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BACKGROUND RESULTS CONCLUSION Giant salamander protein peptide is a peptide with rich functional properties. Giant salamander protein peptide KGEYNK (KK‐6) is a peptide with both antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties. The antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory mechanisms of KK‐6 are still unclear. When we studied the functional mechanism of KK‐6, we found that the antioxidant property of KK‐6 has a synergistic and promoting effect on anti‐inflammatory properties.KK‐6 enhances cellular resistance to LPS via the MAPK/NF‐κB signaling pathway, leading to increased levels of inflammatory factors: interleukin‐1β (764.81 ng mL−1), interleukin‐6 (1.06 ng mL−1) and tumor necrosis factor‐α (4440.45 ng mL−1). KK‐6 demonstrates potent antioxidant properties by activating the Nrf2 signaling pathway, resulting in elevated levels of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase: 0.03 μg mL−1; superoxide dismutase: 0.589 μg mL−1) and a reduction in the concentration of the oxidative product malondialdehyde (967.05 μg mL−1).Our findings highlight the great potential of KK‐6, a peptide extracted from giant salamander protein, as a remedy for intestinal inflammation. Through its dual role as an antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory agent, KK‐6 offers a promising avenue for alleviating inflammation‐related damage and oxidative stress. This study lays the foundation for further exploration of giant salamander products and highlights their importance in health and novel food development. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The manufacturing process parameters play a critical role in determining the quality of resin‐matrix composite structures. This study aims to investigate the impact of process parameters on void content and identify the stable and minimal void content of nano‐reinforced filament‐wound risers. Fourteen process parameters were initially designed, taking into account winding tension, speed, and curing time, based on the Box–Behnken design method. Subsequently, a void content model was developed using the response surface method, utilizing experimental data. The study further explores the effects of individual and combined process parameters on void content and establishes a stable process window through sensitivity analysis. Finally, the PSO‐GWO algorithm is employed to optimize winding tension, speed, and curing time with the objective of reducing void content. The results of the numerical analysis highlight the significant influence of curing time on void content, and the optimal parametric combination is determined to be 48.4 N winding tension, 12.6 m/min winding speed, and 6.7 h of curing time. Highlights: Winding tension and rate have a similar impact on porosity content.Void content sensitivity to tension is affected by feed rate and curing time.The stable process windows are winding tension [28 N, 53 N], feed rate [30%, 78%], and curing time [5.1 h, 8.4 h].The optimal parameters combination is 48.4 N, 63%, and 6.7 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the demand for subjective evaluation of driveability for fuel cell vehicles, the modeling and evaluation method of driveability for fuel cell vehicles were studied in this paper. Firstly, a real-time model of the fuel cell vehicle powertrain system was established, which included the fuel cell model, power battery model, DC/DC converter model and drive motor model. Secondly, it was integrated with the vehicle dynamics model to form a virtual prototype of a fuel cell vehicle. And a virtual subjective evaluation platform for fuel cell vehicles was built by combining the virtual prototype and high-fidelity driving simulator. Thirdly, a subjective evaluation method of driveability for fuel cell vehicles was proposed, which included the starting performance, acceleration performance, uniform speed performance and tip-in/tip-out performance. Finally, the paper used the platform and method mentioned above to conduct subjective evaluations of the fuel cell vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cycloalkanols ring‐opening transformation is one of the most valuable and wide area of research. Among the numerous methods that have been developed, transition‐metal‐free approaches have attracted great interest from both chemists and pharmacologists. This is largely due to the advantages of being environmentally benign, cost‐effective and operationally simple. Here we provide a comprehensive outline on recent advances in the synthesis of distally substituted ketones and cyclic compounds via ring‐opening transformation of cycloalkanols under transition‐metal‐free conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Van Hove singularities in proximity to the Fermi level promote electronic interactions and generate diverse competing instabilities. It is also known that a nontrivial Berry phase derived from spin–orbit coupling can introduce an intriguing decoration into the interactions and thus alter correlated phenomena. However, it is unclear how and what type of new physics can emerge in a system featured by the interplay between van Hove singularities (VHSs) and the Berry phase. Here, based on a general Rashba model on the square lattice, we comprehensively explore such an interplay and its significant influence on the competing electronic instabilities by performing a parquet renormalization group analysis. Despite the existence of a variety of comparable fluctuations in the particle–particle and particle-hole channels associated with higher-order VHSs, we find that the chiral p ± i p pairings emerge as two stable fixed trajectories within the generic interaction parameter space, namely the system becomes a robust topological superconductor. The chiral pairings stem from the hopping interaction induced by the nontrivial Berry phase. The possible experimental realization and implications are discussed. Our work sheds new light on the correlated states in quantum materials with strong spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and offers fresh insights into the exploration of topological superconductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: According to prenatal ultrasonographic studies, single umbilical artery may be present alone or in association with other fetal abnormalities. So far, the exact pathogenesis of bladder exstrophy is unclear. Some scholars believe that bladder exstrophy and cloacal exstrophy should be regarded as a disease spectrum to explore their pathogenesis. If bladder exstrophy and cloacal exstrophy are regarded as the same disease spectrum, then we can speculate that the single umbilical artery should have the probability of being accompanied by bladder exstrophy at the same time. Case presentation: For the first time, we report a rare case of fetal bladder exstrophy with single umbilical artery in single pregnancy. This patient underwent targeted color Doppler ultrasound at 26 weeks of pregnancy which first suspected bladder exstrophy with single umbilical artery and fetal MRI for diagnosis at 38 + 3 weeks of pregnancy which confirmed the suspicion. After the diagnosis was confirmed, the patient was scheduled for a multidisciplinary discussion. Ultimately the patient opted for induced fetal demise at 38 + 5 weeks of pregnancy and the physical appearance of the fetal demise affirmed previous ultrasound and MRI examination results. Conclusions: Our report is the first finding of single umbilical artery combined with bladder exstrophy in a singleton pregnancy. Accordingly, our case enhances the evidence that cloacal exstrophy and bladder exstrophy should be treated as the same disease spectrum. In addition, we conducted a literature review on the diagnostic progress of single umbilical artery combined with bladder exstrophy, hoping to provide useful references for the diagnosis of this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphology manipulation of the active layers is important for improving the performance of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The choice of processing solvent has great impact on the crystallization and phase separation during film formation, since solvent properties, including solvent effect on molecular crystallization, boiling point, and interaction parameters, can directly change the evolution pathways associated with thermodynamics and kinetics. Therefore, revealing the underlying solvent-regulated morphology mechanism is potential to provide guiding strategies for device optimization. In this study, chloroform, chlorobenzene, and toluene are used to process PM6:Y6 blends by slot-die printing to fabricate OPV devices. The chloroform printed film forms a fibrillar network morphology with enhanced crystallization, facilitating exciton dissociation, charge transport and extraction, resulting in an optimal power conversion efficiency of 16.22%. However, the addition of the additive chloronaphthalene in chloroform solution leads to over-crystallization of Y6, and thus, increasing domain size that exceeds the exciton diffusion length, resulting in lower device efficiency. In addition, both the chlorobenzene and toluene suppress the crystallization of Y6, which drastically decreased short-circuit current and fill factor. These results demonstrate the important role of processing solvent in dictating film morphology, which critically connects with the resultant printed OPV performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the protein composition, characteristics and fishy odor of Nepture volute proteins (NVPs) were investigated. First, proteome (salt-soluble, water-soluble, acid-soluble, alkali-soluble) were analyzed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography quadrupole/time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLCQ/TOF). Fishy substances were determined by electronic tongue and Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Gene ontology annotation represented NVPs had different functions due to abundance of precursor proteins, leading to differentiation of NVPs. Therefore, the peptide markers of four main precursor proteins shared by NVPs were identified (STGGKAPR-histone H3, IENQNK Bauhinin-2, GLSLLIR-cytochrome oxidase subunit-1, GLMMFGL-NADH dehydrogenase subunit-1). Additionally, NVPs can preserve HepG2 cells from oxidative damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sorting operation of the production line in a heavy industrial scenario has the double complexity of the problem and the data. To improve production efficiency, the operation needs to be optimized. Aimed at this problem, this article designs a data representation method and an evolutionary job scheduling algorithm with an optimized population by deep reinforcement learning (DRL). Moreover, a real industrial dataset is contributed. The representation method represents the job data by referring to the bag-of-words model. The evolutionary algorithm uses DRL to initialize the genetic algorithm (GA)'s population and further evolves the population through the GA to obtain the final scheduling result. The experimental results indicate that the evolutionary algorithm has achieved the largest decrease in the average times for frame clearing on the real and simulated validation datasets, which are 12.54 % and 11.43 % , respectively. It is of great significance for subsequent scheduling of the full-scenario digital twin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system continuously collects data from wind turbines (WTs), which provides a basis for condition monitoring (CM) of WTs. However, due to the complexity and high dimension and nonlinearity of data, effective modeling of spatial-temporal correlations among the data still becomes a primary challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel CM approach based on the m ultidirectional s patial- t emporal f eature a ggregation n etworks (MSTFAN) to accurately evaluate the performance and hence diagnose the faults of the turbines. Firstly, the data collected from various sensors are formulated into graph-structured data at each timestamp. Spatial-temporal network constructed by combing a graph attention network (GAT) and a temporal convolutional network (TCN) is used to extract spatial-temporal features of the data. Then, a bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) neural network is adopted to further study long-term spatial-temporal dependency of the extracted features. Finally, the condition score is obtained and the streaming peaks over threshold (SPOT) is applied to determine the abnormal threshold for early warning of the fault occurrence. Experiments on datasets from real-world wind farms demonstrate that the proposed approach can detect the early abnormal situation of the WTs, and outperform other established methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exosomes are extracellular vesicles with a diameter ranging from 30 to 150 nm, which are an important medium for intercellular communication and are closely related to the progression of certain diseases. Therefore, exosomes are considered promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of specific diseases, and thereby, treatments based on exosomes are being widely examined. For exosome-related research, a rapid, simple, high-purity, and recovery isolation method is the primary prerequisite for exosomal large-scale application in medical practice. Although there are no standardized methods for exosome separation and analysis, various techniques have been established to explore their biochemical and physicochemical properties. In this review, we analyzed the progress in exosomal isolation strategies and proposed our views on the development prospects of various exosomal isolation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycogen is a predominant carbohydrate reserve in various organisms, which provides energy for different life activities. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is a central player that catalyzes glucose and converts it into glycogen. In this study, a GSK3 gene was identified from the D. citri genome database and named DcGSK3. A reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that DcGSK3 was expressed at a high level in the head and egg. The silencing of DcGSK3 by RNA interference (RNAi) led to a loss-of-function phenotype. In addition, DcGSK3 knockdown decreased trehalase activity, glycogen, trehalose, glucose and free fatty acid content. Moreover, the expression levels of the genes associated with chitin and fatty acid synthesis were significantly downregulated after the silencing of DcGSK3. According to a comparative transcriptomics analysis, 991 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in dsDcGSK3 groups compared with dsGFP groups. A KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that these DEGs were primarily involved in carbon and fatty acid metabolism. The clustering analysis of DEGs further confirmed that chitin and fatty acid metabolism-related DEGs were upregulated at 24 h and were downregulated at 48 h. Our results suggest that DcGSK3 plays an important role in regulating the chitin and fatty acid metabolism of D. citri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a highly disabling disorder for which few effective treatments are available. Grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) are polyphenolic compounds with various biological activities. In our preliminary experiment, GSP promoted functional recovery in rats with SCI, but the mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, we explored the protective effects of GSP on SCI and its possible underlying mechanisms. We found that GSP promoted locomotor recovery, reduced neuronal apoptosis, increased neuronal preservation, and regulated microglial polarisation in vivo. We also performed in vitro studies to verify the effects of GSP on neuronal protection and microglial polarisation and their potential mechanisms. We found that GSP regulated microglial polarisation and inhibited apoptosis in PC12 cells induced by M1-BV2 cells through the Toll-like receptor 4- (TLR4-) mediated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/serine threonine kinase (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathways. This suggests that GSP regulates microglial polarisation and prevents neuronal apoptosis, possibly by the TLR4-mediated NF-κB and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pathogen characteristics in sewage, sludge, and air during rural sewage treatment process. • Rural WWTFs cut down on the genera and concentration of pathogens. • Effluent caused higher pathogen concentrations in downstream river than in upstream river. • Pathogens in aerosol and sludge were mainly from sewage and biological units, respectively. • Aerobic unit aerosols and effluent of rural WWTFs increased the microbial exposure risks. Pathogenic microorganisms can cause infection, sepsis, and other diseases in humans. Although municipal wastewater plants are important sources and sinks for potential pathogenic microorganisms, data on rural wastewater treatment processes are limited. The proximity of rural wastewater facilities to human settlements and the trend toward wastewater resourcing could pose risks to humans. Here, a typical village in southern China was selected to analyze potential pathogenic microorganisms in wastewater, sewage sludge, and aerosols during the collection, treatment, and discharge of domestic wastewater. The succession characteristics and concentration variations of potential pathogenic microorganisms throughout the wastewater treatment process were identified using high-throughput sequencing and culture methods. Bacteria-associated health risks in facility aerosols were estimated based on average daily dose rates from inhalation and dermal exposure. Lower amounts of pathogenic bacteria and pathogenic fungi were detected in the effluent of the 1-ton treatment scale and the 10-ton treatment scale facilities, compared to those in the influent. Pathogen effluent concentrations were significantly lower than influent concentrations after treatment in rural wastewater facilities. 16 and 29 potential pathogenic bacteria and fungi were detected in aerosols from wastewater treatment facilities, respectively. Furthermore, the potential pathogen concentrations were higher than those in the background air. Aerobic units are the main source of pathogen emissions from aerosols. There were 42 potential pathogenic bacteria and 34 potential pathogenic fungi in the sewage sludge. Biochemical units were the main source of potential pathogens in sewage sludge, and more potential airborne pathogens originated from wastewater. In rural wastewater resourcing processes with greater pollutant exposure, the effluent of rural wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs), downstream rivers, and facility aerosols, could be important potential sources of microbial risk. Inhalation is the main pathway of human exposure to airborne bacteria. Therefore, more attention should be focused on microbiological risk in rural wastewater treatment processes. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • 50 pathogenic bacteria were detected in raw rural sewage sludge-based mixed pile. • Lactobacillus and Sphingomonas were the main pathogenic bacteria in raw mixed piles. • 23 pathogens have been reduced through rural sewage sludge-based co-composting. • About 74% of pathogen concentrations dropped below 1000 copies/g after composting. • Temperature above 50℃ has a significant reduction in the concentration of pathogens. Composting is an effective way to prevent and control the spread of pathogenic microorganisms which could put potential risk to humans and environment, from rural solid waste, especially sewage sludge and food waste. In the study, we aim to analyze the changes of pathogenic bacteria during the co-composting of rural sewage sludge and food waste. The results showed that only 27 pathogenic bacteria were detected after composting, compared to 50 pathogenic bacteria in the raw mixed pile. About 74% of pathogen concentrations dropped below 1000 copies/g after composting. Lactobacillus , Bacillus , Paenibacillus and Comamonas were the core pathogenic bacteria in the compost, of which concentrations were all significantly lower than that in the raw mixed pile at the end of composting. The concentration of Lactobacillus decreased to 3.03 × 103 copies/g compared to 0 d with 1.25 × 109 copies/g by the end of the composting, while that of Bacillus, Paenibacillus and Comamonas decreased to 2.77 × 104 copies/g, 2.13 × 104 copies/g and 3.38 × 102 copies/g, respectively, with 1.26 × 107 copies/g, 4.71 × 106 copies/g, 1.69 × 108 copies/g on 0 d. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that physicochemical factors and substances could affect the changes of pathogenic bacteria during composting, while temperature was the key influencing factor. In addition, certain potential pathogenic bacteria, such as Bacteroides-Bifidobacterium , show statistically strong and significant co-occurrence during composting, which may increase the risk of multiple infections and also influence their distribution. These findings provide a theoretical reference for biosafety prevention and control in the treatment and disposal of rural solid waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of high computational cost, high equipment cost, and low robustness of existing indoor personnel gait recognition methods, this paper proposes a highly robust indoor personnel gait recognition method based on Channel State Information (CSI), called WiKown. This method uses the fast Fourier transform to set an energy indicator to monitor the occurrence of walking behavior. The collected CSI gait data are filtered and de-noised. Then, the characteristic values are extracted in the form of the sliding window and the observation sequence is established. Finally, Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is used to superimpose and fit the sequence, and then Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is used to calculate the probability of observation sequence to generate the gait parameter model. The method can effectively identify the gait information. In the real multi-person environment of corridors, laboratories, and halls, the average recognition rate of the WiKown method for a single person's gait can reach 92.71%. The experimental results show that, compared with the decision tree, dynamic time structuring, and long-duration memory network methods, this method can effectively identify gait information and improve the recognition accuracy and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A Co-Mn bimetallic catalyst supported on MCM-41 was synthesized. • This catalyst is capable of performing photothermal CO 2 oxidative dehydrogenation of propane. • The activity is partially derived from enhanced electron transfer and photothermal conversion. • The remarkable photoelectric properties also significantly contribute to the catalytic reaction. Compared with conventional thermal catalysis reaction, the photothermal CO 2 -assisted oxidative dehydrogenation of propane (CO 2 -ODHP) to produce propylene and CO is an environmentally friendly and sustainable method that operates at lower temperatures. In the present work, we have developed a series of Co-Mn/MCM-41 catalysts and utilized them in the photothermal CO 2 -ODHP reaction. Among these catalysts, the sample with Co and Mn loadings of 3 % resulted in activities of 225.7 μmol g cat −1 h−1 of propylene and 272.0 μmol g cat −1 h−1 of CO at 250 °C. Characterization results revealed that the electron transfer and interplay between Co and Mn oxides enhance the photoelectronic response and reduce impedance, facilitating the electron transfer process. Besides, the Co and Mn bimetallic species could enhance photothermal conversion efficiency and further enhance the local temperature during the reaction. The present work introduces a novel strategy for building supported bimetallic oxides in achieving CO 2 -ODHP via the photothermal route and is also expected to provide an optional catalyst required satisfactions including efficient electron transfer and photothermal conversion for other photothermal reactions. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have found that "general catharsis", such as hitting sandbags, does not reduce but increases an individual's anger feeling and aggressive behavior. Although the "goal catharsis" that is directed at attacking targets can temporarily relieve anger, there is a risk of increasing the tendency of aggressive personality if it is used for a long time. These findings raise serious doubts and challenges to the traditional view that "anger must be released" held by the classic catharsis theory that many people still trust. The present study compared the effects of "general catharsis" and "goal catharsis" on anger‐related responses among Chinese people, and the Chinese written form of catharsis was used in this study. The results showed that after participants were provoked, the aggressive behavior of participants who wrote down their dissatisfaction (general catharsis condition) was significantly higher than that of participants who wrote to attack someone who irritated them (goal catharsis condition) as well as that of participants who completed a simple recall task (control condition), and there was no significant difference in the aggressive behavior level between the latter two cases. These results suggest that the catharsis effect is no better than a simple recall task similar to attention distraction, that is, aggressive catharsis is not an effective way for anger relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can lead to intestinal injury, endotoxemia, and disturbance of intestinal flora. Additionally, as a crucial component of the endocannabinoid system, some studies have demonstrated that cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors are closely linked to the multiple organ dysfunction triggered by OSA. However, the role of the CB1 receptor in alleviating OSA-induced colon injury remains unclear. Here, through the construction of the OSA classic model, we found that the colon tissue of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)–induced mice exhibited an overexpression of the CB1 receptor. The results of hematoxylin-eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy revealed that inhibition of the CB1 receptor could decrease the gap between the mucosa and muscularis mucosae, alleviate mitochondrial swelling, reduce microvilli shedding, and promote the recovery of tight junctions of CIH-induced mice. Furthermore, CB1 receptor inhibition reduced the levels of metabolic endotoxemia and inflammatory responses, exhibiting significant protective effects on the colon injury caused by CIH. At the molecular level, through western blotting and real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques, we found that inhibiting the CB1 receptor can significantly increase the expression of ZO-1 and Occludin proteins, which are closely related to the maintenance of intestinal mucosal barrier function. Through 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) determination, we found that inhibition of the CB1 receptor increased the diversity of the microbial flora and controlled the makeup of intestinal flora. Moreover, butyric acid concentration and the amount of SCFA-producing bacteria, such as Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae, were both markedly elevated by CB1 receptor inhibition. The results of the spearman correlation study indicated that Lachnospiraceae showed a positive association with both ZO-1 and Occludin but was negatively correlated with the colon CB1 receptor, IL-1β, and TNF-α. According to this study, we found that inhibiting CB1 receptor can improve CIH-induced colon injury by regulating gut microbiota, reducing mucosal damage and promoting tight junction recovery. Key points: •CIH leads to overexpression of CB1 receptor in colon tissue. •CIH causes intestinal flora disorder, intestinal mucosal damage, and disruption of tight junctions. •Inhibition of CB1 receptor can alleviate the colon injury caused by CIH through regulating the gut microbiota, reducing mucosal injury, and promoting tight junction recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sarcopenia was recently reported to be relevant to an increased macro-and microvascular disease risk. Sarcopenia index (SI) has been identified as a surrogate marker for sarcopenia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between macro- and microvascular disease and SI in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 783 patients with T2DM were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The SI was calculated by (serum creatinine [mg/dL]/cystatin C [mg/L]) × 100. The subjects were divided into three groups according to SI tertiles: T1 (41.27–81.37), T2 (81.38– 99.55), and T3 (99.56–192.31). Parameters of macro- and microvascular complications, including diabetic retinopathy (DR), micro- and macroalbuminuria (MAU), diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), and lower extremity peripheral artery disease (LEAD) were evaluated. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that when taking the top tertile of SI as a reference, an increasing trend of the prevalence of DR, MAU, DPN, and LEAD were presented (all Pfor trend < 0.05), where the OR (95% CI) for DR prevalence was 1.967 (1.252–3.090) in T2, 2.195 (1.278–3.769) in T1, for MAU was 1.805 (1.149–2.837) in T2, 2.537 (1.490–4.320) in T1, for DPN was 2.244 (1.485–3.391) in T2, 3.172 (1.884–5.341) in T1, and for LEAD was 2.017 (1.002–4.057) in T2, 2.405 (1.107–5.225) in T1 (all P < 0.05). Patients with lower SI were more inclined to have an increased risk of macro- and microvascular damage in T2DM population, which may be related to sarcopenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to serious motor and sensory dysfunction of the limbs below the injured segment. SCI not only results in physical and psychological harm to patients but can also cause a huge economic burden on their families and society. As there is no effective treatment method, the prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with SCI have become urgent problems to be solved. In recent years, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have attracted more attention in the treatment of SCI. Although MSC therapy can reduce injured volume and promote axonal regeneration, its application is limited by tumorigenicity, a low survival rate, and immune rejection. Accumulating literature shows that exosomes have great potential in the treatment of SCI. In this review, we summarize the existing MSC-derived exosome studies on SCI and discuss the advantages and challenges of treating SCI based on exosomes derived from MSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-phenylpyridin-2-ylmethanimine, L, reacts with CoCl2·6H2O to form a water soluble complex, [CoIII(L)2Cl2]Cl, which has been determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. Electrochemical studies show that [CoIII(L)2Cl2]Cl can serve as an electrocatalyst for water or proton reduction to hydrogen from neutral water (pH 7.0) or acetic acid with a turnover frequency (TOF) of 1032.4 and 70.3 moles of hydrogen per mole of catalyst per hour (mol H2/mol catalyst/h) at an overpotential (OP) of 837.6 mV and 941.6 mV, respectively. Compared with the previously described cobalt(II) complex, [CoII(L)2Br2] (TOF: 875.17 mol H2/mol catalyst/h at an OP of 837.6 mV), the cobalt(III) complex, [CoIII(L)2Cl2]Cl exhibits more efficient activity for hydrogen evolution. This can be attributed to CoIII/CoII and CoII/CoI couples of [CoIII(L)2Cl2]Cl are responsible for hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The curing residual stress is beneficial for the compression strength of composite risers. • The effect of curing process parameters on the compressive strength was not significant. • The addition of nano-reinforced particles reduces the curing residual stresses. • The performance of the composite riser is enhanced with the increase of nanoparticle content. • The addition of nano-reinforced particles affects the failure mode of the composite riser. The present study is dedicated to the numerical analysis of progressive failure damage in multiangle nano-reinforced filament wound risers, with due consideration for process-induced residual stresses. Utilizing a multi-model coupling strategy, we introduce an integrated methodology predicated upon the time-varying material characteristics at a macroscopic scale. Initially, the process-induced residual stresses are anticipated via a sequential coupled numerical simulation methodology based on the time-varying attributes of the material. Subsequently, the curing residual stresses serve as the initial stress for the composite wound riser to prognosticate its axial compressive strength, grounded in the progressive damage model. Finally, the multiparametric effects on the strength properties of the composite risers are further investigated to reveal the intrinsic mechanism. The numerical findings evince that curing-induced residual stress retards both fiber and matrix failure while augmenting the axial compressive strength of the composite riser. Furthermore, the escalation in nanoparticle content diminishes the process-induced residual stresses. Additionally, the incorporation of 5 % nanoparticles yields an enhancement in the strength of the composite risers by approximately 16.26 % relative to those devoid of nanoparticles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas turbines are always operated under part-load conditions to participate in the frequency regulation of power grids; therefore, the exhaust gas has fluctuating temperature and mass flow rate parameters. For better utilization of the waste heat in gas turbine exhaust under part-load conditions, a supercritical/transcritical carbon dioxide (CO 2) hybrid waste heat recovery system with different operation strategies was studied. The turbine inlet pressure and mass flow rate were considered as the dominant factors affecting the system part-load performance, which formed a bivariate operation strategy. A solution procedure was proposed to optimize the bivariate operation strategy for a hybrid waste heat recovery system. The results indicate that the mass flow rate of the transcritical CO 2 cycle has a greater effect on its net power than the turbine inlet pressure whereas these two regulation variables should be controlled cooperatively. The net power of the hybrid waste heat recovery system increased with an increase in the inlet valve opening of the supercritical CO 2 turbine under a specific gas turbine load. Generally, the optimal bivariate operation strategy has the advantage of enhancing the part-load performance of a hybrid waste heat recovery system driven by gas turbine exhaust. [Display omitted] • Gas turbine exhaust was employed to drive a carbon dioxide hybrid waste heat recovery system. • Turbine inlet pressure and mass flow rate were dominant factors for part-load performance. • The bivariate operation strategy was optimized for the hybrid waste heat recovery system. • The mass flow rate of transcritical CO2 cycle had greater effect on its net power. • The system net power became greater with larger inlet valve opening of sCO2 turbine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a new idea about 3D printing. It provided a feasible attempt for the application of 3D printing in the preservation and processing of aquatic products. Surimi is a kind of food rich in protein and easy to deteriorate. We tried to add xylo-oligosaccharide and CaCl 2 to surimi, which improved twice gel strength and quadruple hardness of surimi. It is difficult to detect deterioration during refrigeration. We have designed a gel that can be wrapped on surimi through a dual nozzle 3D printer. The gel was in direct contact with surimi. The gel made of 5% carrageenan, 5% xanthan gum and 1% hydroxymethyl cellulose would change color with the change of pH of surimi after wrapping the surimi. Because anthocyanins have different color characteristics at different pH, the pH of surimi can be known through color change. [Display omitted] • The 3D structure of surimi was designed and printed. • Ca2+ and xylo-oligosaccharides were added to surimi as functional components. • Rheology, gel strength and texture before and after printing were measured. • In order to observe the freshness of surimi, we designed a gel to wrap surimi. • In gel, anthocyanin were added as freshness indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to the conventional reasoning process that relies heavily on cognitive control, an individual's creativity may show an increasing trend when the cognitive control function is suppressed. A typical situation in which this occurs is low cognitive inhibition triggered by strong anger. In studies of the influence of anger on creativity, the creative tasks used were mostly divergent‐thinking tasks, and few studies have compared the impact of anger and joy on general thinking and creative thinking directly. In addition to using an Alternative‐Uses Task (AUT) that reflects divergent thinking, this study also adopted the matching routine and novel chunk‐decomposition tasks to evaluate general and novel problem‐solving, respectively. We also focused on the impact of angry and joy moods on creative tasks, comparing them with a control condition of neutral mood. The results revealed that the induction of an anger emotion promotes an individual's divergent thinking more than that of a joy emotion, and that both anger and joy are effective ways for creative problem‐solving. Furthermore, anger reduced the reaction time while joy increased the accuracy rate to facilitate the creative problem‐solving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intelligent medical diagnosis has become common in the era of big data, although this technique has been applied to asthma only in limited contexts. Using routine blood biomarkers to identify asthma patients would make clinical diagnosis easier to implement and would enhance research of key asthma variables through data mining techniques. We used routine blood data from healthy individuals to construct a Mahalanobis space (MS). Then, we calculated Mahalanobis distances of the training routine blood data from 355 asthma patients and 1,480 healthy individuals to ensure the efficiency of MS. Orthogonal arrays and signal-to-noise ratios were used to optimize blood biomarker variables. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the threshold value. Ultimately, we validated the system on 182 individuals based on the threshold value. Out of 35 patients with asthma, MTS correctly classified 94.15% of patients. In addition, 97.20% of 147 healthy individuals were correctly classified. The system isolated 7 routine blood biomarkers. Among these biomarkers, platelet distribution width, mean platelet volume, white blood cell count, eosinophil count, and lymphocyte ratio performed well in asthma diagnosis. In brief, MTS shows promise as an accurate method to identify asthma patients based on 7 vital blood biomarker variables and threshold determined by the ROC curve, thus offering the potential to simplify diagnostic complexity and optimize clinical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane conversion by using transition metal catalysts plays in an important role in various usages of the industrial process. The mechanism of methane conversion on B, N‐co‐doped graphene supported Ir and Pt clusters, BNG‐Ir4 and BNG‐Pt4, have been investigated using density functional theory calculations. Methane was found to adsorb on BNG‐Ir4 and BNG‐Pt4 clusters via strong agostic interactions. The first step of methane dehydrogenation on BNG‐Ir4 has a lower energy barrier, indicating a facile methane dissociation on BNG‐Ir4. In addition, it shows that hydrogen molecule can form on the BNG‐Ir4 and hydrogen can desorb from the surface. Besides, the C‐C coupling reaction of CH3 to form ethane is a more thermodynamically favorable process than CH3 dehydrogenation on BNG‐Ir4. Further, ethane is easier to desorb from the surface due to its low desorption energy. Therefore, the BNG‐Ir4 cluster is a potential catalyst for activating methane to form ethane and to produce hydrogen. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing two four-qubit cluster states as quantum channel, we propose a bidirectional quantum operation teleportation scheme. In the scheme, by employing only some usual quantum operations, i.e., Pauli operations, two-qubit controlled gate operations and Bell-state measurements, two distant users (partners) can remotely perform their own concerned quantum operation on the partner's target quantum state, respectively. The impact of two types of fundamental noises (amplitude-damping noise and phase-damping noise) on our scheme is discussed via calculating and analysing its fidelity. Additionally, the scheme can be widely applied in remote control for its outstanding features of determinacy, high efficiency, interactivity, experimental feasibility and easy operability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional discrete grey forecasting model can effectively predict the development trend of the stabilizing system. However, when the system has disturbance information, the prediction result will have larger error, and there will appear significant downward trend in the stability of the model. In the presence of disturbance information, this paper presents a fractional-order linear time-varying parameters discrete grey forecasting model to deal with the system that contains both linear trend and nonlinear trend. The modeling process of the model and calculation method are given. The perturbation bounds of the new model are analyzed by using the least-squares method of perturbation theory. And it is compared with that of the first-order linear time-varying parameters discrete grey forecasting model. Finally, two real cases are given to verify the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract The reaction of 1-[(2-chloro)benzene]-3-[(2-carboxmethyl)benzene]triazene (HL) and [Pd(CH 3 CN) 2 ]Cl 2 gives a new dinuclear triazenido complex [PdI 2 L 2 ], which can electro-catalyze hydrogen evolution both from acetic acid and water. The introduction of palladium ion leads the strength of photoluminescence of HL to a significant decrease. Abstract In the presence of HCl, the reaction of 2-chloroaniline, methyl anthranilate and sodium nitrite formed 1-[(2-chloro)benzene]-3-[(2-carboxymethyl)benzene]triazene (HL). In the presence of triethylamine (Et 3 N), the reaction of HL and [Pd(CH 3 CN) 2 ]Cl 2 gave a new dinuclear triazenido complex, [PdI 2 (L) 2 ] with metal–metal bond, which has been characterized by physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods. The irradiation by a 100-W high-pressure mercury lamp led to a cleavage of the Pd-Pd bond in [PdI 2 (L) 2 ]. Electrochemical studies showed that [PdI 2 (L) 2 ] can electro-catalyze hydrogen evolution both from acetic acid and water. Spectroscopic investigations indicated that the introduction of palladium ion leads the strength of photoluminescence of HL to a significant decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• DcTm1-X2 showed high expression level in the leg of Diaphorina citri. • The expression level of DcTm1-X2 was down-regulated in C Las-infection groups. • DcTm1-X2 has interaction with CS and VAT. • The mortality rate of D. citri increased after knockdown of DcTm1-X2. • The infection rate of C Las was up-regulated after knockdown of DcTm1-X2. The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is the transmitting vector of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (C Las), which causes citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB). In recent years, control of HLB has been achieved by reducing the vector population. In the present study, we identified an isoform of D. citri tropomyosin (herein designated as DcTm1-X1). DcTm1-X1 was down-regulated in C Las-infected ACPs compared with uninfected ACPs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the full-length DcTm1-X1 is 2955 bp and encodes a protein of 284 amino acids with a deduced molecular weight of 32.15 kDa. Phylogenetic tree analysis suggested that DcTm1-X1 shares a high amino acid identity with its homolog in Acyrthosiphon pisum. Higher DcTm1-X1 expression levels were found in the leg of the psyllid by reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). According to Blue Native PAGE analysis and mass spectrometric analysis, DcTm1-X1 interacts with citrate synthase (CS) and V-type proton ATPase subunit B-like (VAT). In addition, knockdown of DcTm1-X1 by RNA interference (RNAi) significantly increased the mortality rate of nymphs and the infection rate of C Las at different time points. Taken together, our results show that DcTm1-X1 might play an important role in response to C Las, but also lay a foundation for further research on the functions of DcTm1-X1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The output power of wind turbine has great relation with its health state, and the health status assessment for wind turbines influences operational maintenance and economic benefit of wind farm. Aiming at the current problem that the health status for the whole machine in wind farm is hard to get accurately, in this paper, we propose a health status assessment method in order to assess and predict the health status of the whole wind turbine, which is based on the power prediction and Mahalanobis distance (MD). Firstly, on the basis of Bates theory, the scientific analysis for historical data from SCADA system in wind farm explains the relation between wind power and running states of wind turbines. Secondly, the active power prediction model is utilized to obtain the power forecasting value under the health status of wind turbines. And the difference between the forecasting value and actual value constructs the standard residual set which is seen as the benchmark of health status assessment for wind turbines. In the process of assessment, the test set residual is gained by network model. The MD is calculated by the test residual set and normal residual set and then normalized as the health status assessment value of wind turbines. This method innovatively constructs evaluation index which can reflect the electricity generating performance of wind turbines rapidly and precisely. So it effectively avoids the defect that the existing methods are generally and easily influenced by subjective consciousness. Finally, SCADA system data in one wind farm of Fujian province has been used to verify this method. The results indicate that this new method can make effective assessment for the health status variation trend of wind turbines and provide new means for fault warning of wind turbines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-associated diseases, including vascular diseases, are on the rise with the increase in the aging population. However, the mechanisms of aging and age-associated vascular dysfunction remain to be fully elucidated. Replicative senescence of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) contributes to aging as well as age-associated vascular diseases. Rapamycin may delay aging-associated diseases via inhibition of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), but its role in VSMC aging has remained elusive. The present study investigated the involvement of mTOR signaling in replicative senescence of VSMCs. Replicative senescence was induced in human VSMCs by extended passages and identified by assessing the cell morphology, senescence-associated β-galactosidase activity, and p53 and p21 protein expression. Protein expression and phosphorylation were determined by western blot analysis. Significant senescence of VSMCs was observed in cells subjected to extended passaging (until passage 15). Significant decreases in adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) phosphorylation, but significant increases in mTOR/ribosomal protein S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) phosphorylation, were observed in cells with replicative senescence compared with those in young cells. Pre-treatment of VSMCs with AMPK activator and mTOR inhibitor delayed replicative senescence and reversed changes in AMPKα, TSC2, mTOR and S6K1 phosphorylation in senescent VSMCs. The AMPK/TSC2/mTOR/S6K1 signaling axis was found to have an important role in regulating replicative senescence of human VSMCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conyza blinii H. Lév., the most effective component is saponin, is a biennial medicinal material that needs to be overwintered. WRKY transcription factors family is a large protein superfamily that plays a predominant role in plant secondary metabolism, but their characteristics and functions have not been identified in C. blinii. The CbWRKY24 sequence was selected from the transcriptome database of the C. blinii leaves constructed in our laboratory. Phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that it was associated with AaWRKY1 which can regulate artemisinin synthesis in Artemisia annua. Expression analysis in C. blinii revealed that CbWRKY24 was mainly induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and cold treatments. Transcriptional activity assay showed that it had an independent biological activity. Overexpression of CbWRKY24 in transient transformed C. blinii resulted in improved total saponins content, which was attributed to upregulate the expression level of keys genes from mevalonate (MVA) pathway in transient transformed plants compared to wild type (WT) plants. Meanwhile, overexpression the CbWRKY24 in transient transformed tomato fruits showed that the transcript level of related genes in lycopene pathway decreased significantly when compared to WT tomato fruits. Additionally, the MeJA-response-element was found in the promoter regions of CbWRKY24 and the histochemical staining experiments showed that promoter had GUS activity in transiently transformed tobacco leaves. In summary, our results indicated that we may have found a transcription factor that can regulate the biosynthesis of terpenoids in C. blinii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen concentration and composition of garnets in the ultrahigh pressure eclogites at Shuanghe, eastern Dabieshan, were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis. The OH absorption bands can be divided into four groups: (1) 3635-3655 cm-1; (2) 3600-3630 cm-1; (3) 3540-3580 cm-1; and (4) 3400-3450 cm-1 and the water content ranges from 45 to 2529 ppm. Based on the behaviour of the OH absorption band and the relationship between water content and the composition of garnets, the samples can be divided into two classes: samples with >400 ppm H2O and samples with ≤400 ppm H2O. The water content of the former shows an obvious positive correlation with Ca atoms and a negative correlation with the Si, Mg and Fe2+ atoms per 12 anions, whereas the water content of the latter shows no obvious linear correlation with cations. It is concluded that the major mechanism of hydroxyl incorporation in garnets with >400 ppm H2O is by the coupled substitution 4H + Z□ → □ + ZSi in the tetrahedral site, and that several mechanisms are responsible for OH incorporation in garnets with ≤400 ppm H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rosmarinic acid (RA), isolated from herbal balm mint plants, has demonstrated potent anti-tumor properties against liver cancer. However, the precise underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the molecular mechanisms of RA in HepG2 cells. RA anti-tumor activity was assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays, and Hoechst 33258 staining. Apoptosis and the cell cycle distribution were evaluated by flow cytometry. A proteomics approach was used to identify differentially expressed proteins following RA treatment in HepG2 cells, and quantitative reverse transcription–quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to validate the results. Bioinformatics analysis was also implemented to further understand the identified proteins, and western blotting was used to analyze the associated proteins. Our results suggested that RA treatment significantly inhibits the viability of HepG2 cells. The MTT and LDH assays indicated dose-dependent decreases in cell proliferation following RA treatment. Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry analysis showed that RA exhibits an apoptosis-inducing effect and induces cell cycle arrest in G1. The proteomics analysis successfully identified 16 differentially expressed proteins. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that the identified proteins participated in several biological processes and exhibited various molecular functions, mainly related to inactivation of the glycolytic pathway. Further western blotting analysis showed that RA could downregulate the expression of glucose transporter-1 and hexokinase-2, leading to the suppression of glucose consumption and generation of lactate and ATP. Taken together, our study found that RA exhibits significant cytotoxic effects by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, possibly by blocking the glycolytic pathway in human HepG2 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to cognitive emotion regulation theories that emphasize top-down control of prefrontal-mediated regulation of emotion, in traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine, different emotions are considered to have mutual promotion and counteraction relationships. Our previous studies have provided behavioral evidence supporting the hypotheses that “fear promotes anger” and “sadness counteracts anger”; this study further investigated the corresponding neural correlates. A basic hypothesis we made is the “internal versus external orientation” assumption proposing that fear could promote anger as its external orientation associated with motivated action, whereas sadness could counteract anger as its internal or homeostatic orientation to somatic or visceral experience. A way to test this assumption is to examine the selective involvement of the posterior insula (PI) and the anterior insula (AI) in sadness and fear because the posterior-to-anterior progression theory of insular function suggests that the role of the PI is to encode primary body feeling and that of the AI is to represent the integrative feeling that incorporates the internal and external input together. The results showed increased activation in the AI, parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), posterior cingulate (PCC), and precuneus during the fear induction phase, and the activation level in these areas could positively predict subsequent aggressive behavior; meanwhile, the PI, superior temporal gyrus (STG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were more significantly activated during the sadness induction phase, and the activation level in these areas could negatively predict subsequent feelings of subjective anger in a provocation situation. These results revealed a possible cognitive brain mechanism underlying “fear promotes anger” and “sadness counteracts anger.” In particular, the finding that the AI and PI selectively participated in fear and sadness emotions was consistent with our “internal versus external orientation” assumption about the different regulatory effects of fear and sadness on anger and aggressive behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kindlins are FERM domain proteins comprising three members (Kindlin-1, -2 and -3) which are evolutionarily conserved. Kindlins bind with β-integrin cytoplasmic tails and execute broad biological functions including directed cell migration, proliferation, differentiation and survival. In light of more and more evidence point to the importance of Kindlin family members in normal development and human diseases especially in cancers, we aim to portrait the profile of Kindlins in the regulation of embryonic development and cancer progression. We first summarize all the known binding proteins for individual member of Kindlin family. We then outline the Kindlin-regulated signaling pathways including Wnt/β-catenin, TGFβ, EGFR, and Hedgehog signalings. Furthermore, we descript the pivotal role of Kindlins in embryonic development in detail with notions that Kindlin-1 is highly expressed in endo/ectodermal originated tissues, Kindlin-2 is highly expressed in mesoderm-derived tissues and Kindlin-3 is highly expressed in mesoderm- and ectoderm-derived tissues. Deregulation of Kindlins is generally reported in cancers from different organs. We also briefly descript the role of Kindlins in other diseases. Finally, we update the recent understanding of how Kindlins are regulated and modified as well as the degradation mechanism of Kindlins, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lariciresinol (LA) is one of the main active ingredients in many traditional medicinal plants such as Patrinia , and has the role of anti-liver cancer. However, the precise mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms of LA against HepG2 cells. LA anti-tumor activity was assessed with the CCK-8, Ki-67, and immunofluorescence staining. Cells apoptotic ratio was evaluated by Annexin V/PI double-staining assay. A proteomic approach was used to identify differentially expressed proteins after LA treatment. JC-1 staining was carried out to detect the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and the Western blot analysis was used to analyse the apoptosis-associated proteins. Our results suggested that LA significantly suppressed the viability of HepG2 cells. The CCK-8 and Ki-67 expression indicated dose-dependent decreases in cell proliferation. Flow cytometry analysis showed that LA exhibited a apoptosis-inducing effect. The proteomic study observed the presence of apoptosis-associated proteins and mitochondrial dysfunction in HepG2 cells after LA-treatment. Further analysis showed that LA could trigger the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway, based on a decrease in ΔΨm; deliver of cytochrome c ; activation of caspase-9/−3 and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; and decrease of the proportion of Bcl-2/Bax. Collectively, our studies found that LA exhibits significant cytotoxic effects by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis, possibly via activation of the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puccinia triticina Eriks. (Pt), the causal agent of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) leaf rust, is the most widespread disease of common wheat worldwide. In the present study, 83 wheat cultivars from three provinces of China and 36 tester lines with known leaf rust resistance (Lr) genes were inoculated in the greenhouse with 18 Pt pathotypes to identify seedling effective Lr genes. Field tests were also performed to characterize slow leaf rusting responses at the adult plant growth stage in Baoding and Zhoukou in the 2014–15 and 2015–16 cropping seasons. Twelve Lr genes, viz. Lr1, Lr26, Lr3ka, Lr11, Lr10, Lr2b, Lr13, Lr21, Lr34, Lr37, Lr44, and Lr46 either singly or in combination were identified in 41 cultivars. Known Lr genes were not detected in the remaining 42 cultivars. The most commonly identified resistance genes were Lr26 (20 cultivars), Lr46 (18 cultivars), and Lr1 (eight cultivars). Less frequently detected genes included Lr13, Lr34, and Lr37 (each present in four cultivars), Lr10 (three cultivars), and Lr3ka and Lr44 (each in two cultivars). Evidence for the presence of genes Lr11, Lr2b, and Lr21 (each in one cultivar) was also obtained. Seventeen cultivars were found to have slow rusting resistance in both field growing seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Low-carbon indicators are developed considering causality and engineering phases. • A method to evaluating low-carbon passenger transportation structure was proposed. • The key factors and obstacles of the development of Qingdao were revealed. • Our indicator framework contributes to low-carbon urban transportation. Optimizing urban passenger transportation structure is an effective way to promote the low-carbon development of cities. Effective evaluation is an important basis for optimization. To improve the validity of the evaluation, a dual-criteria layer evaluation model of the urban low-carbon passenger transportation structure based on the Drive-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model and life cycle theory is proposed. The Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method and the G1 method were combined to determine the subjective weight. The Criteria Importance Though Intercrieria Correlation (CRITIC) method and the Entropy method are used to determine the objective weight. The equilibrium weight, which reaches a compromise between the subjective weight and the objective weight through the idea of game theory, can be regarded as an optimal equilibrium based on the DEMATEL-G1 method and the CRITIC-Entropy method. The comprehensive value can be obtained based on the equilibrium weight. The validity of the model is verified by taking Qingdao as an example. The research results indicate that the structure of urban passenger transportation in terms of low carbon in Qingdao from 2015 to 2020 has improved significantly. The length of urban rail transit lines is the key influencing factor and the restricting factor for the optimization of urban passenger transportation structure in Qingdao. The evaluation results provide a reference basis for evaluating and optimizing the urban passenger transportation structure in large and medium-sized cities, especially in coastal and hilly cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular aging, a specific type of organic aging, is related to age-dependent changes in the vasculature, including atherosclerotic plaques, arterial stiffness, fibrosis, and increased intimal thickening. Vascular aging could influence the threshold, process, and severity of various cardiovascular diseases, thus making it one of the most important risk factors in the high mortality of cardiovascular diseases. As endothelial cells (ECs) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are the main cell biological basis of these pathology changes of the vasculature, the structure and function of ECs and VSMCs play a key role in vascular aging. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small noncoding RNAs, have been shown to regulate the expression of multiple messenger RNAs (mRNAs) posttranscriptionally, contributing to many crucial aspects of cell biology. Recently, miRNAs with functions associated with aging or aging-related diseases have been studied. In this review, we will summarize the reported role of miRNAs in the process of vascular aging with special emphasis on EC and VSMC functions. In addition, the potential application of miRNAs to clinical practice for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to establish an experimental animal model of fracture nonunion, and to investigate the changes in serum biomarker concentrations in fracture nonunion. A total of 20 purebred New Zealand rabbits were divided into two group: A bone defect group and a bone fracture group. In the bone defect group, a 15-mm section of bone (including the periosteum) was removed from the mid-radius, and the medullary cavities were closed with bone wax. In the bone fracture group, the mid-radius was fractured. X-rays were taken and blood samples were collected preoperatively and at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12 weeks after the surgical procedure. The serum concentrations of osteocalcin (OC) and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BSAP) served as markers of bone formation, and those of C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), N-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX) and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP 5b) served as markers of bone resorption. The concentration levels of the markers were measured using a biotin double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In the bone defect group, bone callus was observed on X-ray at 2 weeks in three rabbits and the bone calluses stabilized at 5 weeks; however, none of the bones had healed at 8 weeks. In the bone fracture group, the fracture line was distorted at 2 weeks and bone calluses formed at 6-8 weeks. In the bone defect group, the serum BSAP and TRACP 5b concentrations increased following the surgical procedure, peaked at 4 weeks, began to decrease at 5 weeks and stabilized after 6 weeks. The serum OC concentrations did not change significantly following the surgical procedure. The serum CTX concentrations fluctuated during the first 4 weeks, peaked at 5 weeks, then decreased and stabilized after 6 weeks. The serum NTX concentrations fluctuated during the first 4 weeks, were significantly lower at 5 weeks compared with the other time points and stabilized after 6 weeks. These results suggested that a bone nonunion model can be established in New Zealand rabbits by resecting a 15-mm section of bone from the mid-radius prior to bone wax blocking. Measurement of the serum BSAP, CTX, NTX, and TRACP 5b concentrations may be useful for the early detection of bone nonunion. The serum NTX concentrations changed significantly in rabbits with bone nonunion. Further studies are required in order to determine the feasibility of using serum NTX concentrations for the early diagnosis of bone nonunion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel, efficient, and facile approach for the synthesis of structurally important pyrimidines has been successfully developed by Cu-catalyzed and 4-HO-TEMPO-mediated [3 + 3] annulation of commercially available amidines with saturated ketones. This method provides a new protocol for the synthesis of pyrimidines by a cascade reaction of oxidative dehydrogenation/annulation/oxidative aromatization via direct β-C(sp³)-H functionalization of saturated ketones followed by annulation with amidines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen concentration and composition of garnets in the ultrahigh pressure eclogites at Shuanghe, eastern Dabieshan, were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and electron microprobe analysis. The OH absorption bands can be divided into four groups: (1) 3635-3655 cm-1; (2) 3600-3630 cm-1; (3) 3540-3580 cm-1; and (4) 3400-3450 cm-1 and the water content ranges from 45 to 2529 ppm. Based on the behaviour of the OH absorption band and the relationship between water content and the composition of garnets, the samples can be divided into two classes: samples with >400 ppm H2O and samples with ≤400 ppm H2O. The water content of the former shows an obvious positive correlation with Ca atoms and a negative correlation with the Si, Mg and Fe2+ atoms per 12 anions, whereas the water content of the latter shows no obvious linear correlation with cations. It is concluded that the major mechanism of hydroxyl incorporation in garnets with >400 ppm H2O is by the coupled substitution 4H + Z□→□+ ZSi in the tetrahedral site, and that several mechanisms are responsible for OH incorporation in garnets with ≤400 ppm H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lariciresinol (LA) is a traditional Chinese medicine possessing anticancer activity, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. The present study explored the effects of LA on human HepG2 cells and the underlying mechanism. Our data indicated that LA inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell cycle arrest in S phase, subsequently resulting in apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Using a proteomics approach, eight differentially expressed proteins were identified. Among them, three proteins, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, UDP-glucose 4-epimerase, and annexin A1, were upregulated, while the other five proteins, heat shock protein 27, haptoglobin, tropomodulin-2, tubulin alpha-1A chain, and brain acid soluble protein 1, were downregulated; all of these proteins are involved in cell proliferation, metabolism, cytoskeletal organization, and movement. Network analysis of these proteins suggested that the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (UBC) plays an important role in the mechanism of LA. Western blotting confirmed downregulation of heat shock protein 27 and upregulation of ubiquitin and UBC expression levels in LA-treated cells, consistent with the results of two-dimensional electrophoresis and a STRING software-based analysis. Overall, LA is a multi-target compound with anti-cancer effects potentially related to the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. This study will increase our understanding of the anticancer mechanisms of LA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]