisted the decreasing tensile strength seen in unmodified films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A water resistant surface was first obtained by immobilizing hydrophobic copolymers, poly (styrene- co -glycidyl methacrylate) (PSG), with functional groups on soy protein isolate (SPI) films. XPS and AFM results showed that PSG copolymers were immobilized on the film by chemical bonding, and formed a rough surface with some bumps because of the segregation of two different phases on PSG copolymers. Water resistance of the modified films could be adjusted dramatically by further immobilizing different amounts of guanidine-based antimicrobial polymers, poly (hexamethylene guanidine hydrochloride) (PHMG) on the resulting hydrophobic surface. The introduction of hydrophilic PHMG on the resulting surface generated many micropores, which potentially increased the water uptake of the modified films. Furthermore, the modified SPI films showed higher thermostability compared to native SPI film and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity by contact killing, attributed to the presence of PHMG on the surface. The modified SPI film with a multi-functional surface showed potential for applications in the packaging and medical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most complex health conditions do not have a single etiology but rather develop from exposure to multiple risk factors that interact to influence individual susceptibility. In this review, we discuss the emerging field of metabolomics as a means by which metabolic pathways underlying a disease etiology can be exposed and specific metabolites can be identified and linked, ultimately providing biomarkers for early detection of disease onset and new strategies for intervention. We present the theoretical foundation of metabolomics research, the current methods employed in its conduct, and the overlap of metabolomics research with other "omic" approaches. As an exemplar, we discuss the potential of metabolomics research in the context of deciphering the complex interactions of the maternal-fetal exposures that underlie the risk of preterm birth, a condition that accounts for substantial portions of infant morbidity and mortality and whose etiology and pathophysiology remain incompletely defined. We conclude by providing strategies for including metabolomics research in future nursing studies for the advancement of nursing science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a procedure to calculate the bearing capacity of suction anchors subjected to inclined average and cyclic loads at the optimal load attachment point using the undrained cyclic shear strength of soft clays based on the failure model of anchors proposed by Andersen et al. The constant average shear stress of each failure zone around an anchor is assumed and determined based on the static equilibrium condition for the procedure. The cyclic shear strength of each failure zone is determined based on the average shear stress. The cyclic bearing capacity is finally determined by limiting equilibrium analyses. Thirty-six model tests of suction anchors subjected to inclined average and cyclic loads were conducted, which include vertical and lateral failure modes. Model test results were predicted using the procedure to verify its feasibility. The average relative error between predicted and test results is 1.7%, which shows that the procedure can be used to calculate the cyclic bearing capacity of anchors with optimal loading. Test results also showed that the anchor was still in vertical failure mode under combined average and cyclic loads if an anchor was in vertical failure mode under static loads. The anchor failure would depend on the vertical resistance degradation under cyclic loads if an anchor was in lateral failure mode under static loads. Cyclic bearing capacities associated with the number of load cycles to failure of 1000 were about 75% and 80% of the static bearing capacity for vertical failure anchors and lateral failure anchors, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The bearing capacity of suction anchors subjected to inclined average and cyclic loads at the optimal loading point was researched using 35 model tests under 1 g condition. Results show that the cyclic bearing capacity of suction anchors depends on the average load and the number of load cycles to failure. The cyclic bearing capacity decreases with an increase of the number of load cycles to failure for a given average load. The cyclic bearing capacity decreased from 91% to 75% the static bearing capacity when the number of load cycles to failure increased from 100 to 1000 for the average load which was 0.5 times the static bearing capacity based on model test results. The cyclic bearing capacity increases with an increase of the average load for a given number of load cycles to failure when the average load varies from 0.5 to 0.7 times the static bearing capacity. The cyclic bearing capacity increased from 75% to 84% the static bearing capacity when the number of load cycles to failure was 1000 for vertical failure anchors based on model test results. The paper also presents a limiting equilibrium analysis method to calculate the cyclic bearing capacity of suction anchors using the cyclic shear strengths of soft clays determined by unconsolidated and undrained cyclic triaxial tests. Two procedures to determine the cyclic shear strength of the stratum around suction anchors were suggested for the method. For the first procedure, the normalized cyclic shear strength of each failure zone around anchors is determined based on the normalized average shear stress of the zone. The average shear stress of each failure zone is considered as constant and determined using static equilibrium conditions between the average load and resistances which are expressed by the average shear stress. For the second procedure, the normalized cyclic shear strength of the stratum is determined based on the normalized average shear stress of the stratum around anchors. The normalized average shear stress is determined based on the assumption which is that the ratio of the average shear stress and the cyclic shear strength is equal to the ratio of the average load and the sum of the average and cyclic loads. The relationship between the normalized cyclic shear strength of soft clays and the normalized average shear stress is determined by unconsolidated and undrained cyclic triaxial tests. The cyclic bearing capacity is determined using limiting equilibrium analyses. To check the validity of the calculation method, model test results were predicted using the method. Predicted results are generally less than model test results and most of relative errors between predicted and test results are less than 10%, which show that the method can be used to determine the cyclic bearing capacity of suction anchors in soft clays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A water-soluble cationic diblock copolymer, CD-PAM-b-PMeDMA, was synthesized through atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from a β-cyclodextrin (CD) macroinitiator with 10-active sites (10Br-β-CD). In order to reduce the cytotoxicity of the CD-PAM-b-PMeDMA, biocompatible polyacrylamide (PAM) was first introduced onto the surface of β-CD as a scaffold structure by ATRP using the 10Br-β-CD as a macroinitiator. The reaction conditions of AM were explored and optimized. The ATRP of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride (MeDMA) was also performed to synthesize the second cationic block using the resulting CD-PAM as a macroinitiator. The resulting diblock copolymer shows an increased hydrodynamic radius in aqueous solution with a pretty low concentration compared with β-CD. In addition, it appears a near-uniform coniform after being deposited on mica ascribed to the presence of an asymmetric 10-arm structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A permanently anti-microbe PP was prepared by a chemical bonding method. [•] The resulting PP showed enhanced killing activities against bacterium and fungi. [•] The antimicrobial PP kept antimicrobial activities after 10days water washing. [•] Guanidine-based antimicrobial polymers were dispersed in PP in a nanometer scale. [•] PP fabrics showed safe results in vivo and in vitro due to the chemical bonding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many vaccines induce protective immunity via antibodies. Systems biology approaches have been used to determine signatures that can be used to predict vaccine-induced immunity in humans, but whether there is a 'universal signature' that can be used to predict antibody responses to any vaccine is unknown. Here we did systems analyses of immune responses to the polysaccharide and conjugate vaccines against meningococcus in healthy adults, in the broader context of published studies of vaccines against yellow fever virus and influenza virus. To achieve this, we did a large-scale network integration of publicly available human blood transcriptomes and systems-scale databases in specific biological contexts and deduced a set of transcription modules in blood. Those modules revealed distinct transcriptional signatures of antibody responses to different classes of vaccines, which provided key insights into primary viral, protein recall and anti-polysaccharide responses. Our results elucidate the early transcriptional programs that orchestrate vaccine immunity in humans and demonstrate the power of integrative network modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Recent studies have used systems biological approaches to predict vaccine efficacy. [•] Such studies are yielding new insights about the mechanisms underlying vaccine immunity. [•] Data acquisition, management and modeling represent major challenges. [•] Integration of multiple “omics” data also represents major challenges. [•] Overcoming such challenges will enable systems approaches to guide rational vaccine design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The functional interpretation of high throughput metabolomics by mass spectrometry is hindered by the identification of metabolites, a tedious and challenging task. We present a set of computational algorithms which, by leveraging the collective power of metabolic pathways and networks, predict functional activity directly from spectral feature tables without a priori identification of metabolites. The algorithms were experimentally validated on the activation of innate immune cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel strategy for introducing long chain branches (LCB) on commercial polypropylene (PP) was described using an extender agent, poly (hexamethylendiamine-guanidine hydrochloride) (PHGH), to couple with glycidyl methacrylate-grafted PP (PP-GMA). The presence of LCB was confirmed by GPC and melt strength measurements in two modified PP samples, MPP-1 and MPP-2. The foamability of LCB PPs and commercially linear PP (EPS) was investigated by foam extrudate. The results showed that the foamability of LCB PPs was significantly improved. To find out the difference in foamability of EPS and LCB PPs, some rheological properties were investigated. In the dynamic shear measurement, it was found that the elastic response of LCB PPs at low frequencies was distinctly enhanced in comparison with that of EPS, implying a presence of a long relaxation time mode that was not revealed in linear PP. The elongational rheology results showed that the strain hardening behaviors of LCB PPs were still intense even at higher strain rate of 1s−1; moreover, MPP-2 could sustain larger elongational stress and deformation, which helps to improve the foamability. In step-shear stress relaxation measurements, the fast and slow relaxation processes were observed over the entire ranges of strains, indicating the presence of two different relaxation time modes. Also, the strain dependence of slow damping function became weaker because of the introduction of LCB on linear PP. In addition, it was also found that the rheological behaviors characterizing the long relaxation time mode were further enhanced with the increase of the concentration of PHGH in the melt grafting reactions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) of butyl acrylate (BA) on cellulose microfibrils (CMF) was conducted to create controllable hydrophobic chains on CMF. The macroinitiator, CMF-Br, was prepared by the esterification of hydroxyl groups on CMF with 2-bromoisobutyrylbromide (BIBB); followed by the ATRP of BA using two catalyst systems, CuIBr/2,2′-bipyridine (BPY) and CuIBr/pentamethyl-diethylenetriamine (PMDETA). The molecular weight (MW) and polydispersity of the grafted PBA cleaved from CMF via hydrolysis was determined using GPC. The results indicated that the PMDETA system exhibited relatively poor control over the ATRP; whereas the BPY system produced the PBA with tailored chain lengths and relatively narrow polydispersities but experienced a rather slow polymerization process. To optimize the polymerization with the CuBr/PMDETA system, several influencing factors were investigated, including the type of solvents, reaction temperature and the use of co-catalyst CuIIBr2. The hydrophobic-modified CMF is of great potential as reinforcements biocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccination is one of the greatest triumphs of modern medicine, yet we remain largely ignorant of the mechanisms by which successful vaccines stimulate protective immunity. Two recent advances are beginning to illuminate such mechanisms: realization of the pivotal role of the innate immune system in sensing microbes and stimulating adaptive immunity, and advances in systems biology. Recent studies have used systems biology approaches to obtain a global picture of the immune responses to vaccination in humans. This has enabled the identification of early innate signatures that predict the immunogenicity of vaccines, and identification of potentially novel mechanisms of immune regulation. Here, we review these advances and critically examine the potential opportunities and challenges posed by systems biology in vaccine development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To study the rheological properties of long chain branching (LCB) polypropylene (PP), long chain branches (LCB) were grafted onto the linear PP by melt grafting reaction in the presence of a novel chain extender, poly(hexamethylendiamine-guanidine hydrochloride) (PHGH). The branching reactions between the functionalized PP and PHGH were confirmed by transient torque curves and FTIR. By differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized microscope measurements, the presence of long chain branching structures was further confirmed. Also, the viscoelastic properties of the LCB PP and linear PP under shear flow were investigated for distinguishing LCB PP from linear PP. It was found that the elastic response of LCB PP at low frequencies was significantly enhanced in comparison with that of the linear PP, implying a presence of a long relaxation time mode that was not revealed in linear PP. Moreover, the branching levels of LCB PP were quantified using a detailed method, which was in correspondence with the molar amount of PHGH grafted on PP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To standardize metabolomics data analysis and facilitate future computational developments, it is essential to have a set of well-defined templates for common data structures. Here we describe a collection of data structures involved in metabolomics data processing and illustrate how they are utilized in a full-featured Python-centric pipeline. We demonstrate the performance of the pipeline, and the details in annotation and quality control using large-scale LC-MS metabolomics and lipidomics data and LC-MS/MS data. Multiple previously published datasets are also reanalyzed to showcase its utility in biological data analysis. This pipeline allows users to streamline data processing, quality control, annotation, and standardization in an efficient and transparent manner. This work fills a major gap in the Python ecosystem for computational metabolomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel deep architecture to integrate attribute learning into person re-identification task in a different way to solve the part misalignment problem. • The proposed algorithm introduces the perceptual ability of attribute learning process which can be utilized as a part localizer to detect semantic human body parts and discriminative objects. • The learned and fused attribute information is further incorporated into part feature learning to refine the extracted local descriptors. • Extensive experiments and empirical analysis are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Person attributes are often exploited as mid-level human semantic information to help promote the performance of person re-identification task. In this paper, unlike most existing methods simply taking the attribute learning as a classification problem, we perform it in a different way with the motivation that attributes are related to specific local regions, which refers to the perceptual ability of attributes. We utilize the process of attribute detection to generate corresponding attribute-part detectors, whose invariance to many influences like poses and camera views can be guaranteed. With detected local part regions, our model extracts local part features to handle the body part misalignment problem, which is another major challenge for person re-identification. The local descriptors are further refined by fused attribute information to eliminate interferences caused by detection deviation. Finally, the refined local feature works together with a holistic-level feature to constitute our final feature representation. Extensive experiments on two popular benchmarks with attribute annotations demonstrate the effectiveness of our model and competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Herpes zoster (shingles) causes significant morbidity in immune compromised hosts and older adults. Whereas a vaccine is available for prevention of shingles, its efficacy declines with age. To help to understand the mechanisms driving vaccinal responses, we constructed a multiscale, multifactorial response network (MMRN) of immunity in healthy young and older adults immunized with the live attenuated shingles vaccine Zostavax. Vaccination induces robust antigen-specific antibody, plasmablasts, and CD4 + T cells yet limited CD8 + T cell and antiviral responses. The MMRN reveals striking associations between orthogonal datasets, such as transcriptomic and metabolomics signatures, cell populations, and cytokine levels, and identifies immune and metabolic correlates of vaccine immunity. Networks associated with inositol phosphate, glycerophospholipids, and sterol metabolism are tightly coupled with immunity. Critically, the sterol regulatory binding protein 1 and its targets are key integrators of antibody and T follicular cell responses. Our approach is broadly applicable to study human immunity and can help to identify predictors of efficacy as well as mechanisms controlling immunity to vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the influence of the structural parameters of subsea protective devices with asymmetric openings is studied through intelligent damage assessments. Moreover, three back propagation (BP) neural networks, the Levenberg‒Marquardt (LM) algorithm, Bayesian regularization (BR) algorithm and scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) algorithm, are selected to evaluate the damage to subsea protective facilities. Finite element models of subsea protective facilities without openings, square subsea protective facilities with openings and circular subsea protective facilities with openings are established, and finite element analysis is carried out to establish the database training algorithm. The accuracy of the database is ensured through testing to verify the finite element method. The influence of the opening, opening shape and structural damage on the damage assessment is analysed to find the most suitable intelligent damage assessment algorithm for subsea protective facilities with asymmetric openings. The results show that the opening will increase the error of damage identification, and the square opening will increase the maximum error. Meanwhile, structural damage will increase the damage evaluation error of subsea protective facilities with asymmetric openings but will reduce the damage stress evaluation error of subsea protective facilities without openings. In addition, the identification error of the BR neural network algorithm for each working condition, which is suitable for intelligent damage identification of subsea protective facilities, is very low. • The damage assessments of subsea protective facilities with asymmetric openings were investigated. • Three BP neural network algorithms, BR, LM and SCG, are selected to evaluate the damage of subsea protective facilities. • The BR algorithm is suitable for intelligent damage identification of subsea protective facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of public health research have documented that smoking in pregnancy poses significant health risks to both mother and child. More recent studies have shown that even passive maternal exposure to secondhand smoke associates with negative birth outcomes. However, the mechanisms linking exposure to outcomes have remained obscure. As a first step toward defining the metabolic consequence of low-level nicotine exposure on fetal development, we conducted an untargeted metabolomic analysis of 81 paired samples of maternal serum and amniotic fluid collected from karyotypically normal pregnancies in the second trimester. By comparing the m / z and retention times of our mass spectral features with confirmed standards, we identified cotinine, a nicotine derivative, and used the calculated cotinine concentrations to classify our maternal serum samples into exposure groups using previously defined cut-offs. We found that cotinine levels consistent with low-level maternal exposure to nicotine associated with distinct metabolic perturbations, particularly in amniotic fluid. In fact, the metabolic effects in amniotic fluid of ostensibly low-level exposed mothers showed greater overlap with perturbations previously observed in the sera of adult smokers than did the perturbations observed in the corresponding maternal sera. Dysregulated fetal pathways included aspartate and asparagine metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and metabolism of other amino acids. We also observed a strong negative association between level of maternal serum cotinine and acetylated polyamines in the amniotic fluid. Combined, these results confirm that low-level maternal nicotine exposure, indicated by a maternal serum cotinine level of 2–10 ng/mL, is associated with striking metabolic consequences in the fetal compartment, and that the affected pathways overlap those perturbed in the sera of adult smokers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of autophagy in the generation of memory CD8+ T cells in vivo is not well defined. We report here that autophagy was dynamically regulated in virus-specific CD8+ T cells during acute infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. In contrast to the current paradigm, autophagy decreased in activated proliferating effector CD8+ T cells and was then upregulated when the cells stopped dividing just before the contraction phase. Consistent with those findings, deletion of the gene encoding either of the autophagy-related molecules Atg5 or Atg7 had little to no effect on the proliferation and function of effector cells, but these autophagy-deficient effector cells had survival defects that resulted in compromised formation of memory T cells. Our studies define when autophagy is needed during effector and memory differentiation and warrant reexamination of the relationship between T cell activation and autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have used whole-genome sequencing and gene expression profiling to identify genes associated with age, in the hope of understanding the underlying mechanisms of senescence. But there is a substantial gap from variation in gene sequences and expression levels to variation in age or life expectancy. In an attempt to bridge this gap, here we describe the effects of age, sex, genotype, and their interactions on high-sensitivity metabolomic profiles in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Among the 6800 features analyzed, we found that over one-quarter of all metabolites were significantly associated with age, sex, genotype, or their interactions, and multivariate analysis shows that individual metabolomic profiles are highly predictive of these traits. Using a metabolomic equivalent of gene set enrichment analysis, we identified numerous metabolic pathways that were enriched among metabolites associated with age, sex, and genotype, including pathways involving sugar and glycerophospholipid metabolism, neurotransmitters, amino acids, and the carnitine shuttle. Our results suggest that high-sensitivity metabolomic studies have excellent potential not only to reveal mechanisms that lead to senescence, but also to help us understand differences in patterns of aging among genotypes and between males and females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondrial phenotype is complex and difficult to define at the level of individual cell types. Newer metabolic profiling methods provide information on dozens of metabolic pathways from a relatively small sample. This pilot study used "topdown" metabolic profiling to determine the spectrum of metabolites present in liver mitochondria. High resolution mass spectral analyses and multivariate statistical tests provided global metabolic information about mitochondria and showed that liver mitochondria possess a significant phenotype based on gender and genotype. The data also show that mitochondria contain a large number of unidentified chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) are the most common cardiometabolic complications of pregnancy, affecting nearly 10% of US pregnancies and contributing substantially to maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. In the US, women of African American race are at increased risk for HDP. Early biomarkers that reliably identify women at risk for HDP remain elusive, yet are essential for the early identification and targeting of interventions to improve maternal and infant outcomes. We employed high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) to identify metabolites and metabolic pathways that were altered in early (8-14 weeks) gestation serum samples of pregnant African American women who developed HDP after 20 weeks' gestation (n = 20)—either preeclampsia (PE; n = 11) or gestational hypertension (gHTN; n = 9)—compared to those who delivered full term without complications (n = 80). We found four metabolic pathways that were significantly (p < 0.05) altered in women who developed PE and five pathways that were significantly (p < 0.05) altered in women who developed gHTN compared to women who delivered full term without complications. We also found that four specific metabolites (p < 0.05) were distinctly upregulated (retinoate, kynurenine) or downregulated (SN-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 2 ′ 4 ′ -dihydroxyacetophenone) in women who developed PE compared to gHTN. These findings support that there are systemic metabolic disruptions that are detectable in early pregnancy (8-14 weeks of gestation) among pregnant African American women who develop PE and gHTN. Furthermore, the early pregnancy metabolic disruptions associated with PE and gHTN are distinct, implying they are unique entities rather than conditions along a spectrum of the same disease process despite the common clinical feature of high blood pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumption of human breast milk (HBM) attenuates the incidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), which remains a leading and intractable cause of mortality in preterm infants. Here, we report that this diminution correlates with alterations in the gut microbiota, particularly enrichment of Propionibacterium species. Transfaunation of microbiota from HBM-fed preterm infants or a newly identified and cultured Propionibacterium strain, P. UF1, to germfree mice conferred protection against pathogen infection and correlated with profound increases in intestinal Th17 cells. The induction of Th17 cells was dependent on bacterial dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (DlaT), a major protein expressed on the P. UF1 surface layer (S-layer). Binding of P. UF1 to its cognate receptor, SIGNR1, on dendritic cells resulted in the regulation of intestinal phagocytes. Importantly, transfer of P. UF1 profoundly mitigated induced NEC-like injury in neonatal mice. Together, these results mechanistically elucidate the protective effects of HBM and P. UF1-induced immunoregulation, which safeguard against proinflammatory diseases, including NEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antigen-presenting cells (APCs) occupy diverse anatomical tissues, but their tissue-restricted homeostasis remains poorly understood. Here, working with mouse models of inflammation, we found that mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)–dependent metabolic adaptation was required at discrete locations. mTOR was dispensable for dendritic cell (DC) homeostasis in secondary lymphoid tissues but necessary to regulate cellular metabolism and accumulation of CD103+ DCs and alveolar macrophages in lung. Moreover, while numbers of mTOR-deficient lung CD11b+ DCs were not changed, they were metabolically reprogrammed to skew allergic inflammation from eosinophilic T helper cell 2 (TH2) to neutrophilic TH17 polarity. The mechanism for this change was independent of translational control but dependent on inflammatory DCs, which produced interleukin-23 and increased fatty acid oxidation. mTOR therefore mediates metabolic adaptation of APCs in distinct tissues, influencing the immunological character of allergic inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhalation of cadmium (Cd) is associated with lung diseases, but less is known concerning pulmonary effects of Cd found in the diet. Cd has a decades- long half-life in humans and significant bioaccumulation occurs with chronic dietary intake. We exposed mice to low-dose CdCl2 (10 mg/L in drinking water) for 20 weeks, which increased lung Cd to a level similar to that of nonoccupationally exposed adult humans. Cd-treated mice had increased airway hyperresponsiveness to methacholine challenge, and gene expression array showed that Cd altered the abundance of 443 mRNA transcripts in mouse lung. In contrast to higher doses, low-dose Cd did not elicit increased metallothionein transcripts in lung. To identify pathways most affected by Cd, gene set enrichment of transcripts was analyzed. Results showed that major inducible targets of low-dose Cd were neuronal receptors represented by enriched olfactory, glutamatergic, cholinergic, and serotonergic gene sets. Olfactory receptors regulate chemosensory function and airway hypersensitivity, and these gene sets were the most enriched. Targeted metabolomics analysis showed that Cd treatment also increased metabolites in pathways of glutamatergic (glutamate), serotonergic (tryptophan), cholinergic (choline), and catecholaminergic (tyrosine) receptors in the lung tissue. Protein abundance measurements showed that the glutamate receptor GRIN2A was increased in mouse lung tissue. Together, these results show that in mice, oral low-dose Cd increased lung Cd to levels comparable to humans, increased airway hyperresponsiveness and disrupted neuronal pathways regulating bronchial tone. Therefore, dietary Cd may promote or worsen airway hyperresponsiveness in multiple lung diseases including asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of metabolism has had a long history. Metabolomics, a systems biology discipline representing analysis of known and unknown pathways of metabolism, has grown tremendously over the past 20 years. Because of its comprehensive nature, metabolomics requires careful consideration of the question(s) being asked, the scale needed to answer the question(s), collection and storage of the sample specimens, methods for extraction of the metabolites frombiologicalmatrices, the analyticalmethod(s) to be employed and the quality control of the analyses, how collected data are correlated, the statistical methods to determine metabolites undergoing significant change, putative identification ofmetabolites and the use of stable isotopes to aid in verifying metabolite identity and establishing pathway connections and fluxes. The National Institutes of Health Common Fund Metabolomics Program was established in 2012 to stimulate interest in the approaches and technologies of metabolomics. To deliver one of the program's goals, the University of Alabama at Birmingham has hosted an annual 4-day short course in metabolomics for faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students from national and international institutions. This paper is the first part of a summary of the training materials presented in the course to be used as a resource for all those embarking on metabolomics research. The complete set of training materials including slide sets and videos can be viewed at http://www. uab.edu/proteomics/metabolomics/workshop/workshop_june_2015.php. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R2142 --> 699.10 --> High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) detects tens of thousands of unknown features in human plasma. Many of these features could be indicative of xenobiotic exposure, but identifying candidates poses a challenge due to low abundance and lack of authentic standards. Here we propose using co‐occurrence of metabolites as a criterion to aid identification of undocumented xenobiotic exposures and co‐exposures in humans. Plasma from 49 volunteer Emory University/Georgia Tech employees in a longitudinal study were analyzed with HRMS, and aligned features were arranged as nodes in networks connected according to feature co‐occurrence and common biotransformation mass differences, marking possible xenobiotic pathways. These networks were compared against curated metabolic profiles of xenobiotic reference material generated on an enzyme‐based biotransformation system (liver S9 fractions). Profile matches, coupled with available MS/MS, suggest confident exposure identification of zolpidem, dextromethorphan, nicotine, citalopram, caffeine and tramadol within the cohort. Further investigation of co‐occurrence networks also facilitated suggestion of possible xenobiotic co‐exposures beyond biotransformation pathways. In this cohort, Zolpidem metabolites co‐occurred with high abundance features having the the masses of melatonin and its metabolites, suggesting co‐exposure due to polypharmacy for a single condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work confirms the new view of the initiation and propagation mechanism of the anionic polymerization previously proposed, based on the investigation of anionic bulk-polymerization of styrene and α-methyl styrene with the help of a self designed microflow device and characterized by GPC and in situ 7Li NMR. It was found that n-BuLi tended to form the hexameric-aggregated structure and even to form the huge aggregated structure based on the former. These aggregations of initiators could directly initiate the anionic polymerization and form the supramolecule aggregations. The supramolecule aggregations inevitably blocked the diffusion of the monomers to the ion-pairs and resulted in a stationary-conversion platform. Then the aggregators were dissociated completely into equal binary-aggregated species, and the polymerization continued again rapidly before the termination. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) acted as the electron donator, which could push the electron cloud to Li cation and make the aggregated ring of the active species rather loosened and facilitated the monomer to insert in. Therefore, a little THF can greatly promote the anionic polymerization. However, further addition of THF might block the channel between the ion-pairs and decrease the propagation rate. It was also found that the aggregated structure of the active species during the anionic polymerization only depends on the initiator aggregations which were formed before the polymerization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The comb-like ionenes with aliphatic side chains were prepared and blended with a low density polyethylene (LDPE) for enhancing the antistatic and antimicrobial properties. The resulting blends were well characterized, particularly based on the surface resistivity (ρ) which revealed the antistatic properties of LDPE/ionene blends. The results showed that the values of ρ decreased 1-5 orders of magnitude after the ionenes were added. Various influencing factors on ρ, including ionene structures, ionene content, and humidity were investigated in detail. Furthermore, the surface and inner structures of resulting blends were characterized by ATR-FTIR and SEM along with water contact angle measurements. The antimicrobial activities of the ionenes and the blended sheets were assessed based on the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against E. coli and the growth inhibition of E. coli determined by means of a membrane adhering-colony counting method. The results indicated that the ionene with 4-carbon side chains had the lowest MIC value (7.8 μg/mL) and the corresponding blend reached 99.9 % of growth inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we have used a systems biology approach to study innate and adaptive responses to vaccination against influenza in humans during three consecutive influenza seasons. We studied healthy adults vaccinated with trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV) or live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV). TIV induced higher antibody titers and more plasmablasts than LAIV did. In subjects vaccinated with TIV, early molecular signatures correlated with and could be used to accurately predict later antibody titers in two independent trials. Notably, expression of the kinase CaMKIV at day 3 was inversely correlated with later antibody titers. Vaccination of CaMKIV-deficient mice with TIV induced enhanced antigen-specific antibody titers, which demonstrated an unappreciated role for CaMKIV in the regulation of antibody responses. Thus, systems approaches can be used to predict immunogenicity and provide new mechanistic insights about vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]