Search

Compared to 1C towed-streamer (TS) seismic exploration, 4C ocean-bottom seismic (OBS) node exploration has great advantages in complex structure imaging, lithology, and fluid identification using elastic waves. However, sparse spatial sampling of OBS node surveys highlights the problems of the imaging acquisition footprint, poor phase continuity, and low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) with conventional elastic reverse time migration (ERTM) methods. Therefore, a solution of joint ERTM (J-ERTM) is proposed by combining sparse OBS node data with dense TS data. In the J-ERTM of the hybrid data, a novel weighted boundary condition combined with acoustic-elastic coupling equations and a vector-based crosscorrelation imaging condition are presented to perform PP and PS imaging by receiver-side tensorial extrapolation of TS and OBS node hybrid data. A synthetic example demonstrates that our method can effectively process TS and OBS node hybrid data and improve elastic imaging problems caused by OBS node sparse acquisition. J-ERTM techniques also are applied to an active-source OBS data set from the South China Sea. To improve the imaging quality with limited data, some preprocessing procedures for field TS and OBS node hybrid data sets are necessary, such as denoising, OBS node relocation, OBS node orientation correction, OBS node calibration, and others. After preprocessing, the pressure component and velocity components have a more physical energy relationship, more consistent frequency range and wavelet, and a higher S/N. Finally, the preprocessed hybrid data can be used for J-ERTM. The imaging results demonstrate that our method works well with field data.

Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) has been shown to be a strong data representation technique, with applications in text mining, pattern recognition, image processing, clustering and other fields. In this paper, we propose a hypergraph-regularized Lp smooth nonnegative matrix factorization (HGSNMF) by incorporating the hypergraph regularization term and the Lp smoothing constraint term into the standard NMF model. The hypergraph regularization term can capture the intrinsic geometry structure of high dimension space data more comprehensively than simple graphs, and the Lp smoothing constraint term may yield a smooth and more accurate solution to the optimization problem. The updating rules are given using multiplicative update techniques, and the convergence of the proposed method is theoretically investigated. The experimental results on five different data sets show that the proposed method has a better clustering effect than the related state-of-the-art methods in the vast majority of cases.

COVID-19 is a disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has led to more than 4 million deaths worldwide. As a result, there is a worldwide effort to develop specific drugs for targeting COVID-19. Papain-like protease (PLpro) is an attractive drug target because it has multiple essential functions involved in processing viral proteins, including viral genome replication and removal of post-translational ubiquitination modifications. Here, we established two assays for screening PLpro inhibitors according to protease and anti-ISGylation activities, respectively. Application of the two screening techniques to the library of clinically approved drugs led to the discovery of tanshinone IIA sulfonate sodium and chloroxine with their IC50 values of lower than 10 μM. These two compounds were found to directly interact with PLpro and their molecular mechanisms of binding were illustrated by docking and molecular dynamics simulations. The results highlight the usefulness of the two developed screening techniques for locating PLpro inhibitors.

SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic of COVID-19, posing a huge threat to public health. The SARS-CoV-2 papain-like cysteine protease (PLpro) plays a significant role in virus replication and host immune regulation, which is a promising antiviral drug target. Several potential inhibitors have been identified in vitro. However, the detailed mechanism of action and structure-activity relationship require further studies. Here, we investigated the structure-activity relationships of the series of derivatives of tanshinone IIA sulfonate sodium (TSS) and chloroxine based on biochemical analysis and molecular dynamics simulation. We found that compound

The precise role of bile acid in the progression of liver fibrosis has yet to be elucidated. In this study, common bile duct ligation was used as an in vivo mouse model for the evaluation of bile acids that promote liver connective tissue growth factor expression.Primary rat and mice hepatocytes, as well as primary rat hepatic stellate and HepaRG cells were evaluated as in vitro models for promoting the expression of connective tissue growth factor by bile acids.Compared with taurochenodeoxycholic acid, glycochenodeoxycholic acid, and taurocholic acid, glycocholic acid (GCA) most strongly promoted the secretion of connective tissue growth factor in mouse primary hepatocytes, rat primary hepatocytes and HepaRGs. GCA did not directly promote the activation of hepatic stellate cells. The administration of GCA in mice with ligated bile ducts promotes the progression of liver fibrosis, which may promote the yes-associated protein of hepatocytes into the nucleus, resulting in the hepatocytes secreting more connective tissue growth factor for hepatic stellate cell activation. In conclusion, our data showed that GCA can induce the expression of connective tissue growth factor in hepatocytes by promoting the nuclear translocation of yes-associated protein, thereby activating hepatic stellate cells.Our findings help to elucidate the contribution of GCA to the progression of hepatic fibrosis in cholestatic disease and aid the clinical monitoring of cholestatic liver fibrosis development.

Ultrasensitive detection of monomeric β-amyloid peptides is of fundamental significance for studying the pathological progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this article, by facilely engineering a gold microelectrode interface, we developed a novel electrochemical biosensor for sensitive and selective monitoring of β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) monomers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Through specific Cu2+-Aβ-hemin coordination, Aβ directed the assembly of Cu2+-PEI/AuNPs-hemin nanoprobes into network aggregates on a microelectrode interface, which promoted the enrichment of Aβ monomers on the microelectrode. Furthermore, the AuNP aggregate promotes the deposition of silver nanoparticles, which were utilized for the electrochemical stripping analysis of the Aβ monomer. The proposed method displayed ultra-sensitivity for Aβ monomers with the detection limit down to 0.2 pM. Besides, high selectivity toward Aβ monomers was observed. These remarkable analytical performances render the electrochemical biosensor useful for evaluating the dynamic change of Aβ monomer level in CSF of live mice with AD, promoting the investigation of the role that Aβ monomers play in brain events.

Obeticholic acid (OCA) was approved for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) patients, as it can significantly improve the level of serum alkaline phosphatase. However, OCA-induced liver injury in PBC patients puts them at risk of acute chronic liver failure, thus limiting the clinical application of OCA. Osteopontin (OPN), an extracellular cell matrix molecule, is highly induced in many cholestatic liver diseases. Herein we explored whether liver injury exacerbation by OCA was related to OPN.Bile duct ligation (BDL) mice were treated with OCA (40 mg/kg) to evaluate its effect on liver injury and OPN involvement. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, western blot, immunohistochemistry, and other assays were used to detect OPN levels in serum and liver. Immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence, among other assays, were used to evaluate the extent of ductular reaction. The extent of fibrosis was also determined using various assays, such as immunohistochemistry, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), and hydroxyproline assays.OPN was overexpressed in the liver of BDL mice treated with OCA. OCA induced overexpression of OPN exacerbated ductular reaction, fibrosis, and liver inflammation, and reduced hepatocyte proliferation.Upon liver injury, OCA upregulates the expression of OPN in the liver and accelerates disease progression. This mechanism helps explain the risk of liver damage associated with OCA.

Although separation of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) according to their helicity and handedness has been attracting tremendous interest recently, exploration of the left- and right-handed SWCNT enantiomers (defined as "M" and "P") to chiral sensing still remains in the early stage. Here we presented a new electrochemical sensor for chiral discrimination, which for the first time amplified the chiral selection on the electrode surface based on the left- or right-handed semiconducting SWCNT enantiomers with (6,5)-enriched chirality. The enantioselectivity was demonstrated by different peak current response to analyte enantiomers, observed in differential pulse voltammogram (DPV). Chiral distinguishing might be a result of the formation of an efficient chiral nanospace originating from the high purity of single enantiomer of (6,5) SWCNT. The obtained chiral electrodes were also applied to determine the enantiomeric excess (ee) of DOPA. There was a good linear relationship between DPV peak currents and % ee of l-DOPA. This study is the first example showing how the structure of chiral SWCNTs influences electrochemical chiral recognition.

Much of our knowledge of gas hydrate in the Dongsha area of the South China Sea has been gained through intensive geophysical surveys and drilling. However, many factors remain unclear, such as the co-existence of shallow gas hydrate and deeper gas hydrate. This lack of clarity is partially due to the lack of a depth-domain velocity model and accurate imagery of the gas hydrate-bearing sediments. In this study, pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) is used to produce subsurface images using a depth-domain velocity model from OBS tomography as the migration velocity. A simple initial velocity model was built using the seafloor depth information derived from multi-channel seismic (MCS) data. This simple model was used to build a more accurate velocity model by using first arrival time tomography from OBS data. Three different approaches were used to assess the reliability of the velocity model. Resolution tests and uncertainties analysis were used to further evaluate the model. The final PSDM image revealed some features more clearly than they were seen on the time migration image. These features help better explain the complex gas hydrate system. The depth of a bottom-simulating reflector (BSR) was picked directly from the PSDM image. This BSR is very consistent with the drilling result. Our work highlights the importance of PSDM in the study of gas hydrate in complex settings and highlights the potential and value of using OBS refraction in building shallow velocity models.

Chitosan and its derivatives show potent biocompatibility, biodegradability, antimicrobial activity, hemostatic effects, and wound healing properties. Their application in wound dressings has garnered substantial research interest. In this work, we prepared a drug-loaded hydrogel by mixing N-glycosylated chitosan with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), followed by loading of ofloxacin. A 2:1 volume ratio of chitosan to PVA was found to be optimal based on swelling and water evaporation rates. The slow-drug-release performance of the blended hydrogel was best when the ofloxacin loading was 5.0%. The ofloxacin-loaded hydrogel shows excellent antimicrobial properties in vitro and wound healing ability in an in vivo rabbit full-thickness excision wound model. The chitosan/PVA blended hydrogel has great potential for use in wound dressings and sustained drug release.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Zhuanggu Guanjie Pill (ZGGJP), a modern Chinese medicine formula, is composed of 12 herbs and has been used to treat osteoporosis in China for almost 30 years. However, no in vivo study of the influences of ZGGJP on the cytochrome P450 (CYP) activities have been reported. Aim of the study The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ZGGJP on the activities and the mRNA expression of CYP enzymes (CYP1A2, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2E1 and CYP3A) and their corresponding nuclear receptor levels in rats. Materials and methods After 7 days oral treatment of ZGGJP at low- and high-dose, cocktail solution was given to rats. Blood samples were collected at series of time points. The plasma concentrations of probe drugs and their corresponding metabolites were determined by UPLC-MS/MS. The influence of ZGGJP on the activities of seven CYPs were evaluated the metabolic ratios (Cmax and AUC0-t) for metabolites/probe drugs. In addition, the effects of ZGGJP on the mRNA expression of CYPs and their corresponding nuclear receptors in rat liver were evaluated by real-time PCR. Results ZGGJP showed significant inductive effects on CYP1A2 and CYP2B6 of both male and female rats. The influence of ZGGJP on CYP2C9 and CYP3A showed gender difference. ZGGJP could induce the activities of CYP2C9 and CYP3A in female rats, but have no influence on the activities in male rats. ZGGJP had no effects on CYP2D6, CYP2C19 and CYP2E1. The mRNA expression results of CYPs were in accordance with the pharmacokinetic results. The mRNA expression levels of constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) were increased significantly in female rats at high dosage, but no significant changes were observed in male rats. Conclusion ZGGJP had inductive effects on CYP1A2 and CYP2B6 in both male and female rats. The results showed that ZGGJP could induce the activities of CYP2C9 and CYP3A in female rats, but had no effect in male rats. This may suggest that the influence of ZGGJP on CYP2C9 and CYP3A exhibit gender difference. The inductive effects of ZGGJP on the activities of CYPs, exhibiting gender difference, may be regulated by CAR and VDR. Therefore, co-administration of ZGGJP with other drugs, especially using CYP2C9 and CYP3A substrates in females, may need dose adjustment to avoid herb-drug interaction.

SARS‐CoV‐2 caused the emerging epidemic of coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID‐19). To date, there are more than 82.9 million confirmed cases worldwide, there is no clinically effective drug against SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. The conserved properties of the membrane fusion domain of the spike (S) protein across SARS‐CoV‐2 make it a promising target to develop pan‐CoV therapeutics. Herein, two clinically approved drugs, Itraconazole (ITZ) and Estradiol benzoate (EB), are found to inhibit viral entry by targeting the six‐helix (6‐HB) fusion core of SARS‐CoV‐2 S protein. Further studies shed light on the mechanism that ITZ and EB can interact with the heptad repeat 1 (HR1) region of the spike protein, to present anti‐SARS‐CoV‐2 infections in vitro, indicating they are novel potential therapeutic remedies for COVID‐19 treatment. Furthermore, ITZ shows broad‐spectrum activity targeting 6‐HB in the S2 subunit of SARS‐CoV and MERS‐CoV S protein, inspiring that ITZ have the potential for development as a pan‐coronavirus fusion inhibitor., An effective drug against COVID‐19 is urgently needed while the current SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Here Itraconazole and Estradiol benzoate are identified to inhibit SARS‐CoV‐2 infection via blocking the spike protein S2 subunit‐mediated membrane fusion and entry into the host cell by targeting the highly conserved six‐helical bundle (6‐HB) fusion core. Furthermore, Itraconazole is confirmed as a potential broad‐spectrum coronavirus fusion inhibitor.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) as components of innate immunity system have been isolated from fish and other species. In this study, the crude proteins extracted with gradient ammonium sulfate precipitation technique from the processing by-products of African catfish Clarias gariepinus (C. gariepinus) were purified by size-exclusion chromatography and all the four obtained fractions, Clarias antimicrobial peptides I(CAP-I), CAP-II, CAP-III and CAP-IV, showed antimicrobial activity. Among of these fractions, CAP-IV showed the highest antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Aeromonas sobria, Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli by agar diffusion plate test and the diameter of inhibition zone was 8.34, 9.27, 6.76, 6.13 mm, respectively. The molecular weight of main peptides of CAP-IV was around 4.1 KD by SDS-PAGE analysis. CAP-IV showed antimicrobial activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial pathogens at minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 105 to 420 μg/mL. The antimicrobial activity of CAP-IV was stable at wide pH range, 3–11 and was also heat-stable when temperature was below 80 °C. Freeze-thawing treatment also only had slight effects on the antimicrobial activity of CAP-IV. Besides, CAP-IV was not sensitive to the hydrolysis by pepsin and trypsin, except for protease K. These results suggest that CAP-IV isolated from C. gariepinus is potential to be developed as a new antimicrobial peptide and may partially explain the high disease resistance of African catfish C. gariepinus.

For the first time, the dechlorination of 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP) by carbon nanotubes supported Fe/Ni nanoparticles (CNTs-Fe/Ni) was studied to explore the practicability of environmental remediation. Removal capacity of CNTs-Fe/Ni for 2,6-DCP was enhanced obviously compared to Fe/Ni due to reduced aggregation of Fe/Ni nanoparticles.The removal efficiency increased as the increase of CNTs-Fe/Ni dosage and Ni loading, whereas it decreased as the increase of 2,6-DCP concentration. Weak acidic condition was considered to be advantageous to 2,6-DCP dechlorination. The dechlorination kinetics results suggested that the 2,6-DCP removal by CNTs-Fe/Ni accorded with pseudo-first-order equation. Moreover, carbon nanotubes as support accelerated the mass transfer of 2,6-DCP from solution to catalyst surface and promoted the formation of atomic hydrogen, which also led to an enhancement of reactivity of CNTs-Fe/Ni on removing 2,6-DCP.

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) have been considered as one of the most promising materials in drug delivery systems. It is important to understand the interaction mechanism between chitosan and BNNTs from atomic level. Herein, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were employed to investigate the interaction mechanism and loading mechanism of chitosan into/onto BNNTs. The effect of functional group in chitosan and the diameter of BNNTs on the interaction mechanism between BNNTs and chitosan were discussed. It is found that chitosan can only absorb on the outer surface of BNNT (12,12) owing to the size of chitosan and its solvent layer. The loading process of chitosan with –NH2 group (CS_A10) into the BNNT (14,14) is much easier than that for –NH3+ group system (CS_B10). The different loading dynamics for CS_A10/CS_B10 were explained from Gibbs free energy as well as the solvation behavior of chitosan chains.

In this study, gradient ammonium sulfate [(NH4)2SO4] precipitation technique was employed to extract antibacterial proteins/peptides from C. gariepinus wastes. 20, 40 and 60% were respectively used as initial saturation of (NH4)2SO4, then some indexes of crude proteins/peptides obtained at 80 and 100% saturation (NH4)2SO4 were compared. The yield of crude extracts obtained at 80% saturation (NH4)2SO4 was the highest when the material was precipitated initially at 60% saturation (NH4)2SO4. However, the yields of the fractions at 100% saturation (NH4)2SO4, precipitated initially at 20%, 40% and 60% saturation (NH4)2SO4, respectively, didn’t show significant differences. All of crude extracts had inhibitory activity against A. hydrophila, E. coli and S. aureus. The extracts obtained at the same saturation didn’t display obvious different patterns on the SDS-PAGE gel. Based on the results above-mentioned, we proposed that 60% saturation (NH4)2SO4 could be used as initial saturation in gradient (NH4)2SO4 fractionation for obtaining antibacterial proteins/peptides from C. gariepinus wastes.

This study describes different surface energy monolayer modified Silastic micro-fiber Arrays (PDMS Arrays) to enhance the adhesion and water lubrication performances of PDMS Arrays. A multistep fabrication process consisting of electrochemical etching silicon wafers, cast PDMS Arrays, grafts poly(methylhydrosiloxane) (PMHS) onto PDMS Arrays, and modified the PDMS Arrays surface with Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate(PEG-MA) and Poly(tetrafluoroethylene acrylate) (PTFE-PA), an intrinsically adhesive synthetic polymer. Attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to monitor the entire process. Results showed that Si-H peak disappeared and two characteristic peaks appeared means PEG-MA and PTFE-PA successful graft to PDMS Arrays Surface. Results from cohesive tests showed that the adhesion of PEG-MA-g-PDMS Arrays enhance, but the adhesion of PTFE-PA-g-PDMS Arrays decrease. Results from water lubrication tests showed that the hydrophilicity of PEG-MA-g-PDMS Arrays increase, contact angle from 122.5° to 94.2°, but PTFE-PA-g-PDMS Arrays contact angle is increased to 129.1°.

A new kind of composite membrane for the pervaporation dehydration of acetic acid was prepared by casting sodium alginate (NaAlg) solution onto a microporous polypropylene membrane (MPPM) which possessed well-controlled porosity and excellent solvent resistance. The MPPM surface was modified by N2 plasma prior to the fabrication of the corresponding NaAlg-based composite membrane in order to improve its compatibility with the NaAlg active layer. The active layer of the NaAlg/MPPM composite membrane was then cross-linked with multivalent ions. This cross-linking behavior restricted the mobility of the polymer chains in the active layer and accordingly increased their relaxation time. Interestingly, the activation energy of the pervaporation process increased linearly with the relaxation time. Pervaporation results indicated that the prepared composite membranes exhibited desirable separation properties, and a good compromise between flux and separation factor was observed. For the separation of an 80/20 wt% acetic acid/water mixture at 50 °C, the Ca2+ cross-linked composite membrane (Ca-Alg/MPPM) displayed a separation factor of 631 and a flux of 653 g/m2 h, which surpassed most NaAlg-based homogeneous membranes and other composite membranes reported in the literature. These results suggest that the prepared composite membranes have promising potential for acetic acid dehydration.

The report of using electrospun nanofibrous mats as skeletons to produce self-supporting and integrated Zn-MOF membranes was described, which can be used as a new kind of porous supports for the development of MOF membranes. Thin films of Zn-MOF/PST- 1 with a macroporous network structure were prepared by using electrospinning technique. The secondary growth technique was developed to strongly anchor Zn-MOF seed crystals on porous supports Zn-MOF/PST- 1 to form Zn-MOF/PST- 2 thin films. The MOF films of secondary growth have a good fluorescence quenching sensitivity to the nitroaromatic explosives such as dinitrotoluene (DNT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and thus can be good candidates for trace nitroaromatic explosives detection.

Poly(vinyl alcohol)-based membranes with controllable surface structures and bulk characteristics were prepared by casting PVA/poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) solutions onto different substrates. Four kinds of surfaces, namely the air-side 1 and glass-side surface (a glass plate used as substrate), the air-side 2 and PTFE-side surface (a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) plate used as substrate), were formed. At any a given content of PAA in PVA casting solution, the air-side 1 and PTFE-side surfaces of the resulting membranes were less hydrophilic than the corresponding glass-side and air-side 2. Interestingly, there was similar surface composition between the air-side 1 and PTFE-side, and between the glass-side and air-side 2. Furthermore, the membranes prepared on a PTFE plate exhibited higher crystallinity than those formed on a glass plate. By an induction of the underlying substrates, the surface composition and bulk characteristics of those PVA-based membranes could be tuned. Pervaporation experiments for separating acetic acid/water mixtures through those membranes were carried out, and the results indicated that the permselectivity was mainly dependent on membrane surface composition, whereas the permeability was more significantly governed by membrane bulk characteristics. This provides a feasible method for the structure optimization of a high-efficient membrane and mechanism exploration in pervaporation separation.

Stilbenoids including resveratrol contain the basic structural unit of 1,2-diphenylethylene. Naturally occurring stilbenoids have broad structural features due to oligomerization and modifications and some have demonstrated potent biological activities. In an effort to identify bioactive stilbenoids, we screened a group of dimeric and oligomeric stilbenoids against HSV-1 and HSV-2 infection. Several trimeric and tetrameric derivatives showed anti-herpetic activity at single digit micromolar concentrations. HSV-1 and HSV-2 replication requires for NF-κB and MAPK activation. The compounds showed no inhibitory activity against NF-κB and Erk/MAPK activation, instead those compounds promoted rapid and transient release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Addition of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a scavenger of ROS, reversed the inhibitory effect of those compounds against HSV replication. In addition to the identification of resveratrol derivatives with potent anti-HSV activity, our results uncover a mechanism of polyphenol-mediated anti-HSV response, linking anti-herpetic activity of oligomeric stilbenoids to innate immunity.

The 2′,5′-oligoadenylate synthetases (OASs) are IFN-induced antiviral proteins and are upregulated by infection of viral and some bacterial pathogens. There are at least 2 transcripts of approximately 1.8 and 2.0 kb in interferon-beta treated samples that are recognized by a probe for human OASL in Northern blot assay. By RT-PCR amplification we have isolated a previously undescribed splice variant of human OASL, named OASL d. The new variant was derived from deletion of exons 4 and 5 and encodes a protein of 384 aa residues that shares the N-terminal 219 aa residues with OASL a. Sequence analysis indicates that OASL d also contains the entire ubiquitin-like domain identified in human OASL a. OASL d was strongly induced by IFNγ in THP-1 monocytic cells and in A549 epithelial cells by interferon-beta as detected by immunoblotting assay. Ectopic expression of OASL a or OASL d, but not OASL b that shares the N-terminus with OASL a and d, partially inhibited EV71 and VSV infection. No effect against HSV-2 infection was observed. Therefore, OASL d is a novel isoform of human OASL that possesses antiviral activity against RNA viruses.

A novel organic/inorganic hybrid copolymer poly[styrene- co -3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl-methacrylate] [P(St- co -TMSPMA)] (denoted as PST) was successfully prepared from styrene and TMSPMA by free-radical polymerization. These composite fiber mats of PST were fabricated via a typical electrospinning process using a single solvent system. As shown in the SEM, the PST composite nanofibers have a smooth and uniform surface and the average diameter is about 0.2 ± 0.04 μm. After the methoxysilyl groups (Si O CH 3 ) were hydrolyzed toward silanol groups (Si OH), the nanofibrous mats exhibited remarkable solvent and temperature resistance. On account of good chemical and thermal stability, this hybrid mats can provide a useful platform for developing functionalized mat systems.

Highlights ►Houttuynia cordata Thunb. exhibits strong activity against herpes simplex virus. ►H. cordata blocks HSV-2 infection through inhibition of NF-κB, not MAPK. ► Flavonoids like quercetin, quercitrin and isoquercitrin as major active components., Houttuynia cordata Thunb. is a medicinal plant widely used in folk medicine in several Asian countries. It has been reported that a water extract of H. cordata exhibits activity against herpes simplex virus (HSV) and the virus of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), although the mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Previous studies have demonstrated absolute requirement of NF-κB activation for efficient replication of HSV-1 and HSV-2 and inhibition of NF-κB activation has been shown to suppress HSV infection. Here we show that a hot water extract of H. cordata (HCWE) inhibits HSV-2 infection through inhibition of NF-κB activation. The IC50 was estimated at 50 μg/ml of lyophilized HCWE powder. At 150 and 450 μg/ml, HCWE blocked infectious HSV-2 production by more than 3 and 4 logs, respectively. The inhibitory activity was concomitant with an inhibition of NF-κB activation by HSV-2 infection. Although activation of NF-κB and Erk MAPK has been implicated for HSV replication and growth, HCWE showed no effect on HSV-2-induced Erk activation. Furthermore, we show that treatment with quercetin, quercitrin or isoquercitrin, major water extractable flavonoids from H. cordata, significantly blocked HSV-2 infection. These results together demonstrated that H. cordata blocks HSV-2 infection through inhibition of NF-κB activation.

Magnetic anisotropies of Fe/MgO/GaAs(100) hybrid structure with two different nonmagnetic capping materials, Au and MgO have been studied by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). A uniaxial anisotropy, unexpected from the crystal structure was observed in the ultrathin films for both capping materials. Its global easy axis is along [0-11] direction while two (010) directions are equally magnetic hard regardless of the overlayer material. The in-plane uniaxial anisotropy (in-plane cubic anisotropy) of the Au capped samples is stronger (weaker) than that of the MgO capped ones within the range of t Fe = 7.1 to 28 ML. This suggests that the MgO overlayer suppresses the uniaxial anisotropy faster than the Au overlayer.

In this paper, acetic acid was used for extracting crude antimicrobial proteins/peptides from by-products of healthy Clarias gariepinus reared at high stocking density. For the extraction process, three variables, namely the concentration of acetic acid, extraction time, and the ratio of liquid to solid were optimized by using orthogonal design L9(33) with the yield and antibacterial activity of the crude proteins/peptides extracts as test indices. The yields of extracted crude proteins were analyzed by range analysis. The results showed that the yield of crude proteins/peptides was different among nine groups, the highest was group 7, producing 1.5842 g (dialyzed in 1,000 MWCO and lyophilized) per 100 g raw material. All the nine extracted samples had similar inhibitory activity against Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter sp., and Microbacterium sp. except that groups 7 and 9 exhibited higher inhibitory activity against A. hydrophila and E. coli; moreover, the inhibitory activity of group 7 was higher than group 9 against the two bacteria strains. Nine groups did not display obvious different patterns on the SDS-PAGE gel. Based on these results above, the final conclusion was that group 7, namely 10 % acetic acid, 12 h extraction, and 5:1 liquid to solid ratio was the best combination for isolating the crude antimicrobial proteins/peptides from by-products of C. gariepinus.

An epizootic was discovered in grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) in earthen ponds in Ninghe, Tianjin Province, northern China, from May to June 2013. The cumulative mortality was 30% within 25 days, and the diseased fish presented with hemorrhaging in the abdominal wall, ascites in the abdomen and pale liver. Strains named PA131207 and PA131208 were isolated from the moribund fish, and were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa according to both biochemical tests and phylogenetic analysis derived from the 16S rRNA gene. The pathogenicity of PA131207 was confirmed by infectivity experiments and histopathological examination. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed that PA131207 was resistant to 9 of 15 antimicrobial agents tested.

Single-crystal Fe films of 4 to 33 monolayers (ML) on GaAs (100) prepared by molecular-beam epitaxy were studied by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). The evolution of both in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropies was observed. The FMR data show a predominant in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in the films with the thickness t less than 12.7 ML, with an easy axis along the 〈11_0〉 direction. An in-plane fourfold anisotropy due to cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy starts to appear and coexists with uniaxial magnetic anisotropy when t=8.4 ML, and increases with increasing film thickness. For t=33 ML, the cubic anisotropy constant K1 reaches 28.2×104 erg/cm3, which is 60% of the value for bulk bcc Fe. A strong perpendicular anisotropy in the ultrathin Fe films was observed. For t=4 ML, the perpendicular anisotropy constant is as high as 14.6×106 erg/cm3. It decreases with increasing the thickness t and reaches about 2.1×106 erg/cm3 for 33 ML, while a small fourth-order perpendicular anisotropy appears and incr...