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• Asymmetric ellipsoidal projectiles for payload improvement. • Theoretical model of the projectile with hole enlargement mechanism. • Contributions of cross section shape to residual velocities and accelerations. A theoretical model is presented for penetration of asymmetric ellipsoidal projectiles which are proposed to fit the lift-generating outline of hypersonic vehicles. The projectile is composed of two triaxial quarter ellipsoids with one different semiaxis, and four geometric parameters are required to decide the shape. The model is based on two-term drag equation and a stress distribution relation of elliptical boundary with hole enlargement mechanism. Verification of the model is completed by simulation cases of six different projectiles with initial velocity between 600 m/s to 1000 m/s. Ballistic characteristics of asymmetric ellipsoidal projectiles including acceleration and residual velocity are derived from the model and analyzed to acquire the effects of geometric parameters on penetration results. Two decisive factors of cross section shapes, asymmetry and flatness, are specially discussed in contributions to residual velocity. Comparations with traditional circular cross-sectional cases are also presented, which indicates that same penetration capacity could be retained in the asymmetric ellipsoidal projectiles as in the circular cross-sectional one by selecting the shape controlling factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aluminum complex Alq3(q = 8-hydroxyquinolinate),which has important applications in organic light-emitting diode materials,is shown to be readily synthesized as a pure phase under solvent-freemechanochemical conditions from Al(OAc)2OH and 8-hydroxyquinolineby ball milling. The initial product of the mechanochemical synthesisis a novel acetic acid solvate of Alq3, and the αpolymorph of Alq3is obtained on subsequent heating/desolvationof this phase. The structure of the mechanochemically prepared aceticacid solvate of Alq3has been determined directly frompowder X-ray diffraction data and is shown to be a different polymorphfrom the corresponding acetic acid solvate prepared by solution-statecrystallization of Alq3from acetic acid. Significantly,the mechanochemical synthesis of Alq3is shown to be fullyscalable across two orders of magnitude from 0.5 to 50 g scale. TheAlq3sample obtained from the solvent-free mechanochemicalsynthesis is analytically pure and exhibits identical photoluminescencebehavior to that of a sample prepared by the conventional syntheticroute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To initiate an efficient primary infection, it is important for baculovirus virions to penetrate through the peritrophic membrane (PM) of the host insect. It is frequently reported that enhancins of baculoviruses significantly enhance viral infection by degrading the various protein components of PMs. However, not all baculoviruses encode enhancins. GP37s of baculoviruses share high amino acid identity with fusolins, synergistic factors found in entomopoxviruses. In this study, a truncated Cydia pomonella granulovirus GP37 was expressed in Escherichia coli. The expressed GP37 effectively bound to chitin, and binding occurred predominantly within 3 h. GP37 altered the protein profiles of Spodoptera exigua PMs, from which a 50-kDa protein was dissociated. Droplet-feeding bioassays indicated that GP37 significantly enhanced the infectivity of nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPVs) and the lethality of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in S. exigua larvae. This is the first demonstration of the enhancement of NPVs and Bt infection by a baculovirus GP37. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecular mechanism of flower development and sexual differentiation, which is an intricate process, still unclear in Vitis plants. In this study, we performed the transcriptome analysis by high-throughput sequencing to measure gene expression at three stages in male, female, and hermaphrodite grape flowers, and in combination with the fluctuation of hormones (ABA, IAA, BR, GA3, and JA) to understand the gene function and molecular basis of developmental processes in Vitis flowers. The results showed that more than 581 million clean reads were generated from all samples and average 83% reads were mapped on the Vitis vinifera genome. More, quite a large number of genes were differentially expressed between different stages within and across cultivars and various transcription factor families involved were identified in flower development. The genes belonging to MYB, bHLH, ERF, NAC, and WRKY have more numbers than other TF families. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation of those hormones with 165 DEGs (including 36 TF genes). The results suggested that those genes might play important roles in sex differentiation during flower development and a unique opportunity to increase the efficiency of crossbreeding in Vitis plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first introduces Mani the Buddha of Light—a collection of ritual manuals of the Religion of Light from Xiapu county, Fujian Province, China and Diagram of the Universe—a Manichaean painting produced in South China in the late 14th to early 15th century. It then gives a detailed description of Mani the Buddha of Light with some illustrations of Diagram of the Universe. This paper further compares Mani the Buddha of Light and Buddhist worship and repentance ritual to demonstrate that the former utilized the form of the latter. It also analyzes the similarities and differences between the pantheons of Mani the Buddha of Light and other Manichaean materials. Ultimately it discusses the hypothesis that many pieces of the original texts in Mani the Buddha of Light should have come into being during the 9th–11th centuries and have been handed down generation after generation because of the strong vitality of its rituals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the urban industry in recent years, air pollution in areas such as factories and streets has become more and more serious. Air quality problems directly affect the normal lives of residents. Effectively predicting the future air condition in the area through relevant historical data has high application value for early warning of this area. Through the study of the previous monitoring data, it is found that the pollutant data of adjacent monitoring stations are correlated in more periods. Therefore, this paper proposes a hybrid model based on CNN and Bi-LSTM, using CNN to synthesize multiple adjacent stations with strong correlations to extract spatial features between data, and using Bi-LSTM to extract features in the time dimension to finally achieve pollutant concentration prediction. Using the historical data of 40 monitoring stations in different locations of Fushun city to conduct research. By comparing with the traditional prediction model, the results prove that the model proposed in this paper has higher accuracy and stronger robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 26-year-old female who was brought to the local schistosomiasis-specialized hospital in China for diagnosis and treatment after complaining of distention and abdominal pain for over a month. The patient was suspected to have advanced schistosomiasis due to her symptoms and blood test results as well as contact history. Early operation and effective decompression are also considered the major factors resulting in reversal of liver fibrosis for the case.

This article discusses a case report of a 26-year-old female in China who was diagnosed with advanced schistosomiasis japonica, a severe form of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis. The patient underwent a splenectomy, which resulted in the reversal of liver fibrosis. The article highlights the importance of early operation and effective decompression of the portal system in improving liver fibrosis in advanced schistosomiasis cases. It also emphasizes the need for regular ultrasound examinations in endemic regions to prevent the progression of the disease. [Extracted from the article]

In order to protect and promote the effective differentiation and rational utilization of grape germplasm resources, 34 grapevine varieties were selected from the National Germplasm Resources, Taigu Grape Nursery in China: 12 wine grapes (Group I), 14 table grapes (Group II) and 12 seedless grapes (Group III), 4 of which were in Group II, too. For the purpose of genetic characterization, 15 pairs of SSR (simple sequence repeat) primers were used. Sixty-six alleles were generated among Group I, including 64 polymorphic bands, with 1-8 alleles per locus. In Group II, a total of 54 alleles, from 1 to 8 (3.6 on average) alleles per locus, were identified. In Group III, 54 alleles with an average of 3.6 alleles per locus were identified and the percentage of polymorphic alleles was 94%. The 34 varieties clustered into two major clades in the dendrogram: V. vinifera with hybrid of V. vinifera and V. labrusca or hybrid of V. amurensisi and V. vinifera were clearly differentiated. After processing and filtering the raw data, we produced the molecular fingerprint code of each variety. These results showed that the SSR markers are useful for discrimination and analysis of genetic diversity of grapevine varieties. The SSR markers could be used to examine and distinguish the genetic resources among closely related varieties. This is also an effective tool for construction of a grapevine molecular fingerprinting system. The obtained data will be useful in grape breeding in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is one of the most important flaviviruses that targets the central nervous system (CNS) and causes encephalitides in humans. Although neuroinflammatory mechanisms may contribute to brain tissue destruction, the induction pathways and potential roles of specific chemokines in TBEV-mediated neurological disease are poorly understood.Methods: BALB/c mice were intracerebrally injected with TBEV, followed by evaluation of chemokine and cytokine profiles using protein array analysis. The virus-infected mice were treated with the CC chemokine antagonist Met-RANTES or anti-RANTES mAb to determine the role of RANTES in affecting TBEV-induced neurological disease. The underlying signaling mechanisms were delineated using RANTES promoter luciferase reporter assay, siRNA-mediated knockdown, and pharmacological inhibitors in human brain-derived cell culture models.Results: In a mouse model, pathological features including marked inflammatory cell infiltrates were observed in brain sections, which correlated with a robust up-regulation of RANTES within the brain but not in peripheral tissues and sera. Antagonizing RANTES within CNS extended the survival of mice and reduced accumulation of infiltrating cells in the brain after TBEV infection. Through in vitro studies, we show that virus infection up-regulated RANTES production at both mRNA and protein levels in human brain-derived cell lines and primary progenitor-derived astrocytes. Furthermore, IRF-3 pathway appeared to be essential for TBEV-induced RANTES production. Site mutation of an IRF-3-binding motif abrogated the RANTES promoter activity in virus-infected brain cells. Moreover, IRF-3 was activated upon TBEV infection as evidenced by phosphorylation of TBK1 and IRF-3, while blockade of IRF-3 activation drastically reduced virus-induced RANTES expression.Conclusions: Our findings together provide insights into the molecular mechanism underlying RANTES production induced by TBEV, highlighting its potential importance in the process of neuroinflammatory responses to TBEV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]