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Based on a large section drilling and blasting excavation project, the dynamic response characteristics of civil air defense tunnels are analyzed by combining field monitoring and numerical simulation. The dynamic response features include particle vibration velocity, main frequency, displacement, and stress, and the stability criterion of the tunnel is analyzed. A safety criterion model based on the ultimate tensile strength of materials is established. The results show that the frequency of the X, Y, and Z directions is mainly distributed in 90-140 Hz. The effective stress increases first and then decreases along the axis of the roadway. The stress near the explosion source is large and the relative reduction is also large. By fitting the relationship between blasting vibration velocity and maximum principal stress, the safe vibration velocity criterion based on tensile strength is obtained, and the safe threshold of vibration velocity is 19.62 cm/s. It can be assumed that blasting does not affect the structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor simulated mixing building storage bin unloading, forming conical piles. The effects of falling distance, mixing time and water content on rolling segregation of cement-stabilized macadam were analyzed by three indexes, including repose Angle of pile, key sieve passing rate and cement dosage. The results show that the segregation of mixture can be increased significantly with the increase of drop distance. The separation degree of the mixture can be effectively controlled by controlling the unloading distance within 70 cm. Mixing time has little effect on the Angle of rest and gradation segregation of the mixture, but has significant effect on the distribution uniformity of cement. Indoor mixing time should reach more than 45 s. When the mixing water content is less than the optimal water content, the segregation of the mixture is serious. When the moisture content increased to 1.5 %, the mixture showed obvious bleeding phenomenon. The mixture shall not be lower than the optimal moisture content before the crushing is completed, and the moisture content increase shall not exceed 1.5 % of the optimal moisture content as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved great success in image classification. However, CNN models usually have complex network structures that tend to cause some related problems, such as redundancy of network parameters, low training efficiency, overfitting, and weak generalization ability. To solve these problems and improve the accuracy of flower classification, the advantages of CNNs were combined with those of ensemble learning and a method was developed for the dynamic ensemble selection of CNNs. First, MobileNet models pre-trained on a public dataset were transferred to flower datasets to train thirteen different MobileNet classifiers, and a resampling strategy was used to enhance the diversity of individual models. Second, the thirteen classifiers were sorted by a classifier sorting algorithm, before ensemble selection, to avoid an exhaustive search. Finally, with the credibility of recognition results, a classifier subset was dynamically selected and integrated to identify the flower species from their images. To verify the effectiveness, the proposed method was used to classify the images of five flower species. The accuracy of the proposed method was 95.50%, an improvement of 1.62%, 3.94%, 22.04%, 13.77%, and 0.44%, over those of MobileNet, Inception-v1, ResNet-50, Inception-ResNet-v2, and the linear ensemble method, respectively. In addition, the performance of the proposed method was compared with five other methods for flower classification. The experimental results demonstrated the accuracy and robustness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Middle-aged and elderly perimenopausal women are prone to developing BPPV without definite cause. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between bone mineral density (BMD), 25-(OH) vitamin D, and serum calcium levels in patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in middle-aged and elderly women. Material and methods: A total of 103 women with two or more recurrent BPPV episodes (group A) and 80 age-matched healthy controls (group B) were recruited. All subjects had BMD and serum 25- (OH) D levels measurements taken, and the results were compared. Results: BMD was reduced in group A, and the proportion of osteoporosis was higher than in group B (p ¼ .039). The BMD T-score and 25-(OH) vitamin D level were lower in group A than in group B (p = .004 and p < .0001, respectively). In group A, the BMD T-score was lower (p = .017) and serum 25- (OH) vitamin D level was higher (p < .0001) in premenopausal women than in menopausal women. Conclusions and Significance: Our study found that middle-aged and elderly women with recurrent BPPV, especially postmenopausal women, may present decreased BMD and serum vitamin D levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To discuss clinical effect of different dosage of rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide in treatment of refractory immune thrombocytopenia (rITP). Method: This study was conducted at Department of Hematopathology in XX Hospital from January 2016 to January 2018. In this study. Seventy-eight patients with rITP were selected as the objects, divided into observation group (39 cases) and control group (39 cases) according to random number table. Patients in the control group were treated with conventional rituximab and cyclophosphamide, while the observation group received low-dose rituximab. The same amount of cyclophosphamide was used in the two groups. The statistics of clinical effect, recurrence rate, untoward effect and Laboratory inspection of both groups were made before and after the treatment. Results: Compared with the control group, the total occurrence rate of side effects in the observation group decreased significantly; the level of IgM and CD20+ in the observation group also decreased significantly, while. The level of IgA, IgG, CD3+ and CD4+ rose significantly (P<0.05). The differences in the level of Th1, TNF-a, IL-18 and Sc5b-9 had statistical significance before and after the treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion: Rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide has the definite curative effect on rITP. The small dosage of rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide has higher clinical safety in the treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetostriction curve of [110]-oriented Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.9 crystal is measured under different compressive prestress. It is observed that the saturation magnetostriction keeps on increasing with the increase in compressive prestress from 0 to 75 MPa. The distribution of the free energy within the (110) plane normal to the stress axis is calculated to clarify the enhancement of saturation magnetostriction under large compressive prestress. It is found that with the increase in the prestress, the lowest energy positions deviate from the initial four <111> easy axes in the (110) plane, approaching the [110] and [110] orientations. The stress-induced anisotropy results in the change in initial domain configuration and further the enhancement of saturation magnetostriction, which well explains the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking high precision actuator and transducer materials potentially applied under high load remains active in recent years. Magnetostrictive property, magnetostriction saturation field HS, and pizeomagnetic coefficient d33 are investigated in Fe81Ga19 alloy under high compressive prestress. The measured saturation magnetostriction remains above 300 ppm in the <001> oriented Fe81Ga19 polycrystalline rod under high compressive prestress up to 431 MPa. Two-stage phenomenon was observed in curves plotted for HS and d33 against compressive prestress σ. The domain rotation path and magnetostriction under different compressive prestress are simulated, and this helps to deeply understand the tested magnetostriction. Based on the simulation, the mathematical equations of HS-σ and d33-σ were established for Fe–Ga <001> oriented crystal revealed two mechanisms, which satisfy proposed functions of experimental data. The high magnetostriction and low saturation field under high prestress indicate that Fe–Ga alloy is possible to be a sound candidate for high load application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In infrared spectroscopy analysis area, quantitative modeling is often an essential and inevitable procedure to obtain the relationship between collected spectral information and target components. Over the past decades, there are many linear or nonlinear methods have been proposed, such as multi-regression, partial least squares, artificial neural network, support vector machine etc. However, these traditional methods commonly need some preprocessing steps including denoising, baseline correction, wavelength selection and so on. Hence, it requires the users to master so many skilled knowledges before they can establish a good performance quantitative model. Additionally, the stabilities of the above-mentioned methods are often not well enough because there are many random parameters which will result in the model's output are always changing every time. To solve these problems, this paper proposed an end-to-end modeling method based on convolutional neural network and ensemble learning. The experimental results on three infrared spectral datasets (corn, gasoline and mixed gases) showed that the generalized performance of proposed ECNN method outperforms traditional methods like PLS, BP neural network and single CNN method with whole spectral range raw data instead of selected wavelengths. Hence, the proposed method can obviously reduce the modeling knowledge for users and easier to use. Highlights • A novel end-to-end quantitative analysis modeling method for infrared spectroscopy was proposed based on convolutional neural network (CNN), which can directly take the whole range of collected raw spectral information as input without wavelength selectionpreprocessing. • An ensemble framework wasbuilt to improve the stability(also called “robustness”)of quantitative analysis model by introducing ensemble learning ideas. • The performance of proposed method is investigated through two public and one experimentaldatasets in the area ofinfrared spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid, simple and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray-ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of aesculin, aesculetin, fraxetin, fraxin and polydatin in beagle dog plasma for the first time. Plasma samples were pretreated by protein precipitation with methanol. Chromatographic separation was performed on an Acquity UPLC HSS T3 C18 column (2.1 mm x 100 mm, 1.8 µm) with gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min, using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1% formic acid (A) and acetonitrile (B). The analytes and IS were detected by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) via negative ion mode with ion transitions of m/z 339.1-m/z 176.8 for aesculin, m/z 176.8-m/z 88.9 for aesculetin, m/z 206.8-m/z 192.1 for fraxetin, m/z 369.1-m/z 206.9 for fraxin, m/z 389.1-m/z 227.0 for polydatin and m/z 415.2-m/z 295.1 for puerarin. This method was validated according to the FDA guidelines and the results met the requirements of analysis. The calibration curves of analytes were linear with correlation coefficients more than 0.9980. The intra- and inter-day precisions were less than 15% and the accuracy was within ±15%. The maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of aesculin, aesculetin, fraxetin, fraxin and polydatin was 46.75 ± 7.46, 209.9 ± 57.65, 369.7 ± 48.87, 67.04 ± 12.09 and 47.14 ± 12.04 ng/mL, respectively. The time to reach the maximum plasma concentration (Tmax) was 1.32 ± 0.38 h for aesculin, 1.03 ± 0.27 h for aesculetin, 0.94 ± 0.23 h for fraxetin, 0.83 ± 0.18 h for fraxin and 1.15 ± 0.15 h for polydatin. The results indicated that the absorption of aesculin might be slow in beagle dog plasma. This method was successfully applied for pharmacokinetics in beagle dog plasma after oral administration of the extracts of Ledum palustre L. at a dosage of 0.27 g/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and high sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of peimine and peiminine in beagle dog plasma after the oral administration of Fritillariae ussuriensis Maxim and Fritillariae thunbergii Miq powder. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an ACQUIT UPLC® BEH C18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 × 100 mm) in a gradient elution way with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The plasma samples were prepared by a liquid⁻liquid extraction (LLE) method with ethyl acetate. The analytes were detected with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and a positive ion electrospray ionization (ESI) of the transitions at m/z 432.4→414.4 for peimine and m/z 430.3→412.3 for peiminine. The method was linear for two analytes over the investigated range with all determined correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9900. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.988 ng/mL for peimine and 0.980 ng/mL for peiminine. The mean extraction recoveries of peimine and peiminine at three quality control samples (QC) levels were ranged from 82.56 to 88.71%, and matrix effects ranged from 92.06 to 101.2%. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy were within the acceptable limits at LLOQ and QC levels. The method was effectively and successfully applied to the pharmacokinetics of peimine and peiminine after oral administration of powder to beagle dogs. The obtained results may be help to guide the clinical application of Fritillaria ussuriensis Maxim and Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and sensitive Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine the concentration of seven phenolic acids (syringic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid) in rat plasma after oral administration of Echinacea purpurea extract. After mixing with the internal standard (IS), butylparaben, plasma samples were prepared by liquid--liquid extraction with ethyl acetate. The separation was performed using the Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 column (1.8 μm, 2.1 mm x 50 mm) with a gradient system consisting of solution A (0.1% acetic acid in water) and solution B (methanol) at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The detection was accomplished by a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with electrospray ionization (ESI). The method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability. This method was successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetic properties of the seven compounds after oral administration of Echinacea purpurea extract in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzymes have been used to treat various human diseases and traumas. However, the therapeutic utility of free enzymes is impeded by their short circulation time, lack of targeting ability, immunogenicity, and inability to cross biological barriers. Cell-mediated drug delivery approach offers the unique capability to overcome these limitations, but the traditional cell-mediated enzyme delivery techniques suffer from drawbacks such as risk of intracellular degradation of and low loading capacity for the payload enzyme. This article presents the development of a novel cell-mediated enzyme delivery technique featuring the use of micrometer-sized disk-shaped particles termed microdevices. The microdevices are fabricated by layer-by-layer assembly and soft lithography with catalase being used as a model therapeutic enzyme. The amount of catalase in the microdevices can be controlled with the number of catalase layers. Catalase in the microdevices is catalytically active, and active catalase is slowly released from the microdevices. Moreover, cell-microdevice complexes are produced by attaching the catalase-laden microdevices to the external surface of both K562 cells and mouse embryonic stem cells. This technique is potentially applicable to other enzymes and cells and promises to be clinically useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kuding tea, the leaves of Ilex Kudingcha C.J. Tseng, has been applied for treating obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, and so on. The chlorogenic acids (CGAs) in Kuding tea have shown excellent antioxidative, antiobesity, anti-atherosclerotic and anticancer activities. Nevertheless, the chemical profiles of CGAs in Kuding tea have not been comprehensively studied yet, which hinders further quality control. In the present study, a sensitive ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection coupled with a linear ion trap-Orbitrap (UHPLC-DAD-LTQ-Orbitrap) method was established to screen and identify CGAs in Kuding tea. Six CGA standards were first analyzed in negative ion mode with a CID-MS/MS experiment and then the diagnostic product ions (DPIs) were summarized. According to the retention behavior in the RP-ODS column, accurate mass measurement, DPIs and relevant bibliography data, a total of 68 CGA candidates attributed to 12 categories were unambiguously or preliminarily screened and characterized within 18 min of chromatographic time. This was the first systematic report on the distribution of CGAs in Kuding tea. Meanwhile, the contents of 6 major CGAs in Kuding tea were also determined by the UHPLC-DAD method. All the results indicated that the established analytical method could be employed as an effective technique for the comprehensive and systematic characterization of CGAs and quality control of the botanic extracts or Chinese medicinal formulas that contain various CGAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The myocardial wall of the left ventricle is a complex, multilayered structure and is not homogenous. The aim of this study was to determine longitudinal strain (LS) in the three myocardial layers in normal pregnant women according to gestation proceedings. Methods: The advanced two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D STE) was performed on 62 women during each pregnancy trimester and 6 to 9 weeks after delivery, while 30 age-matched, healthy, nonpregnant women served as controls. LS on endocardial, mid-myocardial and epicardial layers at 18 cardiac segments were measured. Results: As gestation proceeded, all of layer-specific LS and global LS progressively decreased, which subsequently recovered postpartum (P < 0.05), and the LS gradient between inner and outer myocardium became greater, which reached its maximum in the late pregnancy. Peak systolic LS was the highest at endocardium and the lowest at epicardium, while the highest at the apical level and the lowest at the base (P < 0.05). In the early pregnancy and postpartum, LS at basal level was homogenous, meanwhile layer-specific LS showed significant differences at mid-ventricular and apical level throughout the progress of normal pregnancy (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Using 2D STE, three-layer assessment of LS can be performed in pregnant women and shall give us new insights into the quantitative analysis of global and regional LV function during pregnancy. Future studies on the detection of pregnancy related heart disease would require these parameters as reference values for each time point of a normal pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the clinic, the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) largely depends on clinicians' experience. When the diagnosis is made, approximately 80% of dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra (SN) have been lost. Additionally, it is rather challenging to differentiate PD from atypical parkinsonian disorders (APD). Clinially-available 3T conventional MRI contributes little to solve these problems. The pathologic alterations of parkinsonism show abnormal brain iron deposition, and therefore susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), which is sensitive to iron concentration, has been applied to find iron-related lesions for the diagnosis and differentiation of PD in recent decades. Until now, the majority of research has revealed that in SWI the signal intensity changes in deep brain nuclei, such as the SN, the putamen (PUT), the globus pallidus (GP), the thalamus (TH), the red nucleus (RN) and the caudate nucleus (CN), thereby raising the possibility of early diagnosis and differentiation. Furthermore, the signal changes in SN, PUT and TH sub-regions may settle the issues with higher accuracy. In this article, we review the brain iron deposition of PD, MSA-P and PSP in SWI in the hope of exhibiting a profile of SWI features in PD, MSA and PSP and its clinical values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of components of the Hedgehog signaling pathway (HH) during the proliferation of a liver stem cell subgroup, namely small hepatocyte-like progenitor cells (SHPCs). Retrorsine-treated Fisher 344 rats underwent a partial hepatectomy (PH) to induce the proliferation of SHPCs, after which reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR, immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis were performed to analyze the expression of various components of the HH in primary SHPCs at different times points post-PH. A number of components of the HH, including Indian hedgehog (IHH), patched (PTCH), smoothened and glioma-associated oncogene (GLI)1, 2 and 3, were continuously expressed and showed dynamic changes in proliferating SHPCs. In addition, the expression levels of IHH, PTCH and GLI1 were significantly different as compared with those of the control group at the same time point, and there were significant differences among the various time points in the experimental group (P<0.01). Furthermore, there was an association between the postoperative day and expression levels of HH components in the retrorsine-treated group. An immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that PTCH was also expressed at the protein level. In conclusion, the results of the present study suggested that the HH was continuously activated during the proliferation of SHPCs, thus indicating that SHPCs may be a subgroup of stem cells that are regulated by the HH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have demonstrated adaptive correction of specimen-induced aberration during in vivo imaging of mouse bone marrow vasculature with confocal fluorescence microscopy. Adaptive optics system was completed with wavefront sensorless correction scheme based on stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm. Using image sharpness as the optimization metric, aberration correction was performed based upon Zernike polynomial modes. The experimental results revealed the improved signal and resolution leading to a substantially enhanced image contrast with aberration correction. The image quality of vessels at 38- and 75-µm depth increased three times and two times, respectively. The corrections allowed us to detect clearer bone marrow vasculature structures at greater contrast and improve the signal-to-noise ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malonylation is a recently identified post-translational modification with malonyl-coenzyme A as the donor. It conserved both in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recent advances in the identification and quantification of lysine malonylation by bioinformatic analysis have improved our understanding of its role in the regulation of protein activity, interaction, and localization and have elucidated its involvement in many biological processes. Malonylation has been linked to diverse physiological processes, including metabolic disorders, inflammation, and immune regulation. This review discusses malonylation in theory, describes the underlying mechanism, and summarizes the recent progress in malonylation research. The latest findings point to novel functions of malonylation and highlight the mechanisms by which malonylation regulates a variety of cellular processes. Our review also marks the association between lysine malonylation, the enzymes involved, and various diseases, and discusses promising diagnostic and therapeutic biomolecular targets for future clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two isomers of 6-stilbene-amide-α-CD (6-StiNH-α-CD) exhibit different inclusion behaviors upon complexation with an alkyl chain bearing pyridinium end caps. Photoisomerization of the stilbene moiety of the CD derivative affects threading due to complexation between the axle and trans- or cis-6-StiNH-α-CD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural stability and elastic and electronic properties of rhenium borides with different boron concentration are calculated systemically by means of first principle total energy calculations. The total energy calculations reveal that the WC-type structure is more energetically favorable for ReB and that the Re2P-type structure is more preferred for Re2B. The formation enthalpy of these borides have been studied by the solid synthesis routes. The calculated elastic properties indicate that Re2B3, ReB, and Re2B phases are also potential hard materials. Although valence- electron density was often employed to evaluate elastic properties of materials, our calculations indicate that the bulk elastic properties of these borides are not direct correlation with their valence-electron density. The analysis of electronic structure, charge density distribution, and Mulliken overlap population provides further understanding of the elastic and superconductivity properties of these borides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) has recently been used to identify the modification patterns for the methylation and acetylation of many different histone tails in genes and enhancers. Results: We have extended the analysis of histone modifications to gene deserts, pericentromeres and subtelomeres. Using data from human CD4+ T cells, we have found that each of these nongenic regions has a particular profile of histone modifications that distinguish it from the other noncoding regions. Different methylation states of H4K20, H3K9 and H3K27 were found to be enriched in each region relative to the other regions. These findings indicate that non-genic regions of the genome are variable with respect to histone modification patterns, rather than being monolithic. We furthermore used consensus sequences for unassembled centromeres and telomeres to identify the significant histone modifications in these regions. Finally, we compared the modification patterns in non-genic regions to those at silent genes and genes with higher levels of expression. For all tested methylations with the exception of H3K27me3, the enrichment level of each modification state for silent genes is between that of non-genic regions and expressed genes. For H3K27me3, the highest levels are found in silent genes. Conclusion: In addition to the histone modification pattern difference between euchromatin and heterochromatin regions, as is illustrated by the enrichment of H3K9me2/3 in non-genic regions while H3K9me1 is enriched at active genes; the chromatin modifications within non-genic (heterochromatin-like) regions (e.g. subtelomeres, pericentromeres and gene deserts) are also quite different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histones are characterized by numerous posttranslational modifications that influence gene transcription. However, because of the lack of global distribution data in higher eukaryotic systems, the extent to which gene-specific combinatorial patterns of histone modifications exist remains to be determined. Here, we report the patterns derived from the analysis of 39 histone modifications in human CD4+ T cells. Our data indicate that a large number of patterns are associated with promoters and enhancers. In particular, we identify a common modification module consisting of 17 modifications detected at 3,286 promoters. These modifications tend to colocalize in the genome and correlate with each other at an individual nucleosome level. Genes associated with this module tend to have higher expression, and addition of more modifications to this module is associated with further increased expression. Our data suggest that these histone modifications may act cooperatively to prepare chromatin for transcriptional activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two apparently different types of mechanisms have emerged to explain diastolic suction (DS), that property of the left ventricle (LV) that tends to cause it to refill itself during early diastole independent of any force from the left atrium (LA). By means of the first mechanism, DS depends on decreased elastance [e.g., the relaxation time constant (τ)] and, by the second, end-systolic volume (VLVES). We used wave-intensity analysis (WIA) to measure the total energy transported by the backward expansion wave (Iw-) during LV relaxation in an attempt to reconcile these mechanisms. In six anesthetized, open-chest dogs, we measured aortic, LV (PLV), LA (PLA), and pericardial pressures and LV volume by orthogonal ultrasonic crystals. Mitral velocity was measured by Doppler echocardiography, and aortic velocity was measured by an ultrasonic flow probe. Heart rate was controlled by pacing, VLVES by volume loading, and τ by isoproterenol or esmolol administration. Iw- was found to be inversely related to τ and VLVES. Our measure of DS, the energy remaining after mitral valve opening, IW-DS, was also found to be inversely related to τ and VLVES and was ∼ 10% of the total ‘aspirating’ energy generated by LV relaxation (i.e., Iw-]. The size of the Doppler (early filling) E wave depended on IW-DS in addition to IW+, the energy associated with LA decompression. We conclude that the energy of the backward-going wave generated by the LV during relaxation depends on both the rate at which elastance decreases (i.e., τ) and VLVES. WIA provides a new approach for assessing DS and reconciles those two previously proposed mechanisms. The E wave depends on DS in addition to LA decompression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ozone is a strong oxidant and strong disinfectant that has a strong anti-pathogenic effect on bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. Because of its advantages such as high reactivity, strong permeability and low residue, the application of ozone is gaining more and more attention, and ozone has been widely used in water treatment, equipment disinfection, public scene disinfection, and other fields. The purpose of this review is to discuss the use of ozone technology for animal and plant protection that can be applied to agriculture, and to emphasize the need for further studies to determine the optimal concentration and application of ozone for different crops so that, in the future, ozone technology can be applied in agriculture to gain a significant competitive advantage and improve product safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stemness loss-associated dysregeneration of impaired alveolar type 2 epithelial (AT2) cells abolishes the reversible therapy of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We here report an inhalable mucus-penetrating lipid nanoparticle (LNP) for codelivering dual mRNAs, promoting realveolarization via restoring AT2 stemness for IPF treatment. Inhalable LNPs were first formulated with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and our in-house-made ionizable lipids for high-efficiency pulmonary mucus penetration and codelivery of dual messenger RNAs (mRNAs), encoding cytochrome b5 reductase 3 and bone morphogenetic protein 4, respectively. After being inhaled in a bleomycin model, LNPs reverses the mitochondrial dysfunction through ameliorating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide biosynthesis, which inhibits the accelerated senescence of AT2 cells. Concurrently, pathological epithelial remodeling and fibroblast activation induced by impaired AT2 cells are terminated, ultimately prompting alveolar regeneration. Our data demonstrated that the mRNA-LNP system exhibited high protein expression in lung epithelial cells, which markedly extricated the alveolar collapse and prolonged the survival of fibrosis mice, providing a clinically viable strategy against IPF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central developmental event in the human (h)αglobin gene cluster is selective silencing of the ζ-globin gene as erythropoiesis shifts from primitive erythroblasts in the embryonic yolk sac to definitive erythroblasts in the fetal liver. Previous studies have demonstrated that full developmental silencing of the hζ-globin gene in transgenic mice requires the proximal 2.1 kb of its 3′-flanking region. In the current report, we localize this silencing activity to a 108 bp segment located 1.2 kb 3′ to the ζ-globin gene. Protein(s) in nuclear extracts from cell lines representing the fetal/adult erythroid stage bind specifically to an NF-κB motif located at this site. In contrast, this binding activity is lacking in the nuclear extract of an embryonic-stage erythroid line expressing ζ-globin. This complex is quantitatively recognized by antisera to the NF-κB p50 and to a lesser extent to p65 subunits. A two-base substitution that disrupts NF-κB site protein binding in vitro also results in the loss of the developmental silencing activity in vivo. The data suggest that NF-κB complex formation is a crucial component of hζ-globin gene silencing. This finding expands the roles of this widely distributed transcriptional complex to include negative regulation in mammalian development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on a study that found that the expression of two insect-resistant genes in transgenic tobacco plants results in added protection against both cotton bollworm and aphids. Expression of the synthesized Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal protein gene crylA (b&c) and the synthesized gene GNA; Methodology of the study; Results and discussion; Conclusion.

[Objective] To study antifebrile effect of bupleurum injection on male SD model rats with LPS-induced fever. [Methods] Febrile rats model wa modeled by intraperitoneal injection of LP (100 μg/kg). We injected rats with bupleurum injection of different concentrations, 5.00, 2.50 ad 1.25 mL/kg, respectively. Body temperatures of rats in each group were recorded at 0. 5, 1.0, 1.5, 2. 0, 2. 5, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4. 5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0 and 8. 0 h. With the data, we made a drawing of average heating curves and explored effects of bupleurum injection on body temperatures of febrile model rats. [Results] After intraperitoneal injection of LPS (100 μ/kg), rats in model group shoAved obvious three-phrase heat. 4 hours ater building the model, peak value (1.69 °C ) of body temperature rise appeared. Intramuscular injection of bupleurum injection (5.00, 2.50 ad 1.25 mL/kg) could significatly lower body temperatures of above-mentioned febrile model rats ad it's lasted for 7 to 8 hours. The average values of temperature rise at various time points revealed that antifebrile effect of bupleurum injection had a good dose-dependence. [Conclusions] Bupleurum injection had strong antifebrile effect on LP-induced febrile model rats and the antifebrile effect had a good dose-dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By applying digital beam-forming (DBF) technique, the along-track multi-channel synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system can simultaneously achieve high-resolution and wide-swath (HRWS) imaging. However, the presence of unavoidable phase biases tends to degrade the DBF performance. To address this issue, a novel phase bias estimation algorithm based on Doppler spectrum optimisation is proposed. By exploiting the fact that phase bias would cause Doppler spectrum broadened, the phase biases can be successfully estimated by maximising a sharpness optimisation of the Doppler spectrum. The effectiveness of the algorithm is validated by experimental result carried out on the SAR data collected by an air-borne multi-channel system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetrandrine (Tet) bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids isolated from Stephania tetrandra and other related species of Menispermaceae. It has been demonstrated to have positive therapeutic effects on cardiovascular disease, hypertension, silicosis, autoimmune diseases. In recent years, some reports have shown that Tet has anticancer activity in human cancers. To explore the pharmacological activity and mechanism of Tet on colon cancer and its unique advantages as a natural product. In the present study, analyses of the cell cycle, apoptosis, targets prediction, molecular docking, and alterations in protein levels were performed to elucidate how Tet functions in colon cancer. We found that Tet robustly induced arrest at the G1 phase in colon cancer cell line HT-29. It induced HT-29 cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, analysis of protein expression levels in HT-29 cells showed down-regulation of Bcl-2, pro-caspase 3, pro-caspase 8, PARP, cyclin D1 (CCND1), cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK 4), and up-regulation of Bax, active caspase 3, and active caspase 8. These results indicate that Tet induces apoptosis of colon cancer cells through the mitochondrial pathway and caspase family pathway. Molecular docking showed interaction effects and binding energy. Comparing with the CDK4 inhibitors ribociclib and palbociclib, the docking energy is similar to the docked amino acid residues. Therefore, we conclude that Tet and the CCND1/CDK4 compound could form hydrogen bonds and a stable compound structure, which can inhibit colon cancer cells proliferation by regulating CCND1/CDK4 compound and its downstream proteins phosphorylated Rb (p-Rb). In summary, Tet may be a potential drug for colon cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly developed planar differential mobility analyzer (DMA) serving as particle sizer can achieve higher transmission and selection precision at ambient pressure compared with conventional cylindrical DMA, and show potentials on coupling with atmospheric pressure interface mass spectrometer (API-MS) for cluster detection with an additional ion mobility dimension. In this study, we assessed the performance of a commercial planar DMA (DMA P5) integrated with the home-build recirculation system. The sizing range of the system in this work is 0-3.9 nm, although larger sizes can be measured with a sheath gas flow restrictor. The resolving power under different recirculation setups (suction mode and counter flow mode) and different sheath flow rates was evaluated using electrosprayed tetra-alkyl ammonium salts (TMAI, TBAI, THAB and TDAB). The maximum resolving power of THA+ under suction and counterflow mode are 61.6 and 84.6, respectively. The sizing resolution of DMA P5 is 7-16 times higher than conventional cylindrical DMAs. The resolving power showed approximately linear correlation with v under counterflow mode, while the resolving power of THA+ under suction mode stopped linearly increase with v when the VDMA was above 3554.3V and enter a plateau due to the interference of sample flow on the laminarity of sheath flow. The transmission efficiency of DMA P5 can reach 54.3%, about one factor of magnitude higher than the commercial DMAs. The mobility spectrum of different electrosprayed tetra-alkyl ammonium salts and the mass to charge ratio-mobility 2D spectrum of sulfuric acid clusters was also characterized with the DMA P5 (-MS) system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Allicin is a wide spectrum prebiotic for human health, but whether it can attenuate blood in diabetes patients is rarely reported. In this study, we built a rat model and investigated the effect of allicin on diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM). We found that allicin could effectively reduce blood glucose levels, regulate intestinal microbiota, reduce lipid and body weight accumulation, and systemic inflammation in T2DM rats. Methods: The rat model of type 2 diabetes was made by streptozotocin, and different doses of allicin were given orally by gavage. The intestinal contents of diabetes rats were sequenced and analyzed by 16S technology, and the clinical indicators of rats were detected for joint analysis. Results: Allicin can improve the intestinal flora of type 2 diabetes rats, enrich beneficial metabolites, reduce blood glucose, improve blood lipids, reduce systemic inflammation, and improve type 2 diabetes. Discussion: Intestinal microbiome analysis showed that allicin gavage significantly regulated the structure and main components of the intestinal microbiota in T2DM rats. Allicin increased the abundance of probiotic microbes, such as Lactobacillus, Clostridium and Akkermansia, while it reduced pathogenic microbes, such as Enterobacter, Erysipelatoclostridium and Colidextribacter. Allicin gavage increased the abundance of intestinal shortchain fatty acids, such as acetic acid and propionic acid. Correlation analysis showed that the increased gut microbes by allicin gavage were significantly associated with health physiological parameters but negatively related to serum inflammatory factors such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), and hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). In addition, our study also suggests that allicin may have prebiotic effects on chronic liver injury. This study shows that allicin can regulate various clinical symptoms of T2DM and is a potential therapeutic drug for T2DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rosmarinus officinalis L. is commonly used as a spice and flavoring agent. Diterpenes are the main active compounds of R. officinalis. An Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was developed for the determination of carnosol, rosmanol, and carnosic acid isolated from R. officinalis in rat plasma, and applied to a pharmacokinetic study after oral administration of R. officinalis extract. Sample preparation involved a liquid-liquid extraction of the analytes with ethyl acetate. Butylparaben was employed as an internal standard (I.S.). Chromatographic separation was carried out on a C18 column (ACQUITY UPLC® HSS T3, 1.8 μm, 2.1 mm × 100 mm) with a gradient system consisting of the mobile phase solution A (0.1% formic acid in water) and solution B (acetonitrile) at the flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. The quantification was obtained using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode with electrospray ionization (ESI). The UHPLC-MS/MS assay was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability. This study described a simple, sensitive and validated UHPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of three diterpene compounds in rat plasma after oral administration of R. officinalis extract, and investigated on their pharmacokinetic studies as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable selection is an essential part during the whole process of qualitative and quantitative analysis of spectroscopy. Traditional methods like interval partial least square (iPLS), uninformative variable elimination (UVE), successive projections algorithm (SPA) etc. often have some disadvantages such as many parameters need to be tuned, weak robustness and so on. To solve these problems, this paper proposed a novel variable selection framework which combines UVE algorithm and ensemble L1 regularization framework together. The whole process of proposed method includes two phases: rough and fine selection. Firstly, UVE algorithm is used to eliminate the uninformative variables (rough selection). Secondly, the variable selection problem is mapped into a L1 regularization optimization problem with constraint (fine selection). To improve the stability and robustness of proposed method, an ensemble variable selection framework is designed which ensemble the results of many L1 regularization selectors. To validate the performance of proposed method, the following two public near infrared spectral datasets were tested: (1) Spectral (range from 900 nm to 1700 nm) and octane data of gasoline; (2) Spectral (range from 1100 nm to 2498 nm) and moisture data of corn. The experimental results showed that the proposed method can not only select the most featured wavelengths, but also can improve the stability and robustness of variable selection results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clinical features of bacteria endocarditis became atypical when consolidated with other conditions such as tuberculosis (TB). Especially, the symptoms of bacteria endocarditis (BE) which were hidden behind the TB fever often lead to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.Case Presentation: A 56-year-old male with thoracic vertebra bone TB history presented with low-grade fever, shortness of breath and cardiac souffle. After conventional antibiotic therapy and strengthen anti-tuberculosis treatment condition did not be improved. Further inspection, there were bacteria endocarditis with the vegetation across the mitral valve. But the other valves were not involved. He was treated with intravenous penicillin for 4 weeks in all including during surgery, and following with oral antibiotic for another 2 weeks. The patient improved clinically eventually.Conclusion: It is the first reported case of isolated thoracic vertebra tuberculosis with valve endocarditis caused by streptococcus viridans and was successfully managed by combination therapy of internal medicine and surgery. It was suggested in tuberculosis patients, the possibility of bacterial endocarditis should be considered when came into fever and unexplained cardiac soufflé (in tuberculosis patients). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corydalis bungeana Turcz. is an anti-inflammatory medicinal herb used widely in traditional Chinese medicine for upper respiratory tract infections. It is demonstrated that corynoline is its active anti-inflammatory component. The nuclear factor-erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) pathway and the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway play important roles in the regulation of inflammation. In this study, we investigated the potential anti-inflammatory mechanism of corynoline through modulation of Nfr2 and MAPKs. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW264.7 cells were used to explore modulatory role of NO production and the activation of signaling proteins and transcription factors using nitrite assay, Western bloting and qPCR. Treatment with corynoline reduced production of nitric oxide (NO) and the protein and mRNA levels of inducible nitric oxide (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) Treatment also significantly increased the expression of Nrf2, quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) at the mRNA and protein levels, which demonstrated that corynoline may protect cells from inflammation through the Nrf2/ARE pathway In addition, corynoline suppressed the expression of inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β), at the mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, molecular data revealed that corynoline inhibited lipopolysaccharide-stimulated phosphorylation of c-jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38. Taken together, these results suggest that corynoline reduces the levels of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as iNOS, COX-2, TNF-α and IL-1β, by suppressing extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK) and p38 phosphorylation in RAW264.7 cells, which is regulated by the Nrf2/ARE pathway. These findings reveal part of the molecular basis for the anti-inflammatory properties of corynoline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danggui-Shaoyao-San (DSS), also called Toki-shakuyaku-san (TJ-23) or Dangguijakyaksan (DJS), is a well-known herbal formula (Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels., Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort., Paeonia lactiflora pall., Poria cocos (Schw.) Wolf, Alisma orientalis (Sam.) Juzep., Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz.), which has been widely used in oriental countries for the treatment of various gynecological diseases. Recent studies show that DSS has an effect on free radical-mediated neurological diseases and exhibits anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities and reduces cell apoptosis in the hippocampus. In addition, DSS mediates the modulation of central monoamine neurotransmitter systems and ameliorates dysfunction of the central cholinergic nervous system and scopolamine-induced decrease in ACh levels. DSS improves the function of the dopaminergic, adrenergic, and serotonergic nervous systems. Interestingly, DSS can alleviate cognitive dysfunction of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, suggesting that it is a useful therapeutic agent for AD. This paper reviews the mechanism of DSS for the treatment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, physical parameterization schemes are the most computationally expensive components, despite being greatly simplified. In the past few years, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that deep learning (DL) parameterizations of subgrid physics have the potential to accelerate and even outperform conventional physic-based schemes. However, as the DL models are commonly implemented using the DL libraries written in Python, very few DL-based parameterizations have been successfully integrated with NWP models due to the difficulty of embedding Python functions into Fortran-based NWP models. To address this issue, we developed a coupler to allow the DL-based parameterizations to be coupled with a widely used NWP model, i.e., the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) model. Similar to the WRF I/O methodologies, the coupler provides the options to run the DL model inference with exclusive processors or the same processors for WRF calculations. In addition, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the coupler, the DL-based radiation emulators are trained and coupled with the WRF model successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A specific, simple, sensitive Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination and pharmacokinetic study of purpurin, munjistin, and mollugin in rat plasma. Chromatographic separation was carried out using a C18 column (ACQUITY UPLC® HSS T3, 1.8 μm, 2.1×100 mm) with gradient elution. The compounds were detected on a 6430 triple-quadrupole tandem MS with an electrospray ionization (ESI) interface using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) in positive ionization mode. The samples were prepared by a liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method with ethyl acetate after being spiked with an internal standard (bifendate). The current UHPLC-MS/MS assay was validated for its linearity, intra-day and inter-day precisions, accuracy, extraction recovery, matrix effect and stability in different conditions. The method was linear for all analytes over the investigated range with all determined correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9900. The intra-day and inter-day precisions were in the range of 4.21% to 14.84%, and the relative errors of accuracies were in the range of -14.05% to 14.75%. The mean recoveries and matrix effects of purpurin, munjistin, and mollugin were higher than 78.87% and 92.56%, repectively. After oral administration of 0.82 g/kg of Rubia cordifolia extract, the maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) were 70.10±11.78 ng/mL for purpurin, 26.09±6.6 ng/mL for munjistin, and 52.10±6.71 ng/mL for mollugin. The time for maximal concentration (Tmax) was 1.61±0.24 h for purpurin, 2.58±0.19 h for munjistin, and 1.99±0.21 h for mollugin. The established method was further applied to a pharmacokinetic study of purpurin, munjistin, and mollugin in rat plasma. It was concluded from the pharmacokinetic parameters that the three analytes showed a process of slow absorption and metabolism after oral administration of R. cordifolia extract to rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the impacts of anti-nerve growth factor antibody on pain-related behaviors and expressions of μ-opioid receptor in spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglia of rats with cancer-induced bone pain. Methods: The rats were randomly grouped and then injected with 10 μl of phosphate buffer saline or Walker256 tumor cells into the upper segment of left tibia. Thirteen days after the injection, the intrathecal catheterization was performed, followed by the injection of saline, anti-nerve growth factor, nerve growth factor, and naloxone twice a day. The pain ethological changes were measured at the set time points; the expression changes of μ-opioid receptor protein and mRNA in spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglia were detected on the 18th day. Results: After the tumor cells were injected into the tibia, hyperalgesia appeared and the expression of μ-opioid receptor protein and mRNA in spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglia was increased, compared with the sham group; after intrathecally injected anti-nerve growth factor, the significant antinociceptive effects appeared, and the μ-opioid receptor expression was increased, compared with the cancer pain group; the μ-opioid receptor expressions in the other groups showed no statistical significance. The naloxone pretreatment could mostly inverse the antinociception effects of anti-nerve growth factor. Conclusions: Anti-nerve growth factor could reduce hyperalgesia in the cancer-induced bone pain rats, and the antinociceptive effects were related with the upregulation of μ-opioid receptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, highly sensitive, and dual-readout fluorescent assay is developed for the detection of protein kinase activity based on the specific recognition utility of TiO2-coated Fe3O4/SiO2 magnetic microspheres (TMSPs) for kinase-induced phosphopeptides. When the fluorophore-labeled substrate peptides are phosphorylated by the kinase reaction, they can bind specifically to the TiO2 layer of TMSPs by means of phosphate groups, resulting in fluorophore enrichment on the TMSP surfaces. The accumulated fluorophores on the TMSPs are proportional to the kinase activity, and the fluorescence signal readout could be run through either direct fluorescent imaging of the TMSPs or measurement of the fluorescence intensity by simply detaching the fluorescent phosphopeptides into the solution. The TMSPs exhibit extremely high selectivity for capturing phosphorylated peptides over the nonphosphorylated ones, resulting in an ultrahigh fluorescence signal-to-background ratio of 42, which is the highest fluorescence change thus far in fluorescent assays for detection of protein kinase activities. Therefore, the proposed fluorescent assay presents high sensitivity, low detection limit of 0.1 milliunit/μL, and wide dynamic range from 0.5 milliunit/μL to 0.5 unit/μL with protein kinase A (PKA) as a model target. Moreover, the TMSP-based fluorescent assay can simultaneously quantify multiple kinase activities with their specific peptides labeled with different dyes. This new strategy is also successfully applied to monitoring drug-triggered PKA activation in cell lysates. Therefore, the TMSP-based fluorescent assay is very promising in high-throughput screening of kinase inhibitors and in highly sensitive detection of kinase activity, and thus it is a valuable tool for development of targeted therapy, clinical diagnosis, and studies of fundamental life science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed genetic rearrangements in lymphocytes require transcription at antigen receptor genes to promote accessibility for initiating double-strand break (DSB) formation critical for DNA recombination and repair. Here, we showed that activated B cells deficient in the PTIP component of the MLL3 (mixed-lineage leukemia 3)—MLL4 complex display impaired trimethylation of histone 3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and transcription initiation of downstream switch regions at the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (lgh) locus, leading to defective immunoglobulin class switching. We also showed that PTIP accumulation at DSBs contributes to class switch recombination (CSR) and genome stability independently of lgh switch transcription. These results demonstrate that PTIP promotes specific chromatin changes that control the accessibility of the lgh locus to CSR and suggest a nonredundant role for the MLL3-MLL4 complex in altering antibody effector function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Drosophila Dachshund (Dac) gene, cloned as a dominant inhibitor of the hyperactive growth factor mutant ellipse, encodes a key component of the retinal determination gene network that governs cell fate. Herein, cyclic amplification and selection of targets identified a DACH1 DNA-binding sequence that resembles the FOX (F̱orkhead bo̱x̱-containing protein) binding site. Genome-wide in silico promoter analysis of DACH1 binding sites identified gene clusters populating cellular pathways associated with the cell Cycle and growth factor signaling. ChIP coupled with high-throughput sequencing mapped DACH1 binding sites to corresponding gene clusters predicted in silico and identified as weight matrix resembling the cyclic amplification and selection of targets-defined sequence. DACH1 antagonized FOXM1 target gene expression, promoter occupancy in the context of local chromatin, and contact-independent growth. Attenuation of FOX function by the cell fate determination pathway has broad implications given the diverse role of FOX proteins in cellular biology and tumorigenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advances in regenerative medicine technologies have been strongly proposed in the management of thyroid diseases. Mechanistically, the adoption of thyroid bioengineering requires a scaffold that shares a similar three-dimensional (3D) space structure, biomechanical properties, protein component, and cytokines to the native extracellular matrix (ECM).Methods: 24 male New Zealand white rabbits were used in this experimental study. The rabbit thyroid glands were decellularized by immersion/agitation decellularization protocol. The 3D thyroid decellularization scaffolds were tested with histological and immunostaining analyses, scanning electron microscopy, DNA quantification, mechanical properties test, cytokine assay and cytotoxicity assays. Meanwhile, the decellularization scaffold were seeded with human thyroid follicular cells, cell proliferation and thyroid peroxidase were determined to explore the biocompatibility in vitro.Results: Notably, through the imaging studies, it was distinctly evident that our protocol intervention minimized cellular materials and maintained the 3D spatial structure, biomechanical properties, ECM composition, and biologic cytokine. Consequently, the decellularization scaffold was seeded with human thyroid follicular cells, thus strongly revealing its potential in reinforcing cell adhesion, proliferation, and preserve important protein expression.Conclusions: The adoption of our protocol to generate a decellularized thyroid scaffold can potentially be utilized in transplantation to manage thyroid diseases through thyroid bioengineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initial characteristics of the surface layer following the quenching and tempering treatment of ultra-high-strength steel play a significant role in determining the subsequent precision machining. This study focus on investigating the influence of machining processes on the quenching and tempering surface layer. The machining processes affect both the oxidation of the quenching and tempering treatment and the development of a distinct preferred grain orientation. Gradual diminishment of surface abrasions leads to the transformation of the needle-like oxidation pattern into a layered oxidation structure. The preferred orientation of the grains prevents the grains from shear sliding, thereby enhancing the Taylor effect. Formation mechanisms of the microhardness and residual stress of the quenching and tempering surface layer induced by machining processes were also discussed and completely revealed. The microhardness is mainly attributed to the dynamic Hall-Petch effect, while plastic strain, dislocation energy storage, and phase transformation contribute to the residual stress changes. • Formation mechanisms of the quenching and tempering surface layer induced by machining processes were revealed. • Machined surface morphology affects preferred grain orientation preference and austenitization characteristics. • Microhardness of the surface layer induced by machining processes is mainly attributed to the dynamic Hall-Petch effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a vital transcription factor that regulates the anti-oxidative defense system. Previous reports suggested that the expression of the Nrf2 gene can be regulated by epigenetic modifications. The potential epigenetic effect of taxifolin (TAX), a potent cancer chemopreventive agent, in skin cancer chemoprotection is unknown. In this study, we investigated how Nrf2 is epigenetically regulated by TAX in JB6 P+ cells. TAX was found to inhibit the 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced colony formation of JB6 P+ cells. TAX induced antioxidant response element (ARE)-luciferase activity in HepG2-C8 cells and up-regulated mRNA and protein levels of Nrf2 and its downstream genes heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), in JB6 P+ cells. Furthermore, bisulfite genomic sequencing revealed that TAX treatment reduces the methylation level of the first 15 CpGs sites in the Nrf2 promoter. Western blotting showed that TAX inhibits the expression levels of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) proteins. In summary, our results revealed that TAX can induce expression of Nrf2 and its downstream target genes in JB6 P+ cells by CpG demethylation. These finding suggest that TAX may exhibit a skin cancer preventive effect by activating Nrf2 via an epigenetic pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new fiber pressure sensor is proposed and analyzed in this paper. A commercial arc fusion splicer and pressure-assisted arc discharge technology are used here to fabricate a silica hollow microbubble from a common glass tube with the characteristics of a thin film. Then the single mode fiber is embedded into the microbubble to form a fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer by measuring the reflected interference spectrum from the fiber tip and microbubble end. As the wall thickness of the micro-bubble can reach up to several micrometers, it can then be used for measuring the outer pressure with high sensitivity. The fabrication method has the merits of being simple, low in cost, and is easy to control. Experimental results show that its pressure sensitivity can reach 164.56 pm/kPa and the temperature sensitivity can reach 4 pm/°C. Therefore, it also has the advantage of being insensitive to temperature fluctuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-sensitivity, low-cost, ultrathin, hollow fiber micro bubble structure was proposed; such a bubble can be used to develop a high-sensitivity strain sensor based on a Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI). The micro bubble is fabricated at the fiber tip by splicing a glass tube to a single mode fiber (SMF) and then the glass tube is filled with gas in order to expand and form a micro bubble. The sensitivity of the strain sensor with a cavity length of about 155 μm and a bubble wall thickness of about 6 μm was measured to be up to 8.14 pm/με. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) causes the diffracted angle and wavelength to spread, leading to loss of resolution. The light intensity detected by a CCD pixel equals the true intensity plus the stray light caused by the spread of the wavelength and diffraction angle. Here, the true intensity is obtained using neighbourhood estimate recursive correction iteration, improving the spectral and spatial resolution. The spread of acoustic wave angles caused by diffraction is analysed. The reason for the spreads is analysed and derived. A method is reported for measuring the correspondence between the wavelength and diffraction angle spread, using an AOTF, an angle measurement spectrometer and a fibre spectrometer. The iterations' stop condition is analysed. The improved theory is verified by an AOTF spectral imaging experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photothermal effect induced phase change is an important phenomenon in optofluidics. In this work, therefore, the characteristics of the phase change in microchannels with different depths induced by a 1550 nm infrared laser under both low and high laser powers was visually studied. It was revealed that at low laser power, the liquid body could be always advanced as a result of the induced evaporation-condensation-coalescence process regardless of the microchannel depth, which can function as a micro pump. The μ-PIV testing results further demonstrated the coalescence was a dominant mechanism in the interface advancement. Interestingly, although large depth increased the absorption length of the laser and thus improved the temperature and enhanced the evaporation, the advancing effect became weak due to the increase of both the flow resistance and liquid water content to be driven. At high laser power, for small depth microchannel, the liquid body was advanced at the beginning. Once a liquid slug along with a sealed gas slug was formed, the liquid body started to move backward, which can function as chemical separation. However, as the microchannel depth increased, despite that the evaporation was enhanced, such phenomena hardly happen because enhanced evaporation allowed large droplets to be generated. Air bubbles instead of a gas slug were easily entrapped in the liquid body during the coalescence process. These air bubbles quickly grew up due to high temperature, which could be an obstacle to the advancing movement of the liquid body or even block the laser heating. Therefore, it can be concluded that the microchannel depth plays an important role in the photothermally induced phase change process. The obtained results are helpful for the design and operation of the photothermal effect based optofluidic microdevices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]