Search

Background and aims C-reactive protein (CRP) is a hepatocyte-produced marker of inflammation yet with undefined function in liver injury. We aimed to examine the role of CRP in acetaminophen-induced liver injury (AILI). Methods The effects of CRP in AILI were investigated using CRP knockout mice and rats combined with human CRP rescue. The mechanisms of CRP action were investigated in vitro and in mice with Fcγ receptor 2B knockout, C3 knockout, or hepatic expression of CRP mutants defective in complement interaction. The therapeutic potential of CRP was investigated by intraperitoneal administration at 2 or 6 hours post–AILI induction in wild-type mice. Results CRP knockout exacerbated AILI in mice and rats, which could be rescued by genetic knock-in, adeno-associated virus–mediated hepatic expression or direct administration of human CRP. Mechanistically, CRP does not act via its cellular receptor Fcγ receptor 2B to inhibit the early phase injury to hepatocytes induced by acetaminophen; instead, CRP acts via factor H to inhibit complement overactivation on already injured hepatocytes, thereby suppressing the late phase amplification of inflammation likely mediated by C3a-dependent actions of neutrophils. Importantly, CRP treatment effectively alleviated AILI with a significantly extended therapeutic time window than that of N-acetyl cysteine. Conclusion Our results thus identify CRP as a crucial checkpoint that limits destructive activation of complement in acute liver injury, and we argue that long-term suppression of CRP expression or function might increase the susceptibility to AILI.

The effect of spinning temperature on phase stability, rheological stability, and thermal stability of mesophase pitch (MP), naphthalene-based mesophase pitch (AR) and microstructure of pitch filament were investigated in this study. Results showed that the interface stratification of anisotropic and isotropic phases, local enrichment of isotropic phases and extensive enrichment of isotropic phases existed in the spinning process for mesophase pitch. The local enrichment of isotropic phase was observed in MP and AR at the spinning temperature of 320 °C. The interface stratification of anisotropic and isotropic phases and extensive enrichment of isotropic phases were generated in MP when the spinning temperature reached 340 °C. This phase separation reduced the rheological stability and thermal stability of mesophase pitch and then affected the spinning ability. The inhomogeneous pores were also formed in the MP and AR mesophase pitch filament at the spinning temperature of 340 °C.

Ceramic-based conductive coatings were prepared by sol–gel method with artificial graphite (CGM) as conductive fillers and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) and silica sol as dispersion medias. The gra...

Orange juice is a kind of fruit juice with huge market share. The most common adulteration is the addition of mandarin juice and grapefruit juice. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a method that can simultaneously detect mandarin and grapefruit components in orange juice. In this study, the specific site of the trnL-trnF gene of mandarin and the specific site of the accD-psaI gene of grapefruit were used for digestion and capillary electrophoresis separation to establish a duplex PCR–RFLP–CE method of simultaneous detection of mandarin and grapefruit components. By this method, the detection limits of mandarin and grapefruit components were 5% and 2.5%, respectively. About the specificity, only the 83–177 bp amplified bands of mandarin and grapefruit were specifically digested, while none of them were cut in the 8 kinds of fruits such as pear, apple, peach, papaya, pineapple, hawthorn, grape and banana. Duplex PCR–RFLP–CE tests were performed on the 8 commercially available fruit juices. As a result, grapefruit components were found in orange juice (C5) and other ingredients to be identified in grapefruit juice (C8). The established duplex PCR–RFLP–CE method can provide an effective detection method for orange juice adulteration in the future.

Effectively addressing global warming requires a rapid transformation of the ways in which energy is consumed, and nuclear power produces very low lifecycle carbon emissions. Efficient uranium extraction from unconventional uranium ore sources, such as the ocean, can provide a stable and long-term supply of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. Herein, we report an interconnected open-pore architecture poly(amidoxime) (PAO) fiber with PAO nanoparticles and a nano-channel structure (AO-OpNpNc) using a top-down design. A high uranium adsorption capacity of 17.57 mg-U per g-adsorbent in natural seawater and ultra-long service life of at least 30 cycles were obtained, which are the highest values among currently available adsorbents to our knowledge. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) fits and density functional theory (DFT) computational studies suggest that PAO-bound uranyl is a cooperative chelating model. More importantly, uranium production costs could be reduced to $80.70–86.25 per kg of uranium with this fiber, which is similar to the uranium spot price of $86.68 per kg of uranium and lower than the costs of all currently available adsorbents. The exceptional durability of the AO-OpNpNc fibers suggests the possibility of economically producing nuclear fuel from the ocean.

Biophysical models suggest a dominant role of structural over functional constraints in shaping protein evolution. Selection on structural constraints is linked closely to expression levels of proteins, which together with structure-associated activities determine in vivo functions of proteins. Here we show that despite the up to two orders of magnitude differences in levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in distinct species, the in vivo functions of CRP are paradoxically conserved. Such a pronounced level-function mismatch cannot be explained by activities associated with the conserved native structure, but is coupled to hidden activities associated with the unfolded, activated conformation. This is not the result of selection on structural constraints like foldability and stability, but is achieved by folding determinants-mediated functional selection that keeps a confined carrier structure to pass the stringent eukaryotic quality control on secretion. Further analysis suggests a folding threshold model which may partly explain the mismatch between the vast sequence space and the limited structure space of proteins.

A new amidoxime-functionalized ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fibrous adsorbent (UHMWPE-g-PAO) was used for the recovery of Au(III) from acid aqueous solution. The maximum experimental absorption capacity of UHMWPE-g-PAO fiber was found to be approximately 220.0 mg·g−1. Au adsorption on UHMWPE-g-PAO was characterized by synchrotron radiation-based microcomputed tomography (SR-μ-CT), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) and synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (SR-FTIR). The SR-μ-CT and TEM results showed the distribution features of gold particles on the fiber. The mechanism of Au(III) recovery from aqueous solutions by UHMWPE-g-PAO was based on the adsorbed Au(III) ions, which were reduced to metallic zero-valent gold (Au(0)) by amino groups (–NH2) in the amidoxime (AO) groups during the adsorption process, as confirmed by high-resolution TEM (HRTEM) and XANES analyses. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that the incineration ashes contained metallic zero-valent gold. In conclusion, this amidoxime-functionalized fibrous adsorbent is a promising material for recovering gold from aqueous solution.

Electroreduction of CO2 (CO2RR) to value-added chemicals offers a promising approach to balance the global carbon emission, but still remains a significant challenge due to high overpotential, low ...

Mitogen-activated protein kinase 6 (MKK6) is one of the major important central regulatory proteins response to environmental and physiological stimuli. In this study, a novel MKK6, EcMKK6, was isolated from Epinephelus coioides, an economically important cultured fish in China and Southeast Asian counties. The open reading frame (ORF) of EcMKK6 is 1077 bp encoding 358 amino acids. EcMKK6 contains a serine/threonine protein kinase (S_TKc) domain, a tyrosine kinase catalytic domain, a conserved dual phosphorylation site in the SVAKT motif and a conserved DVD domain. By in situ hybridization (ISH) with Digoxigenin-labeled probe, EcMKK6 mainly located at the cytoplasm of cells, and a little appears in the nucleus. EcMKK6 mRNA can be detected in all eleven tissues examined, but the expression level is different in these tissues. After challenge with Vibrio alginolyticus and Singapore grouper iridovirus (SGIV), the transcription level of EcMKK6 was apparently up-regulated in the tissues examined. The data demonstrated that the sequence and the characters of EcMKK6 were conserved, EcMKK6 showed tissue-specific expression profiles in healthy grouper, and the expression was significantly varied after pathogen infection, indicating that EcMKK6 may play important roles in E. coioides during pathogen-caused inflammation.

Designing and fabrication of highly active single-atom catalysts (SACs) with maximized atomic efficiency is highly desirable but still remains a great challenge. Herein, highly active and stable cobalt single-atoms with a Co–N4 moiety were uniformly anchored on a porous porphyrinic triazine-based framework (CoSAs/PTF) by a simple ionothermal method. Due to the abundant single-atom Co–N4 species, the hierarchical porous structure and the good conductivity, the resultant catalyst is highly active for the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). For the ORR, a more positive half-wave potential of 0.808 V (vs. RHE) was achieved, compared with commercial benchmark Pt/C (0.806 V). Furthermore, a small onset potential of 21 mV and a low Tafel slope of 50 mV per decade were obtained for the HER. The porphyrin-like structure was found to stabilize the CoSAs effectively, thus leading to long-term durability and a remarkable methanol-tolerant behavior. This bifunctional single-atom catalyst might be a promising candidate to replace Pt-based electrocatalysts in electrolysers and fuel cells.

The in situ growth of one-dimensional magnetite (Fe3O4) nanowire (NW) arrays with deterministic and tunable control over their orientation and morphology on a wide range of flexible and low heat resistance substrates is still a challenge. Herein, a facile method of controlling the orientation of Fe3O4 NW arrays on a polypropylene (PP) nonwoven fabric surface (PP-g-PAO/Fe3O4) through simultaneous radiation induced graft polymerization and coprecipitation processes was realized. We demonstrated a control over the orientation and geometric properties of coprecipitated Fe3O4 NWs via complex iron ion using amidoxime groups, which not only endow the material with high durability but also lead to the oriented growth of Fe3O4 NWs. The results showed that Fe3O4 NWs were only grown on the surface of the PP nonwoven fabric (length:diameter ratio ≈ 10), whereas the Fe3O4 produced in the solution exhibited a spherical structure under identical conditions. The PP-g-PAO/Fe3O4 composite presented a good saturated magneti...

Water electrolysis in alkaline electrolyte is an attractive way toward clean hydrogen energy via the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), whereas the sluggish water dissociation impedes the following hydrogen evolution. Noble metal oxides possess promising capability for catalyzing water dissociation and hydrogen evolution; however, they are never utilized for the HER due to the instability under the reductive potential. Here it is shown that compressive strain can stabilize RhO2 clusters and promote their catalytic activity. To this end, a strawberry-like structure with RhO2 clusters embedded in the surface layer of Rh nanoparticles is engineered, in which the incompatibility between the oxide cluster and the metal substrate causes intensive compressive strain. As such, RhO2 clusters remain stable at a reduction potential up to -0.3 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode and present an alkaline HER activity superior to commercial Pt/C.

Developing green energy to be applied in green cities has received much attention. The Internet of energy (IoE) effectively improves networking of distributed green energies through extending smart grids with bidirectional transmission of energy and distributed renewable energy facilities. Previous works on the IoE focused on decisions of IoE operators or optimization of the whole system. However, few considered optimal decisions of a single end user in the IoE. Therefore, this work creates a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for a single end user that considers green energy generation, an energy storage, an electric vehicle, and an IoE-based energy trading platform to reduce energy waste. This model considers a complete system of charging control of multiple facilities of a single end user in the IoE, and allows the end user to purchase energy and sell green energy through the IoE, in which the energy prices of the electrical grid and the IoE platform are set by the power company and the energy market, respectively. Because MILP is NP complete and the proposed model involves a large number of variables and constraints, this paper further proposes a genetic algorithm for this problem, in which a repairing scheme is proposed to handle solution infeasibility of all constraints. By simulation, the proposed algorithm is verified to effectively reduce energy waste.

The rational design of highly efficient, low-cost, and durable electrocatalysts to replace platinum-based electrodes for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is highly desirable. Although atomically dispersed supported metal catalysts often exhibit excellent catalytic performance with maximized atom efficiency, the fabrication of single-atom catalysts remains a great challenge because of their easy aggregation. Herein, a simple ionothermal method was developed to fabricate atomically dispersed Fe–Nx species on porous porphyrinic triazine-based frameworks (FeSAs/PTF) with high Fe loading up to 8.3 wt %, resulting in highly reactive and stable single-atom ORR catalysts for the first time. Owing to the high density of single-atom Fe–N4 active sites, highly hierarchical porosity, and good conductivity, the as-prepared catalyst FeSAs/PTF-600 exhibited highly efficient activity, methanol tolerance, and superstability for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) under both alkaline and acidic conditions. This work will bring ...

In smart factories, the data collected by Internet-of-things sensors is enormous and includes a lot of noise and missing values. To address this big data problem, metaheuristic is one of the main approaches to data preprocessing, i.e., instance selection or feature selection before training the model. Most previous works on metaheuristic approaches rarely considered simultaneous instance selection and feature selection, and rarely focused on addressing big noisy data. Consequently, this work proposes a hybrid memetic algorithm (MA) with variable neighborhood search (VNS) to simultaneously select instances and features, in which MA performs excellently in data selection; and VNS has been shown to perform well in local search. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, this work creates simulation data by combining the datasets from the UCI with noisy data. The proposed algorithm for simultaneous feature and instance selection is adopted to reduce the simulation data, and then the reduced data is adopted to train a predictive model for later performance evaluation of model testing. As compared with other metaheuristics, the proposed algorithm achieves a balance between exploration and exploitation. Additionally, the results show that the proposed algorithm is more robust than other feature selection methods.

A new functionalized ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene-based chelating fiber (UHMWPE-AM) for trace uranium extraction from wastewater was synthesized by preirradiation grafting modification. Adsorption behavior of adsorbent was examined under varying conditions like solution pH, contact time, initial ion concentration and adsorbent dose. The results showed the maximum removal of U(VI) was 99.7% at pH 4. Adsorption isotherm was in agreement with Langmuir isotherm equation with the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 16.56 mg/g, and the pseudo-second-order model can well describe the kinetics process. The dominant coordination mechanism of U(VI) on the UHMWPE-AM fibers was ascribed to inner-sphere surface complexation.

Heat shock protein 22 (Hsp22) is an important regulatory factor response to various stresses in mammals. In this study, the full length cDNA of Epinephelus coioides Hsp22, which was 1680bp in length, with a 289 bp 5' UTR, a 725 bp 3'UTR, and a 666 bp open reading frame encoding 221 amino acids, was obtained. E. coioides Hsp22 contains a highly conserved α-crystallin domain. E. coioides Hsp22 mRNA was detected in all tissues examined by quantitative real-time PCR, with the highest expression in blood, followed by the spleen, skin, gill, head kidney, muscle, heart, liver, trunk kidney, stomach, pyloric caeca, intestine, brain and thymus. The expression patterns of E. coioides Hsp22 response to infection with Singapore grouper iridovirus (SGIV) and Vribro alginolyticus, the important pathogens of E. coioides, were studied. The expression levels of the gene were up-regulated in the tissues examined. Subcellular localization analysis demonstrated that E. coioides Hsp22 was distributed in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. In addition, E. coioides Hsp22 significantly inhibited the SGIV-induced cell apoptosis. In summary, the E. coioides Hsp22 might play a critical role in pathogenic stimulation.

In Industry 4.0, various types of IoT sensors which are installed on machines to collect data for predictive maintenance. As the collected data increases, there are more missing values and noisy data. Related studies have already proposed various methods to solve the problems in big data. Among them, most studies focused on either feature selection or instance selection for data preprocessing before training forecast models. Metaheuristic algorithm is one of the mainstream methods in data preprocessing. However, most of these studies rarely considered feature and instance selection simultaneously. In addition, they seldom focused on noisy data. Therefore, this work combines the UCI datasets with noisy data to simulate the real situation. Memetic algorithm (MA) has excellent performance in machine learning of data selection, and variable neighborhood search (VNS) was also proved to be widely applied to the systematic change of local search algorithms. This work proposes a hybrid MA and VNS to find a new subset that maximizes the accuracy of the classifier while preserving the minimum amount of data by feature and instance selection simultaneously. Experimental results show that the proposed method can efficiently reduce the amount of data and the ratio of noisy data. By comparison with other metaheuristic algorithms, the proposed method has good performance by an excellent balance between exploration and exploitation.

The acute phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) binds with high affinity to fibronectin (FN), but this binding occurs only at pH 6.5 or lower, and the binding is inhibited by calcium ions at physiological pH. Since CRP in the circulating blood exists in a calcium-binding form, the interaction between CRP and FN in vivo has been uncertain. CRP can undergo a conformational rearrangement in the absence of calcium or in the local microenvironment (e.g., acidic pH) of inflamed tissue to dissociate into monomeric CRP (mCRP). Therefore, we tested whether these discrepancies can be explained by the different isoforms and locations of CRP. Surface plasmon resonance and ELISA assays showed that mCRP binds with high affinity to FN, and the binding of mCRP to FN was unaffected by calcium or pH. Peptide competition assay, deletion mutant binding assay and protein docking analyse verified that the binding site of mCRP to FN is residues a.a.35-47. Furthermore, mCRP can significantly enhance the adhesion of monocytes to FN as well as upregulate the adhesion molecules expression on endothelial cell. Colocalization of mCRP with FN was observed in mice with DSS-induced colitis, whereas there was very little signal orcolocalization of CRP. These results provide in vitro and in vivo evidence that mCRP formed by local dissociation from circulating CRP is the major isoform that interacts with FN and regulates FN-mediated monocyte adhesion, which is involved in the pro-inflammatory process.

M-N-C single-atom electrocatalysts recently have received significant attention because of high catalytic activity and maximal atom utilization. Here, it is firstly reported that macrocycle cucurbit[6]uril (CB[6]) self-assembly was employed as precursor to fabricate M-N-C single-atom electrocatalysts for the Zn-air battery (ZAB). This template-free method using CB[6] self-assembly acquires the holey N-doped matrixes with hierarchical micro/mesoporous structure. The Fe loaded N-doped holey carbon single-atom electrocatalyst (Fe-NHC) exhibited high activity with the half-wave potential (E1/2) of 0.89 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline condition, which was better than those of Co or Ni loaded catalyst and commercial Pt/C (E1/2 = 0.83 V). Moreover, the ZAB employing Fe-NHC catalyst achieved higher power and energy density with longer-term stability than those of Pt/C + Ir/C catalyst. This work provided a promising strategy to design stable and highly efficient catalyst for long-life electrochemical storage devices.

It is imperative to develop efficient and robust electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) that would overcome the sluggish kinetics and exhibit high current density. Porous carbon nanotubes with highly delocalized electrons and tubular structure are promising candidates for CO2RR due to it is favorable for the accessible of substrates to active sites. However, there are rare reports of using carbon nanotubes to stabilize single-atom active sites for CO2RR. Herein, a self-sacrificial template method is developed to disperse single atomic Ni sites on N-doped carbon nanotubes from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for highly efficient CO2RR. Compared with the corresponding other N-doped carbon stabilized Ni single-atom catalysts, the obtained hierarchically porous Ni/NCTs exhibited enhanced selectivity and activity for the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO with Faradaic efficiency of 98 %, turnover frequency (TOF) of 9366 h−1 and CO current density of 34.3 mA cm-2 at the applied potential of -1.0 V.

To reveal the extraction regularity of volatile oil from galangal by GC-MS analysis. The volatile oil in galangal was extracted by steam distillation. The extract was collected every 30 min, the oil part and the water part were separated. GC-MS was used to analyze the extraction liquid collected at different time periods. A total of 140 volatile components were obtained by GC-MS analysis. Among them, the main components were eucalyptus oil alcohol, alpha-pine oil alcohol and 4-terpene alcohol; 22 special components were dissolved in water, 77 special components were dissolved in oil and 41 components were dissolved in both oil and water. With the increase of specific components in water, the content of Eucalyptus in water increased in a linear manner. The increase of eucalyptus oil further promoted the dissolution or dispersion of alpha PN in water, and the change of specific components in oil was positively correlated with the content of Eucalyptus and alpha-terpilenol in oil. The results of principal component analysis show that the physical and chemical properties of the compounds were important factors affecting the distribution of components. PC1 (molecular weight, melting point, boiling point positive correlation), PC2 (negative correlation of refractive index) and PC3 (positive correlation of water solubility) were the main components that lead to the differences in composition distribution. The process of extracting volatile oil from galangal through steam distillation was affected by the physical and chemical properties of volatile components. Some components were specifically distributed in the fragrance and volatile oil system. The endemic components of aromatic water increased the content of the main components in the water system, which may lead to the "emulsification", reduction of the yield and low quality of the volatile oil.

The Solanum species have been used for the treatment of warts, tumor and cancer in folk medicine. The S. incanum extract is an important traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan since 1973. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Solanum incanum (synonym: Solanum undatum) extract (SR-T100), a water-soluble product primarily composed of alkaloid solamargine, for the treatment of human condyloma and to study the possible underlying anti-condyloma mechanisms. We conducted a pilot study to test the effectiveness and side effects of SR-T100 gel (2.3% solamargine in Solanum incanum plant extract) for the treatment of external genital warts. We produced different types of human papillomavirus (HPV) E6/E7-infected cells by lentiviral technology and studied the differences in apoptosis and autophagy between these cells under the treatment of SR-T100. Nineteen (73%) of 26 patients using the SR-T100 gel exhibited a response, and 16 (61.5%) patients achieved total clearance. Only one patient showed severe (grade 3-4) skin-related side effects. SR-T100 induced mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in HPV-infected cells. Cells expressing the high-risk HPV E6/E7 type were resistant to SR-T100-induced apoptosis. SR-T100 induced a greater autophagic response in HPV 16, 18-E6/E7 cells than in HPV 6b, 11-E6/E7 cells. Autophagy inhibition enhanced SR-T100-induced apoptosis in HPV 16, 18-E6/E7 cells, whereas apoptosis inhibition enhanced SR-T100-induced autophagy in HPV 6b, 11-E6/E7 cells. SR-T100 is effective for the treatment of human vulva condyloma, with few side effects. Compared with those with high-risk HPVs, cells with low-risk HPVs were more sensitive to SR-T100 treatment. Autophagy played a protective role in SR-T100-induced apoptosis in HPV-infected cells. NCT01676792 ; Registered: August 29, 2012 (retrospectively registered).

This article discusses how to use a digital oscilloscope to match the time-domain measurement computer-aided technique and Fourier transformation to measure the conducted EMI. Taking advantage of the multi-channel oscilloscope and the computer, it will deal with the Line and Neutral lines synchronization. It can mitigate the phase coherency problem to separate the common-mode (CM) and differential-mode (DM) EMI noise at the same time without any hardware implementations. Due to the time-domain measuring method, which allows the noise amplitude and phase in parallel processing for the whole spectrum range, measuring time is reduced. The computerized time-domain measurement environment is based upon the LabVIEW test and measurement system. The separation results are compared with the frequency-domain measurements. The proposed time-domain measured system can provide a user friendly and convincible approach for fast EMI measurement and countermeasures.