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The purpose of the current study was to evaluate an analytical characterization of a novel synthetic cannabinoid ethyl-2-(1-(5-fluoropentyl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamido)-3,3-dimethylbutanoate (5F-EDMB-PICA), which has a similar chemical structure to the controlled synthetic cannabinoid 5F-MDMB-PICA. The compound was analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), supercritical fluid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (SFC–QTOF-MS) and spectroscopic methods, such as attenuated total reflection (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. In this study, we reported a comprehensive analytical data of 5F-EDMB-PICA. The data of analytical characterization for the 5F-EDMB-PICA were obtained by GC–MS, SFC–QTOF-MS, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, UV-VIS spectroscopy, and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. In this study, we presented a comprehensive analytical characterization of 5F-EDMB-PICA obtained by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, GC–MS, SFC–QTOF-MS, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and UV–VIS spectroscopy. The analytical data of 5F-EDMB-PICA are very useful for forensic, toxicological, and clinical diagnosis.

Due to the pressure gain combustion characteristics, the rotating detonation combustor (RDC) can enhance thermodynamic cycle efficiency. Therefore, the performance of gas-turbine engine can be further improved with this combustion technology. In the present study, the RDC operation performance with a turbine guide vane (TGV) is experimentally investigated. Hydrogen and air are used as propellants while hydrogen and air mass flow rate are about 16.1 g/s and 500 g/s and the equivalence ratio is about 1.0. A pre-detonator is used to ignite the mixture. High-frequency dynamic pressure transducers and silicon pressure sensors are employed to measure pressure oscillations and static pressure in the combustion chamber. The experimental results show that the steady propagation of rotating detonation wave (RDW) is observed in the combustion chamber and the mean propagation velocity is above 1650 m/s, reaching over 84% of theoretical Chapman-Jouguet detonation velocity. Clockwise and counterclockwise propagation directions of RDW are obtained. For clockwise propagation direction, the static pressure is about 15% higher in the combustor compared with counterclockwise propagation direction, but the RDW dominant frequency is lower. When the oblique shock wave propagates across the TGV, the pressure oscillations reduces significantly. In addition, as the detonation products flow through the TGV, the static pressure drops up to 32% and 43% for clockwise and counterclockwise propagation process respectively.

Targeting and stabilizing nonclassical DNA G-quadruplexes (G4s) with a ligand to inhibit cell proliferation is a very promising approach for cancer treatment. Here, we demonstrate that the combination of a naphthalenediimide (NDI) ligand and a squaraine ligand significantly improves the anticancer activity of either ligand alone. The NDI ligand binds the 5'-terminal of hybrid-type G4s and induces the topological conversion from a metastable hybrid to a stable parallel conformation, which allows the end-stacking of the squaraine ligand on the 3'-terminal of the resultant parallel-type G4 structure. Moreover, the NDI ligand promotes the diffusion of the squaraine ligand into the nucleus, and the synergistic effect of the two ligands improves the stability of G4s in cancer cells, blocks the cell cycle in the sub-G1 phase, and induces the DNA damage response. These findings will be helpful in the development of combinational ligands targeting DNA G4s with enhanced bioactivity toward the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation.

Jmjd3 can promote the differentiation of brown adipocytes, but its role in the ultrastructure of lipid droplets and mitochondria, the two key thermogenic organelles, is still unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of histone H3K27me3 demethylase Jmjd3 deletion on lipid droplets and mitochondria in brown adipocytes in mice.Jmjd3 general knockout (Jmjd3Two types of Jmjd3 knockout (Jmjd3Jmjd3 promotes the differentiation of brown adipocytes by enhancing the formation of lipid droplets in mouse brown adipocytes and maintaining the normal morphology and function of mitochondria.

A new and green liquid–liquid microextraction method based on a switchable hydrophilicity solvent for the determination of 11 drugs in urine is presented for the first time. The protonated N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine was used as an extraction solvent and sodium hydroxide was injected as a trigger for organic-phase separation. The extraction procedure has been optimized and investigated in this study. The intraday and interday recovery ranged from 73.8 to 103.0% and the relative standard deviations were in the range from 2.2 to 13.5% (n = 5). The linear range was from 5.0 to 2000.0 µg L−1, and R2 was greater than 0.99, and the limit of detection was in the range from 0.36 to 12.50 µg L−1. The proposed method may be a useful procedure for the determination of 11 drugs in urine, and easily incorporated into routine testing for a laboratory.

An experimental study on a rotating detonation engine was carried out to analyze the initiation and propagation characteristics of rotating detonation wave. Propellants were hydrogen/air mixture and ignited by a pre-detonator. The rotating detonation wave was initiated and propagated successfully with various equivalence ratios. Piezoelectric pressure transducers were used to monitor high-frequency pressure signals. Experimental results indicated that after the ignition, the rotating detonation wave was not initiated directly. With the increase of the equivalence ratio, the formation time of rotating detonation wave decreased rapidly. Meanwhile, the rotating detonation wave sequentially exhibited three propagation modes: dual-wave to single-wave transition mode, single-wave with the propagation direction reversal mode, and single-wave one-way mode. The maximum propagation frequency and velocity of the rotating detonation were obtained at the equivalence ratio of 1.0, while the minimum frequency fluctuation was obtained at the equivalence ratio of 0.89. In addition, the rotating detonation wave height and the bending angle β of the oblique shock wave were obtained. This research determined the boundary of the stable propagation modes of rotating detonation waves and found that their frequency fluctuations substantially increase when the equivalence ratio is below about 0.7.

The Xuanwei county in China has a high incidence of lung cancer and related mortality. Previous studies have suggested that these cases may be associated with a distinctive pattern of mutations in the epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene. In this retrospective study, we investigated the mutation profile of EGFR in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues from patients in Xuanwei, and the associated clinicopathological characteristics. Specimens from 258 consecutive patients with lung cancer (90 from Xuanwei and 168 from other areas of Yunnan province) were subjected to amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) to detect EGFR mutations. In 67 specimens from Xuanwei, the results were confirmed by direct DNA sequencing for EGFR mutations. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) for the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4-anaplastic lymphoma kinase (EML4-ALK) fusion protein was performed on all specimens from Xuanwei. We observed that Xuanwei patients presented with distinctive clinicopathological characteristics, including female gender predominance, younger age, higher rate of lymph node metastasis, higher rate of adenocarcinoma histological classification and lower disease stage, and a low rate of the ‘classical’ mutations on EGFR exons 19 and 21 compared with non-Xuanwei patients (7.8 and 21.6% vs. 49.3 and 39.7%, respectively; P

A simple, fast, and sensitive method was developed for the determination of diclazepam in urine using a solvent with switchable hydrophilicity in liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. N,N-Dimethylcyclohexylamine was used as the extraction solvent with switchable hydrophilicity, because it can be made miscible or immiscible with aqueous phase by adding hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Experimental parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, such as the volume of hydrochloric acid, the type and volume of the solvent with switchable hydrophilicity, the volume of sodium hydroxide, and the extraction time, were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, the intraday and interday recoveries ranged from 76.5% to 90.3% with relative standard deviations between 3.3% and 6.5% (n=6). The linear range was found to be 0.025-2.5 mg/L, with r2 greater than 0.99 and limit of detection of 0.007 mg/L. This method provided excellent linearity, precision, and recovery, and thus, can be applied to the analysis of diclazepam in urine due to its simplicity, accuracy, and practicality.

We studied the addition of two biochars (rice shell biochar (RSB) and wheat straw biochar (WSB)) to soil at doses of 24–72 t/ha on the dynamics of pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), sulfate, Fe(III), and Fe(II), as well as on mercury (Hg) mobility in the pore water of a polluted paddy soil, throughout the rice-growing season. The effect of biochar addition to soil on rice biomass and Hg accumulation was also investigated. The key results showed that the addition of RSB or WSB to soil improved significantly the biomass of aboveground tissues of rice plants, particularly at higher dose treatments, compared with the control. The RSB treatment noticeably decreased Hg concentration in the pore water compared to the control, throughout the rice-growing season, and this decrease was likely due to the decreased Hg mobility by the RSB by promoting the level of sulfate in the pore water, which might be reduced to sulfide to combine with Hg to form Hg sulfides. The extent of Hg concentration reduction in the pore water was less pronounced in the WSB treatments relative to the RSB treatments. Addition of RSB to soil at doses of 24–72 t/ha decreased significantly Hg contents in the stalk, bran, hull and polish rice of rice plants compared to the non-treated rice (control), particularly Hg content in the polished rice was below the Chinese safety level (

In order to study the detonation stability of continuous rotating detonation engine, an experimental study was carried out on three annular slots of different area ratios, using hydrogen as fuel and air as oxidant. Based on the high frequency pressure signal, the influence of the annular slot area ratio on the detonation parameter stability was analyzed. The experimental results show that when the area ratio is 0.08, the detonation wave propagates in a double-wave colliding mode, and the peak pressure is in the range of 0.3-0.9MPa. When the area ratio is 0.16, the detonation wave propagates in single wave mode, and the pressure peak is around 2.0MPa. When the area ratio is 0.32, the detonation wave propagates in a single-wave/double-wave coexistence mode, and the peak pressure fluctuation ranges from 0.4 to 3.0 MPa. When the area ratio is 0.08, the detonation wave self-sustaining propagation stability is strong, but the detonation wave stability is weak when the area ratio is too large or too small. Therefore, the area ratio of the annular slot has a great influence on the mixing effect of hydrogen and air, which consequently impacts the detonation stability of the continuous rotating detonation engine.

A simple and rapid dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) technique coupled with gas chromatography–ion trap mass spectrometry (GC–MS) was developed for the extraction and analysis of five endosulfan pesticides from the fish pond water. In this work, different parameters affecting the extraction process such as the type and volume of extraction solvent, type and volume of disperser solvent, and extraction time were studied and optimized. Under optimized conditions, the enrichment factor ranged from 189 to 269 and the relative recovery ranged from 88.5% to 94.9%. The linear range was 2.0–80.0 µg/L; the limits of detection and quantitation were in the range 0.04–1.06 µg/L and 0.12–3.53 µg/L, respectively. The relative standard deviations were in the range 0.94%–2.08% (n = 5). The obtained results show that DLLME combined with GC–MS is a fast and simple method for the determination of endosulfan pesticides in fish pond water.

Taiwan was officially an aging society since 1993. Therefore, there are more and more long-term care requirements from people because of the increasingly aging population. Rehabilitation Needs is also one of the long-term care services, and this study is aimed for Service design indicator (SDI) construction for Rehabilitation Needs of long-term care system in order to not only fulfill Long-Term Care Stakeholders' Needs (LTCNs) but also consider customer emotional experiences of Long-Term Care Direct Stakeholders (LTCDS) for better caring quality offering and customer experiences creating for Long-Term Care User (LTCU). The first stage of this study is literature review as the basis for research surveys, identify service design point of view to work out product design aspects onto service design viewpoints by three major aspects: 1. the rehabilitation needs of LTCU; 2. the customer emotional experiences aspects such as service experiences, product experiences, activity experiences and space experiences; 3. LTCS. The second stage of this study follows four principles of service design: user-centered design, co-creative, continuous improvement and touchpoints evidencing. The base of this research is institutional long-term care system, and the needs and desires of LTCS are obtained by in-depth interview and observation. The final stage of this study is to construct SDI for rehabilitation needs to meet LTCSNs.

Amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) is implicated as the toxic agent in Alzheimer's disease and is the major component of brain amyloid plaques. In vitro, Abeta causes cell death, but the molecular mechanisms are unclear. We analyzed the early signaling mechanisms involved in Abeta toxicity using the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line. Abeta caused cell death and induced a 2- to 3-fold activation of JNK. JNK activation and cell death were inhibited by overexpression of a dominant-negative SEK1 (SEK1-AL) construct. Butyrolactone I, a cdk5 inhibitor, had an additional protective effect against Abeta toxicity in these SEK1-AL-expressing cells suggesting that cdk5 and JNK activation independently contributed to this toxicity. Abeta also weakly activated ERK and Akt but had no effect on p38 kinase. Inhibitors of ERK and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways did not affect Abeta-induced cell death, suggesting that these pathways were not important in Abeta toxicity. Insulin-like growth factor I protected against Abeta toxicity by strongly activating ERK and Akt and blocking JNK activation in a PI3K-dependent manner. Pertussis toxin also blocked Abeta-induced cell death and JNK activation suggesting that G(i/o) proteins were upstream activators of JNK. The results suggest that activation of the JNK pathway and cdk5 may be initial signaling cascades in Abeta-induced cell death.

The p3 peptide [amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) 17-40/42], derived by alpha- and gamma-secretase cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP), is a major constituent of diffuse plaques in Alzheimer's disease and cerebellar pre-amyloid in Down's syndrome. However, the importance of p3 peptide accumulation in Alzheimer's disease and its toxic properties is not clear. Here, we demonstrate that treatment of cells with Abeta 17-42 leads to apoptosis in two human neuroblastoma cell lines, SH-SY5Y and IMR-32. Abeta 17-42 activated caspase-8 and caspase-3, induced poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage, but did not activate caspase-9. Selective caspase-8 and caspase-3 inhibitors completely blocked Abeta 17-42-induced neuronal death. Abeta 17-42 moderately activated c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK); however, overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant of SEK1, the upstream kinase of JNK, protected against Abeta 17-42 induced neuronal death. These results demonstrate that Abeta 17-42 induced neuronal apoptosis via a Fas-like/caspase-8 activation pathway. Our findings reveal the previously unrecognized toxic effect of Abeta 17-42. We propose that Abeta 17-42 constitutes an additional toxic peptide derived from APP proteolysis and may thus contribute to the neuronal cell loss characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.