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Mesoporous silica material can be viewed as an ideal solid host for constructing desirable dye laser with tunable wavelength range. In this investigation, Rhodamine B molecules were successfully encapsulated into the pore of highly ordered MCM-41 and Phenyl-functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous silica by using a simple and facile postgrafting method. The as-gained Rhodamine B encapsulated mesoporous silica materials were successfully characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and small angle X-ray diffraction. Particularly, the optical absorption and electrochemical behaviors investigated by UV-vis absorption spectra and electrochemical cyclic voltammogram indicate that the difference on the hydrophillic nature of different mesoporous silica hosts has great influence on the existence state of Rh B molecules, resulting lead to strong fluorescence and obvious blue-shift of the encapsulated Rhodamine B molecules in the proposed organic-inorganic hybrid mesoporous. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the significant host-guest interactions of mesoporous silica and Rhodamine B are related not only to the structure, but also to the environmental and surrounding polarity of the materials.

OBJECTIVE: To detect human bocavirus (HBoV) and investigate its genetic and evolutionary characteristics in children with acute respiratory infection in Tianjin, China. METHODS: A total of 1 259 samples of nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children with a confirmed diagnosis of acute respiratory infection between January and December, 2012. Viral nucleic acid was extracted, HBoV was detected by real-time quantitative PCR, and the gene segments of nucleocapsid protein of HBoV in positive samples were amplified by PCR. Several products were randomly selected and sequenced.The sequence obtained was compared with the known sequence of HBoV, and a phylogenetic analysis was performed. All the samples were examined to detect for other common respiratory tract viruses. RESULTS: Among the 1 259 samples, the positive rate of HBoV was 4.53% (57/1 259), and among the 57 samples with positive HBoV, 75% (43/57) were positive in children with an age of 6-36 months. The positive rate of HBoV in children peaked in summer (from June to August), and there was a mixed infection with other viruses. Sequence analysis was performed for the PCR products from 36 positive samples, and the presence of HBoV was confirmed, with a higher homology to the known sequence of HBoV. CONCLUSIONS: In Tianjin, acute respiratory infection in some children may be associated with HBoV infection, which is commonly seen in infants with an age of 6-36 months. The peak of HBoV infection occurs in summer. The phylogenetic analysis shows a high homology to the known sequence of HBoV, with few gene sequence variations.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), polythiophene and polythiophene/TiO2 were prepared by sol–gel and solid-state reaction methods. Water-free iron(III) chloride (FeCl3) was used as an oxidant. The phase composition, morphology and the spectral properties of the products were characterized by XRD, TEM, UV–Vis and FT-IR techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the products was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange under sunlight irradiation. TEM results showed that the polythiophene/TiO2 composite particles were well dispersed, rod-like shaped with 20 × 80 nm dimensions. UV–Vis analysis indicated that the absorption edge of polythiophene/TiO2 was 605 nm. Compared with the unmodified TiO2 and bare polythiophene, polythiophene/TiO2 exhibited largely enhanced activity for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under sunlight irradiation. A degradation efficiency of methyl orange of 85.6% could be obtained within 120 min. The sensitization mechanism of polythiophene for the TiO2 photocatalyst is discussed briefly.

A number of previous studies have reported that sex steroid hormones, including estrogens, are involved in the regulation of the thymic function. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of estrogen receptor β5 (ERβ5) in thymic tumors and the correlation between ERβ5 expression and thymoma biological characteristics. The expression levels of ERβ5 in thymic epithelial tumors was evaluated in 103 patents using immunohistochemical staining and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. In addition, an indirect immunofluorescence assay was performed to evaluate the ERβ5 expression levels in the TC1889 and T1682 cell lines. The survival outcome was estimated using Kaplan-Meier plots. The results indicated that ERβ5 expression was mainly located in the thymic tumor cell cytoplasm (87.37%; 90/103 cases) and overexpression was observed in thymic tumors compared with normal thymic tissues (P=0.001). Using the Kruskal-Wallis test, a statistically significant association was observed between cytoplasmic ERβ5 (cERβ5) expression and thymic tumor subtypes (P=0.024) and stages (P=0.003 and R=-0.376). The Kaplan-Meier plots revealed that cERβ5 expression was significantly associated with improved overall and progression-free survival (P=0.008 and P=0.004, respectively). The present study suggested that overexpression of cERβ5 may indicate an improved prognosis and may be involved in the underlying mechanism through which estrogen inhibits thymoma and thymic carcinoma development.

This study is to investigate the effect of the major chemical composition in rhizome of Pterocypsela elata, lactuside B, on expression of bcl-2, bax mRNA and their protein in rats' cerebral cortex after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. First, middle cerebral artery ischemia-reperfusion injury model was established, and each group was treated with the corresponding medicines. Animals were separately sacrificed at 24 h and 72 h. The brain infarct volumes were detected by TTC dye, bcl-2 and bax mRNA expression was checked by RT-PCR, and the proteins of bcl-2 and bax were explored by two-step immunohistochemistry in cerebral cortex of rats. Lactuside B can reduce brain infarct volume of cerebral cortex of rats, increase the expression of bcl-2 mRNA and decrease that of bax mRNA. Moreover, the ratio of bcl-2 to bax mRNA is higher in 12.5 and 25 mg kg(-1) dose group, respectively, which is significantly different from that of model group (P0.05 or P0.01). Generally, either 12.5 or 25 mg kg(-1) dose group is better than positive control medicine nimodipine (P0.05 or P0.01). In addition, the expression of bcl-2 and bax protein is consistent with their gene expression. Infarct volume and the ratio of bcl-2 to bax mRNA expression are significantly different (P0.05 or P0.01) between 72 h and 24 h group. The results demonstrated that lactuside B could play a good role in resisting cerebral ischemia by upregulating the expression of bcl-2 mRNA and protein and downregulating that of bax mRNA and protein.

Nanoporous thin films fabricated by both a core-shell-shaped organic-inorganic hybrid sphere (octa(2,4-dinitrophenyl)silsesquioxane, ODNPSQ) and a four-leg-numbered surfactant (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate, Tween-20) for porogens in a higher molecular weight precursor (polyphenylsilsesquioxane, PPSQ) were characterized, respectively, by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS), and the measured 2D GISAXS profiles were analyzed quantitatively by using a GISAXS formula based on the distorted wave Born approximation (DWBA). The fitted 2D GISAXS data show that the PPSQ porous thin films imprinted with ODNPSQ porogen exhibit sphere-shaped closed pores with the average pore size within a range of 1.18-3.12 nm and pore size distribution widths about 3.0 nm when the porogen loadings increase from 10 to 40 wt % and those imprinted with Tween-20 porogen give out an average pore size of 1.07-1.29 nm and pore size distribution widths about 2.0 nm with the porogen loading varying from 5 to 30 wt %. The nanoporous dielectric thin films imprinted with ODNPSQ porogen show a reducing to the molecular aggregation of porogens and significant antiphase separation behavior in the cross-linked matrix.

A novel aromatic dianhydride monomer, 3,3′-oxybis[(3,4-dicarboxyphenoxy)phenol] dianhydride, was successfully synthesized in three steps using 3,3′-oxybis(phenol) as starting material, which was reacted with 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA) via a conventional thermal or chemical imidization method to produce a new polyimide. The resulting polyimide exhibited excellent solubility, and film-forming capability.

The extent of recrystallization of nascent UHMWPE powder is easily measured by calorimetry. Melting and recrystallization of nascent UHMWPE at 140°C can be suppressed by compression molding. Crystals of UHMWPE prepared from dilute solution show a peak melting temperature of 140°C and exhibit crystallinity up to 75.5% depending on crystallization temperature. Large changes in crystallinity result from drawing single crystal mats or compression-molded films.