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Remanufacturing, which benefits the environment and saves resources, is attracting increasing attention. Disassembly is arguably the most critical step in the remanufacturing of end-of-life (EoL) products. Human–robot collaborative disassembly as a flexible semi-automated approach can increase productivity and relieve people of tedious, laborious, and sometimes hazardous jobs. Task allocation in human–robot collaborative disassembly involves methodically assigning disassembly tasks to human operators or robots. However, the schemes for task allocation in recent studies have not been sufficiently refined and the issue of component placement after disassembly has not been fully addressed in recent studies. This paper presents a method of task allocation and sequence planning for human–robot collaborative disassembly of EoL products. The adopted criteria for human–robot disassembly task allocation are introduced. The disassembly of each component includes dismantling and placing. The performance of a disassembly plan is evaluated according to the time, cost, and utility value. A discrete Bees Algorithm using genetic operators is employed to optimise the generated human–robot collaborative disassembly solutions. The proposed task allocation and sequence planning method is validated in two case studies involving an electric motor and a power battery from an EoL vehicle. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method for planning and optimising human–robot collaborative disassembly solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A covalent assembly strategy was developed to construct a gold nanocluster-based nano-assembly (AuNCNA) in a controllable manner, using Au8 nanocluster as node and 5,10,15,20-tetra(4-alkynylphenyl)porphine (TEPP) as ligand. Subsequently, the tripeptide arginine glycine aspartic acid (RGD) peptide is further modified via clicking reaction to build a multi-functional nanoplatform (AuNCNA@RGD) that can integrate the targeted fluorescence imaging and efficient photodynamic therapy (PDT). The strong interregulation of Au8 nanocluster and TEPP results in AuNCNA@RGD exhibiting three distinct advantages: (i) TEPP plays an important role in stabilizing the Au8 nanocluster and keeping the active site fixed within the framework, thereby enhancing stability of Au8 nanocluster; (ii) Au8 nanocluster possess adjustable energy level, which can accelerate the transfer of photogenerated charge and prevent the recombination of electrons and holes, thus improving the photosensitivity of TEPP for PDT; (iii) AuNCNA exhibits bright fluorescence emission that facilitates RGD-assisted targeted tumor imaging. This work expands the construction method of AuNC assembly, and this assembly method is versatile and can flexibly transform different organic ligands to construct various AuNC-based functional nanomaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel AIEgen molecular probe (N-3QL) with typical AIE effects, good biocompatibility, lysosome targeting, pH activation, excellent photostability, and high brightness was synthesized using two simple synthetic steps. Spectroscopic and cytotoxicity experiments indicate that N-3QL can not only be used for the dynamic monitoring of cancer cell lysosomes, but also for photodynamic therapy (PDT) ablation of cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mesenchymal feature, dominated by epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and stromal cell activation, is one of the main reasons for the aggressive nature of tumors, yet it remains poorly understood. In gastric cancer (GC), the fermitin family homolog-2 (FERMT2) is involved in macrophage signaling, promoting migration and invasion. However, the function of FERMT2 in fibroblasts remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that downregulation of FERMT2 expression can block EMT in GC cells by inhibiting fibroblast activation in vitro. Furthermore, we found that, in addition to the known pathways, fibroblast-derived FERMT2 promotes M2-like macrophage growth and that in human GC samples, there is a strong positive correlation between FERMT2 and CD163 and CD206 levels. Notably, high FERMT2 expression was significantly associated with poor clinical outcomes and was upregulated in patients with advanced disease. Taken together, our results provide evidence that the fibroblast-FERMT2-EMT-M2 macrophage axis plays a critical role in the GC mesenchymal phenotype and may be a promising target for the treatment of advanced GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the unreasonable support plan for the water-rich and fractured area of the mining excavation roadway, which has caused problems such as roof fall and fragmentation, the optimization of tunnel support parameters was studied based on the engineering background of the marble fractured area m the front of the 1 660 m level YM-II roadway. In order to reasonably and effectively support the roadway and reduce support costs, a roadway model was established based on onsite practice. The support plan was designed through orthogonal experiments, and FLAC3D numerical simulation software was used to simulate and calculate. The stability of the surrounding rock n the roadway was compared and analyzed through simulation result. The analysis results indicate that the length of anchor rods mainly affects the deformation of the surrounding rock of the tunnel, and the spacing between anchor rods mainly affects the damage of the surrounding rock of the tunnel; The optimal support plan is for anchor rods with a diameter of 40 mm, a length of 1. 8 m, and a spacing of 0. 9 m between rows X 0. 9 m can reduce the displacement of tunnel surrounding rock by 70.77%, plastic zone volume by 63.91%, and vertical stress by 12.96%, effectively controlling the stability of tunnel surrounding rock and providing assurance for mine safety production. The research results may provide reference for the support design and ground pressure control of surrounding rock tunnels in water-rich and fractured areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Post-synthetic modification is an important strategy for improving and enhancing the properties and functions of covalent organic frameworks (COFs). Two imine-linked COFs are converted into the quinolone-linked COFs by converting the dynamic imine linkages in the COFs into more robust quinolone ring via aza-Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction. The prepared quinolone-linked COFs not only maintain good crystallinity and porosity, but also possess expanded conjugate planes, enhanced light absorption and excellent stability. The quinolone-linked COFs present remarkable performance of photocatalytic oxidation reactions, including oxidation of phenylboric acids, coupling of benzylamine, and oxidation of thioethers. This work is helpful for preparing organic porous photocatalytic materials with high performance and long life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to provide a new security solution for data storage based on semi-network OS architecture, that is, to create a comprehensive data security system with approaches of "OSPU security effect" and "data assembly verification" as main pillars. There are three factors to determine the security level of data storage, they are: the uniqueness of verification credentials, the exclusiveness of network access, and the verifiability of the user's identity, which are also the three weaknesses of some existing security configuration of data storage, the theme discussed here is trying to use the new comprehensive security configuration system to overcome some weaknesses of existing one and provide a more effective security environment for data storage. Currently, a large number of theories and approaches related to data security have emerged, including some latest "security hardware" and approaches of "data verification," but few of them are similar to the OSPU security effect and the "data assembly verification" mentioned here, and further, it is an unprecedented innovation that combines approaches of OSPU security effect and the "data assembly verification" into a comprehensive security system under the semi-network OS architecture. OSPU is a core hardware component in semi-network OS architecture, and it performs both system support and security checkpoints in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probiotics have garnered significant attention in recent years due to their potential advantages in diverse biomedical applications, such as acting as antimicrobial agents, aiding in tissue repair, and treating diseases. These live bacteria must exist in appropriate quantities and precise locations to exert beneficial effects. However, their viability and activity can be significantly impacted by the surrounding tissue, posing a challenge to maintain their stability in the target location for an extended duration. To counter this, researchers have formulated various strategies that enhance the activity and stability of probiotics by encapsulating them within biomaterials. This approach enables site-specific release, overcoming technical impediments encountered during the processing and application of probiotics. A range of materials can be utilized for encapsulating probiotics, and several methods can be employed for this encapsulation process. This article reviews the recent advancements in probiotics encapsulated within biomaterials, examining the materials, methods, and effects of encapsulation. It also provides an overview of the hurdles faced by currently available biomaterial-based probiotic capsules and suggests potential future research directions in this field. Despite the progress achieved to date, numerous challenges persist, such as the necessity for developing efficient, reproducible encapsulation methods that maintain the viability and activity of probiotics. Furthermore, there is a need to design more robust and targeted delivery vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ratiometric fluorescence sensors attract more and more attention in the field of fluorescence sensors due to their excellent properties. The advanced material with high luminescent properties is the key to developing ratiometric fluorescence sensors. The covalent organic frameworks (COFs) stand out as an exceptional candidate for fluorescence sensing due to their expansive specific surface area and abundant active sites. However, the design, preparation, and application of COF-based ratiometric fluorescent sensors still represent a promising area for further development. This review collects the design principle of COFs and summarizes the design idea, sensing mode, and mechanism of COF-based ratiometric fluorescent sensors. Furthermore, the approaches to achieving a more comprehensive application of ratiometric fluorescent sensors with two emission centers are discussed. This review presents the research progress, challenges, and future directions in the field of COFs for fluorescent sensors, which is important for the development of high-performance ratiometric fluorescence sensors and the expansion of the application of COFs. • Construction modes and detection mechanisms of COFs-based ratiometric fluorescent sensors. • The development and challenge of COFs-based ratiometric fluorescent sensors. • The development of high-performance ratiometric fluorescence sensors. • The expansion of the application of COFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic anomaly map shows an obvious NE-SW trending high-amplitude magnetic anomaly zone (NSCSMA) in the northern South China Sea (SCS) continental margin that extends from southwest Taiwan to the area at approximately 114°E and 20°N. The origin of this high-amplitude magnetic anomaly zone is important for understanding the magmatism, margin rifting, and tectonic evolution of the SCS. To gain insight into this issue, in this study, wavelet spectrum analysis, 2D magnetic modeling, and compact inversion were used to identify the causal source of the NSCSMA. Combining wavelet spectrum analysis with magnetic modeling results, we find that the depths of the major magnetic sources are not consistent along the strike of the NSCSMA (∼15 km in the east and ∼25 km in the west). The compact inversion results along five profiles across the NSCSMA also revealed two kinds of geometries (quasi-dike in the east and dome-like in the west) of the causal sources of the NSCSMA with different depths. Based on our findings and previous paleo-subduction model, we propose that the major source of the NSCSMA is serpentinized upper mantle materials associated with paleo-Pacific plate subduction. • A significant high-amplitude magnetic anomaly zone appears in the northern SCS continental margin. • The geometry and depth of the causal sources were varied along the strike of the NSCSMA. • The NSCSMA could have originated from serpentinized upper mantle materials. • High-susceptibility materials are approximately 10–20 km deep in the COT. • Causal source of the NSCSMA includes the HVLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we have designed and synthesized a quinolinyl-AIE photosensitizer (TPE-4QL+) with an alternative elevated intersystem crossing (ISC) rate, which exhibits not only highly efficient photosensitivity but also high tumor cell specificity and an excellent mitochondrial targeting ability. In vitro experiments indicate that using TPE-4QL+ as a photosensitizer can induce a series of tumor cells to die with a low dose of radiation, but with no obvious toxicity to normal cells. The in vivo studies on a mouse model bearing a subcutaneous 4T1 xenograft also show that TPE-4QL+ can be used with high efficiency as a photosensitizer in PDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: The self‐assembled nanomaterials based on peptides, which have not only good biocompatibility and low toxicity but also high stability and performance, are increasingly becoming an important way for cancer treatment. In this review, we highlight the progress of in vivo self‐assembled polymer‐peptide conjugates (PPCs) and their application, showing the recent advances in the development of "in vivo self‐assembly" strategy for cancer treatment. Given the diverse microenvironments of tumor cells, different responsive assembly strategies (enzyme, pH, redox, temperature, etc.) have been developed to precisely control the assembly at different biological levels, realizing enhanced drug delivery and improved anticancer efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses finite element analysis to investigate the plastic deformation and metal flow of metal powder in open-die and closed-die rotating compression forming processes. In the closed-die rotating compression forming process, the effects of forming temperature, compression pressure, rotation speed, rotation lap number, and alternating rotation frequency on the relative density and effective strain distributions inside the product are discussed. In the open-die rotating compression forming process of powder materials, the top die is controlled by speed. The effects of alternating frequency on the rotating torque, axial load, bulging ratio, and relative density are discussed. A rotating compression machine is designed and manufactured. Experiments of rotating compression forming of aluminum alloy A1050 powder material are also conducted. The hardness distributions are measured and the metallographic microstructures are observed. The measured relative density and hardness distribution are compared with the simulation results to validate the finite element modelling of rotating compression forming of aluminum powder materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly- and per-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are synthetic chemicals of increasing global concern due to their toxicity and environmental persistence. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is an electrochemically active semiconductor that generates a hydrophobic electron-hole with a high affinity for the fluorinated tail of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which enhances surface interactions in aqueous solutions. We demonstrate that h-BN electrocatalytically oxidizes PFOA to shorter chains. The degradation is enhanced by modifying the h-BN surface with an adsorbent, UiO-66 (UiO-66@BN), that facilitates proximal adsorption to catalytic sites (trap-and-zap). At the environmentally relevant concentration of 100 µg/L, electrochemical trap-and-zap removes 99.5% of PFOA with 70% defluorination in 3 h at a pH 4.5. Computational results show that PFOA requires an overpotential of 1.87 V vs. SCE, which is close to the experimental overpotential. The electrical energy per order (EE/O) of UiO-66@BN is 6.1 kWh/m3, indicating that it is a competitive material for PFOA electrochemical remediation. [Display omitted] • UiO-66 modified h-BN degrades over 99% of 100 µg/L PFOA in 3 h. • 70% defluorination of 100 μg/L PFOA achieved in 3 h. • Trap-n-zap with UiO-66 modified h-BN enhances electrochemical oxidation of PFOA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifaceted functions of the so-called "oncogene" Wip1 have been reported in a previous study, while its actual role remains to be explored in serous ovarian cancer (SOC). In this study, by performing bioinformatic analysis with a public database and immunohistochemical staining of Wip1 in tumour tissue from SOC, we concluded that decreased expression of Wip1 was associated with a higher rate of tumour metastasis and platinum-based therapy resistance and increased ascites volume, which led to poorer prognosis in SOC patients. We also found that overexpression of Wip1 in SKOV3 cells decreased the levels of several cytokines, including VEGF, by secretome profiling analysis, and Wip1 overexpression suppressed angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies indicated that overexpression of Wip1 decreased the expression of VEGF at both the protein and mRNA levels and that the inhibitory effect was mediated by dephosphorylation of STAT3 at Ser727. Our study uncovered the role of Wip1 in SOC and provides a novel therapeutic strategy for suppressing angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multifaceted functions of the so-called "oncogene" Wip1 have been reported in a previous study, while its actual role remains to be explored in serous ovarian cancer (SOC). In this study, by performing bioinformatic analysis with a public database and immunohistochemical staining of Wip1 in tumour tissue from SOC, we concluded that decreased expression of Wip1 was associated with a higher rate of tumour metastasis and platinum-based therapy resistance and increased ascites volume, which led to poorer prognosis in SOC patients. We also found that overexpression of Wip1 in SKOV3 cells decreased the levels of several cytokines, including VEGF, by secretome profiling analysis, and Wip1 overexpression suppressed angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies indicated that overexpression of Wip1 decreased the expression of VEGF at both the protein and mRNA levels and that the inhibitory effect was mediated by dephosphorylation of STAT3 at Ser727. Our study uncovered the role of Wip1 in SOC and provides a novel therapeutic strategy for suppressing angiogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although deep neural networks achieve outstanding performance in many tasks, adding very imperceptible perturbations to clean images can easily fool the deep neural network. In this paper, we propose a new defence model: Adversarial Memory Variational AutoEncoder(AdMVAE), that can be used to transform adversarial images into clean images. At inference time, it finds an output that is similar to a given image in a high probability region of the manifold space. And the memory module uses normal features to reconstruct the image in the process of reconstruction. It can effectively prevent the reconstruction of malicious perturbations and avoid defense failure. Our approach is a pre-processing module that does not change the results of the classifier. Therefore, it can be combined with other defence models to jointly improve the performance robustness of the classifier. The experimental results on three benchmark datasets including Fashion-MNIST, CIFAR10 and Imagenet show that the proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art defense methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metal ion binding of transmembrane proteins (TMPs) plays a fundamental role in biological processes, pharmaceutics, and medicine, but it is hard to extract enough TMP structures in experimental techniques to discover their binding mechanism comprehensively. To predict the metal ion binding sites for TMPs on a large scale, we present a simple and effective two-stage prediction method TMP-MIBS, to identify the corresponding binding residues using TMP sequences. At present, there is no specific research on the metal ion binding prediction of TMPs. Thereby, we compared our model with the published tools which do not distinguish TMPs from water-soluble proteins. The results in the independent verification dataset show that TMP-MIBS has superior performance. This paper explores the interaction mechanism between TMPs and metal ions, which is helpful to understand the structure and function of TMPs and is of great significance to further construct transport mechanisms and identify potential drug targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Triphasic dynamic enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans were acquired to identify cholesterol and adenomatous gallbladder (GB) polyps that were inaccurately diagnosed before surgery. Purpose: To evaluate the CT findings of 1.0- to 2.0-cm GB polyps for differentiating between cholesterol and adenomatous polyps. Methods: Fifty-two patients with GB polyps were treated surgically from December 2017 to July 2020 and were retrospectively divided into 2 groups according to the postoperative pathologic results: a cholesterol group with 30 patients and an adenomatous group with 22 patients. Unenhanced and triphasic dynamic enhanced CT scans were performed for all the patients within 2 weeks before surgery. The CT image parameters were measured and analyzed by 2 senior radiologists blinded to the pathological diagnoses. Results: Of the 22 patients in the adenomatous group, 77.3% were female and 22.7% were male, with a mean age of 53.5 years; among the 30 patients in the cholesterol group, 66.7% were female and 33.3% were male, with a median age of 50.1 years. The CT image parameters of all 52 patients with GB polyps were analyzed. Significant differences were found in the arterial phase CT values, portal venous phase CT values, delayed phase CT values, ∆CT1 values (portal venous phase CT minus delayed phase CT values), and ∆CT2 values (arterial phase CT minus delayed phase CT values) between the cholesterol and adenomatous polyp groups (p < 0.05). In differentiating the two groups, the ∆CT1 and ∆CT2 values were superior to the arterial, portal venous and delayed phase CT values regarding both sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: The arterial phase CT values, portal venous phase CT values, delayed phase CT values, and ∆CT values (including ∆CT1 and ∆CT2) from triphasic dynamic enhanced CT scans can differentiate the nature of gallbladder polypoid lesions, with the ∆CT values having the highest sensitivity and specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Electrochemical Sensing of PFOA with Nanoenabled Functionalized electrodes. • Highly sensitive and selective PFOA sensor with 24 ppt LOD and 80 LOQ. • Sensor is stable over at least 200 cycles with 97 % reproducibility. • Detection in matrices with interferents shows a 100 ± 10 % recovery. • Proposed mechanism to explain the electrochemical reduction of PFOA. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a pollutant of emerging concern due to its high persistence, bioaccumulation, and potential toxicity. Numerous studies report its presence in water sources, soils, and food at sub-ppb levels. Here, we describe the design of an electrochemical sensor based on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of the 1H,1H,2H,2H -Perfluorodecanethiol (PFDT), into gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) electrodeposited on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for PFOA detection. The GCE coated with AuNPs was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The average size of AuNPs is estimated as 16 nm ± 07 nm, and the electrode surface coverage is 39 % ± 2%. The calculated coverage of (Γ*) of chemisorbed PFDT molecules was found to be 8.26 × 10−10 mol cm−2. PFOA electroanalysis and quantification were performed by square wave adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (SW-AdCSV) and measurements were verified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry LC/MS-MS. We worked in a range of 100 to 5000 ppt, the PFOA concentration has a linear relationship with the stripping current (R2 = 0.996). The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) are 24 and 80 ppt, respectively. Analyses of tap and brackish samples performed by spiking tap water with known PFOA concentrations show precision and accuracy above 95%. The nano-enabled electrode is stable for at least 200 cycles. The reproducibility across similarly prepared but different electrodes is above 97%. The sensor shows the ability to quantify PFOA even in a matrix with other perfluoroalkyl substances as interferents, with a recovery percentage (Δi 0 –Δi int)/Δi 0) within of 100 ± 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bloodstream infection (BSI) refers to the infection of blood by pathogens. Severe immune response to BSI can lead to sepsis, a systemic infection leading to multiple organ dysfunction, coupled with drug resistance, mortality, and limited clinical treatment options. This work aims to further investigate the new interplay between bacterial exocrine regulatory protein and host immune cells in the context of highly drug-resistant malignant BSI. Whether interfering with related regulatory signaling pathways can reverse the inflammatory disorder of immune cells. In-depth analysis of single-cell sequencing results in Septic patients for potential immunodeficiency factors. Analysis of key proteins enriched by host cells and key pathways using proteomics. Cell models and animal models validate the pathological effects of DnaK on T cells, MAITs, macrophages, and osteoclasts. The blood of patients was analyzed for the immunosuppression of T cells and MAITs. We identified that S. maltophilia -DnaK was enriched in immunodeficient T cells. The activation of the JAK2/STAT1 axis initiated the exhaustion of T cells. Septic patients with Gram-negative bacterial infections exhibited deficiencies in MAITs, which correspond to IFN-γ. Cellular and animal experiments confirmed that DnaK could facilitate MAIT depletion and M1 polarization of macrophages. Additionally, Fludarabine mitigated M1 polarization of blood, liver, and spleen in mice. Interestingly, DnaK also repressed osteoclastogenesis of macrophages stimulated by RANKL. S.maltophilia -DnaK prompts the activation of the JAK2/STAT1 axis in T cells and the M1 polarization of macrophages. Targeting the DnaK's crosstalk can be a potentially effective approach for treating the inflammatory disorder in the broad-spectrum drug-resistant BSI. [Display omitted] • The mechanism of S. maltophilia -DnaK in the immune interaction between T cells and macrophages during bloodstream infection. • The exocrine of S. maltophilia promotes the activation of the JAK2/STAT1 axis in T lymphocytes and initiates the process of apoptosis. • Septic patients infected with Gram-negative bacteria have quantitative and functional deficits in MAIT in peripheral blood, which correlated with IFN-γ concentrations. • DnaK can promote MAIT depletion and macrophage M1 polarization. Fludarabine attenuates M1 polarization in peripheral blood, liver, and spleen macrophages in mice with S. maltophilia bloodstream infection. Interestingly, DnaK inhibits osteoclastogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the creep resistance of CLAM steel and thus elevate its maximum service temperature, in our prior research, a superior thermomechanical treatment process was developed based on thermal simulation experiments conducted. This study employed forging to achieve the desired thermal deformation in accordance with the superior thermomechanical treatment process, followed by mechanical property testing post tempering. Comparative analysis with normalized and tempered CLAM steel (N + T CLAM steel) revealed notable improvements in yield strengths ranging from 31–55 %, ultimate tensile strengths from 30–46 %, and a reduction in total elongations by 12–21 % at both room temperature and elevated temperatures. Additionally, the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) increased from -65 °C to -27 °C. Creep behavior of N + T CLAM steel exhibited similarities to other RAFM steels, with stress exponents measured at 500 °C, 550 °C, 600 °C, and 650 °C recorded as 16.5, 15.0, 10.2, and 7.8, respectively. The creep activation energy was determined to be 556 kJ/mol, closely aligning with results from Eurofer 97 steel and F82H steel, and approximately twice the self-diffusion activation energy of iron. The Larson-Miller parameter method was employed to forecast stress-rupture limits under various conditions, with a predicted result of 120 MPa under typical design life conditions (550 °C / 100,000 h) for the cladding module, comparable to Eurofer 97 steel and F82H steel. TMT CLAM steel exhibited a stress exponent of 16.7 at 550 °C, with a creep activation energy of 578 kJ/mol. Under typical design life conditions (550 °C / 100,000 h) for the cladding module, the predicted stress-rupture limit increased to 176 MPa, representing a 47 % improvement over N +T CLAM steel. Moreover, under the same conditions (550 °C / 230 MPa), the rupture time of TMT CLAM steel was 54 times longer than that of N +T CLAM steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the significance of T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th2 cytokines in the pathogenesis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA), and reveal the value of single cytokines and their proportions in early diagnosis. Methods: A total of 44 URSA patients (URSA group), 51 patients with adverse pregnancy history (ad‐pregnancy group), and 42 healthy volunteers with normal pregnancy (pregnancy group) were recruited for a cross‐sectional study from July 2018 to April 2019 in the Second Xiangya Hospital. Pregnancies involving chromosomal abnormalities, infection, autoimmune diseases, and anatomical abnormalities were excluded. Flow cytometry was used to determine the level of Th1/Th2 cytokines in peripheral blood. Results: The level of interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) in the peripheral blood of the ad‐pregnancy group was significantly higher than in the other two groups. The ratio of interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ)/IL‐4 in the URSA group was significantly higher than that of the pregnancy group. The area under the curve for IFN‐γ/IL‐4 was 0.821, with high diagnostic efficiency, and sensitivity as high as 84.09%. Conclusion: Laboratory testing for IL‐6 is not recommended for the diagnosis or monitoring of URSA. The variable IFN‐γ/IL‐4 can be used for the initial diagnosis of URSA to reduce the rate of missed diagnosis. This ratio was more important than the expression of a single cytokine in the Th1/Th2 immune response. Synopsis: The ratio of interferon‐γ/interleukin‐4 could be used in the early diagnosis of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion, which is more effective than single cytokines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The activity and efficiency of photocatalytic CO2 conversion are limited by a narrow spectral response range and fast electron–hole pair recombination. As plasmonic photocatalysts have become novel catalytic materials for visible light, herein, a typical Bi2O3 photocatalyst as a template to achieve simultaneous in situ bismuth reduction and coupling on the material surface via hydrogen–argon plasma alteration is used. Combining the surface plasmon resonance effect of Bi nanoparticles and the characteristics of composite photocatalytic materials, Bi–Bi2O3 exhibits excellent efficiency in light absorption and separation of photogenerated carriers; photocatalytic activity is significantly enhanced. The CO yields are changed with plasma‐treated duration; the maximum is reached at a treatment time of 3 min, where the rate of CO production is 29.87 μmol h−1 g−1 and CH4 production rate increases from 0 to 6.29 μmol h−1 g−1. The reaction mechanism is further confirmed by in situ Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy. Both the efficient light‐generated carrier separation and intense light absorption contribute to the high activity of the well‐designed Bi–Bi2O3 catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B Overexpression of Wip1 decreased VEGF in SKOV3, HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cells, while knockdown of Wip1 increased VEGF in A2780 and HEY A8 cells. Reference 1 Yin S, Yang L, Zheng Y. MS: Wip1 suppresses angiogenesis through the STAT3-VEGF signalling pathway in serous ovarian cancer. [Extracted from the article]

A Bi2O3/(BiO)2CO3 (BO/BOC) composite photocatalyst was in situ prepared via calcinating (BiO)2CO3. The as-prepared Bi2O3/(BiO)2CO3 composites displayed enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of RhB under visible light. The structure–activity relationship between catalyst structure and properties was investigated by SEM, XRD, XPS, FTIR, BET, DRS and photoelectrochemical tests. Apart from the increased absorption of visible light, the accelerated charge separation and transfer was achieved via the intimate contact and matched band structure between Bi2O3 and (BiO)2CO3. The formation of heterogeneous structures could promote the production of reactive oxygen species (·O2−) and eventually improve the photocatalytic performance for the removal of organic contaminants. This heating treatment strategy might be extended for improving light absorbance and charge carriers separation for other UV-based photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three typical rocky desertification regions of South China Karst were selected as experiment sites. Ninety plots, each with an area of 20 m x 20 m, representative of the five degrees of rocky desertification (nil, potential, slight, moderate and severe) were established, and plant diversity and soil physical-chemical properties were surveyed and analyzed. The vegetation of rocky desertification ecosystems proved to be very simple with an extremely low species richness index. With increased degree of rocky desertification, there are remarkable changes in plant diversity: species number declines; the ratio of dominant species importance value is higher; species composition becomes more disorder. There are significant differences in plant diversity indices among different degrees of rocky desertification. On the large scale, evenness and dominance indices of plant diversity increase and the Shannon-Wiener index decreases along the increased gradient of desertification. There were also significant differences in soil physical-chemical properties among the five degrees of desertification. Both physical and chemical properties do not always degenerate with increased degree of rocky desertification. Instead, properties initially degenerate and then improve. And there was a remarkable correlation between soil physical-chemical properties and plant diversity. All these offer bases to clarify the evolution law and formation mechanism of plant diversity and soil physical-chemical properties in karst rocky desertification ecosystem, and have extremely important value in the rehabilitation of the karst rocky desertification ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have collected two shallow gas hydrate samples at two sites having different geological settings off southwest Taiwan during the cruise MD214 in 2018. The first core site, MD18-3542, is on the South Yuan-An East Ridge at ~ 1200 m water deep, where a structural unconformity covered by fine-silt sediments appears at ~ 5.5 m below the seafloor. The second core site, MD18-3543, is close to the Good-Weather Ridge at ~ 1100 m water deep, where a gas-related pockmark structure and authigenic carbonates are present at shallow strata with fine-silt sediments near the seafloor. Sediment properties of core MD18-3542 are distinctively different above and below the layer corresponding to the unconformity. Both cores show obvious gaps or voids in the lower core halves. The core features could be linked to the dissociated methane upward migrating from deep strata. Core site settings with upwelling methane would favor the formation of shallow gas hydrates. At site MD18-3542, the shallow hydrate could be formed due to high concentration methane kept beneath the unconformity covered by fine-silt sediments. At site MD18-3543, the shallow hydrate could be formed due to an extremely high flux of upwelling methane trapped either beneath the authigenic carbonates or fine-silt sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We first described the S.maltophilia immunosuppressive effect on T cells and it is meaningful for immunosuppressed patients or co-infections. • T cells stimulated by S.maltophilia with CD4 and CD8 degraded via PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, which led to the massive apoptosis of T cells. • T cells were stimulated by S. maltophilia to secrete IFN-γ. Blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, apoptosis was suppressed. • S.maltophilia down-regulates host immunity by inhibiting immune cells. Smalotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) is common in nosocomial infections. However, few studies have revealed the effect of S. maltophilia on cellular immunity in the host's immune system up to now. In clinical work, we accidentally discovered that S. maltophilia directly stimulated T cells to secrete IFN-γ. S. maltophilia was co-cultured with PBMCs to detect secretion of cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α and IL-2) and expression of cell surface molecules (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD69, CD147 and CD152) of T cells. We used light microscopy and electron microscopy to observe the cell morphology and subcellular structure of S. maltophilia co-cultured with lymphocytes. Flow cytometry and Western Blot were used to detect the expression of PD-1/PD-L1 and annexin V in cells. T cells stimulated by S. maltophilia secreted a large amount of IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α. The expression of CD4 and CD8 on the cell surface were declined, accompanied by the activation of the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, which eventually led to the massive apoptosis of T cells. Electron microscopy showed that cells showed significant apoptotic morphology. Blocking the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway can inhibit the apoptosis-inducing effect of S. maltophilia on T cells. These indicates that T cells are inhibited after being stimulated by S. maltophilia , and then accelerated to induce death without the initiation of an immunologic cascade. This paper demonstrates for the first time the inhibitory effect of S. maltophilia on cellular immunity, and the immunosuppressive effect induced by infection of S. maltophilia should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of ovarian cancer (OC), but different immune microenvironments often constrain the efficacy of immunotherapeutic interventions. Therefore, there is an imperative to delineate novel immune subtypes for development of efficacious immunotherapeutic strategies. Methods: The immune subtypes of OC were identified by consensus cluster analysis. The differences in clinical features, genetic mutations, mRNA stemness (mRNAsi) and immune microenvironments were analyzed among subtypes. Subsequently, prognostic risk models were constructed based on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of the immune subtypes using weighted correlation network analysis. Results: OC patients were classified into three immune subtypes with distinct survival rates and clinical features. Different subtypes exhibited varying tumor mutation burdens, homologous recombination deficiencies, and mRNAsi levels. Significant differences were observed among immune subtypes in terms of immune checkpoint expression and immunogenic cell death. Prognostic risk models were validated as independent prognostic factors demonstrated great predictive performance for survival of OC patients. Conclusion: In this study, three distinct immune subtypes were identified based on gene sets related to vaccine response, with the C2 subtype exhibiting significantly worse prognosis. While no statistically significant differences in tumor mutation burden (TMB) were observed across the three subtypes, the homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) score and mRNA stemness index (mRNAsi) were notably elevated in the C2 group compared to the others. Immune infiltration analysis indicated that the C2 subtype may have an increased presence of regulatory T (Treg) cells, potentially contributing to a more favorable response to combination therapies involving PARP inhibitors and immunotherapy. These findings offer a precision medicine approach for tailoring immunotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. Moreover, the C3 subtype demonstrated significantly lower expression levels of immune checkpoint genes, a pattern validated by independent datasets, and associated with a better prognosis. Further investigation revealed that the immune-related gene FCRL5 correlates with ovarian cancer prognosis, with in vitro experiments showing that it influences the proliferation and migration of the ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automobile steel with moderate tensile strength demands for higher total elongation, whereas present production cannot satisfy such requirement. To cope with the challenge for desired ductility, Ti, Nb, and V microalloyed steel is applied to a late‐stage ultrafast cooling (LUC) method as well as an interrupted ultrafast cooling (IUC) strategy to explore the effect of cooling process on the total elongation. It is found that an IUC can increase the total elongation and the lűders strain to about 45% and 60% higher in comparison with the LUC counterpart, respectively. Metallographic microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and orientation distribution function (ODF) are used to characterize the microstructure and texture components. It is revealed that the multiscale grain distribution and the multiphase constituent, especially the existence of ultrafine pearlite microstructure with several atomic layers of grain boundaries, are greatly important for the ductility enhancement. It is inferred that larger undercooling caused by ultrafast cooling strategy makes the dislocation density much higher, whereas Nb precipitation tends to induce the formation of lamellar pearlite structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic nanowires (NWs) with twin boundaries (TBs) running parallel to the NW length direction exhibit unusual plastic strain recovery owing to the interaction of dislocations with TBs. Here, based on in-situ transmission electron microscopy nanomechanical testing and molecular dynamics simulations, we report observation and quantification of dislocation nucleation, interaction with TBs, and retraction in bi-twinned Ag NWs with a single TB along the NW length direction. Our results show that leading partial dislocations nucleated from the free surface can be hindered by the TB, and upon unloading all or part of the leading partials can retract due to the repulsive force from the TB, leading to full or partial plastic strain recovery (Bauschinger effect), respectively. The bi-twinned Ag NWs can undergo stress relaxation, even at a stress below the yield strength, where the plastic strain also recovers upon unloading. The relaxation and recovery behaviors are compared to those of penta-twinned Ag NWs. Our results illustrate that the internal TBs in NWs can interact with surface-nucleated dislocations, leading to time-dependent plastic strain recovery and Bauschinger effect. Image, graphical abstract [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photoactive metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have proven to be a promising porous material in the field of catalysis. Controllable integration of these MOFs with inorganic semiconductor materials may endow new multifunctional hybrid materials with preferable photocatalytic properties. In this research, NH2-MIL-125(Ti) nanoplates modified Bi2WO6 microspheres was prepared via a simple solvothermal method. The photocatalytic behaviors of the acquired catalysts was evaluated via the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) under visible light. The experimental results showed that NH2-MIL-125(Ti)/Bi2WO6 composites display higher photocatalytic activity than that of single Bi2WO6, and the ideal incorporation amount of NH2-MIL-125(Ti) was around 5 wt%. The steady state fluorescence spectrum, transient photocurrents and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy verified that the introduction of NH2-MIL-125(Ti) could accelerate the separation and transfer of photogenerated carriers and thus improve the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6. The photocatalytic mechanism was explored in detail. This work extends the knowledge of integrating MOFs with traditional photocatalysts to form new composite materials in the area of environmental purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-viral gene delivery systems have proven to be a promising approach in the treatment of brain metastatic cancers but facing delivery difficulties. Due to the existence of blood–brain barrier, non-viral gene carriers must pass through brain capillary endothelial cells to accumulate at the brain tumor sites. However, during this process, most of them trap into brain capillary endothelial cells and fail to penetrate to the brain tumor sites. Autophagy is involved in dynamic disposition of both intracellular and extracellular components, which theoretically affects intracellular fate of non-viral gene carriers during BBB penetration. In the present study, R6dGR peptide-modified PEGylated polyethyleneimine that carry therapeutic gene encoding human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (PPR/ p TRAIL) are established as model non-viral gene delivery system and applied in breast cancer brain metastasis therapy. Autophagy-mediated lysosome degradation pathway is found to be involved in the degradation of PPR/ p TRAIL in brain capillary endothelial cells and prevents them from BBB penetration. Pre-inhibiting BBB autophagy level by wortmannin loaded liposomes (Wtmn-Lip) can increase brain accumulation of non-viral gene carrier PPR without damaging BBB tight junctions. Besides, Wtmn-Lip synergistically induces apoptosis with TRAIL via different signaling pathways. Herein, pre-treatment of Wtmn-Lip might solve delivery difficulties of non-viral gene carriers in the treatment of brain metastatic cancers. Unlabelled Image • Autophagy-mediated lysosome pathway is involved in the degradation of PPR/ p TRAIL. • Inhibition of BBB autophagy increases brain accumulation of PPR/ p TRAIL. • Wortmannin and TRAIL synergistically induce apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative-stress defense system stands for the vulnerability of tumor cells because of the stronger oxidative stress existing in tumor sites. TRPA-1 has been found to be overexpressed in various tumors, related to the tumor proliferation and metastasis, and promote reactive oxygen species (ROS) and chemotherapy tolerance through Ca2+-dependent anti-apoptotic pathway in recent studies, which provides a new anti-tumor approach to target oxidative-stress defense system. However, there are few studies on the mechanisms of TRPA-1 inhibition increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy and inhibiting tumor metastasis. Here, in order to deliver drugs to the deep tumor where is full of stronger oxidative stress, a dual receptors-targeting and size-switchable "cluster bomb" co-loading doxorubicine (DOX) and TRPA-1 inhibitor AP-18 (DA-tMN) was designed. DSPE-PEG2000 micelles (M, ~10 nm) were connected to the master core of hyaluronic acid nanogels (N, ~100 nm) to realize HAase-responsive size-switchable and acquired targeting characteristics. Besides, tumor homing peptide tLyP-1 (t) was modified on the surface of micelles to further increase tumor accumulation. Our study showed that tLyP-1 modification enhanced tumor-targeting delivery of tLyP-1-modified micelles @ nanogels (tMN) in vitro and in vivo. Then, HAase responsive nanogel core realized the deep penetration of tMN in 4 T1 3D tumor spheres models and 4 T1 tumor-bearing mice models. In vitro anti-tumor and anti-metastasis mechanism studies indicated that AP-18 increased the sensitivity of tumor cells to DOX by inhibiting Ca2+ influx and AKT phosphorylation caused by DOX. Compared with DOX-loaded tLyP-1-modified micelles @ nanogels (D-tMN), DA-tMN had the enhanced anti-tumor and anti-metastasis effect in vitro and vivo. Furthermore, the further anti-metastasis mechanism studies showed that TRPA-1 inhibition downregulate the expression of N-cadherin and vimentin and upregulate the expression of E-cadherin, which suggested that metastases inhibition caused by TRPA-1 inhibition may be related to the inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Unlabelled Image • Enhanced anti-tumor and anti-metastasis efficacy based on the combination of TRPA-1inhibitor and DOX. • Enhanced tumor-targeting and deep-penetrating delivery based on HAase- responsive "cluster bomb". • TRPA-1 inhibition by AP-18 reversed the DOX-induced Ca2+ influx and AKT phosphorylation. • TRPA-1 inhibition by AP-18 was found to reverse EMT process, which would be related to its anti-metastasis effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel ultrathin MoS 2 modified Bi 5 O 7 I (MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I) nanorod composites were prepared via an ionic liquid assisted solvothermal method for the first time. The introduction of ultrathin MoS 2 increased the specific surface area, visible light capture capability and effective photogenerated charge carriers separation of MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I composites. Holes and superoxide radicals were main active species in the photocatalytic degradation reaction. Ultrathin MoS 2 nanosheet hybridized Bi 5 O 7 I (MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I) nanorods were synthesized via a reactable ionic liquid assisted solvothermal process for the first time. The photocatalytic activity of MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I nanorods was determined by photodegrading bisphenol A (BPA), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) under visible light irradiation. Experimental results showed that MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I owned the excellent photocatalytic properties and photostability. The efficient visible light driven photocatalytic performance was due to a larger specific surface area of MoS 2 , which increased the close interfacial contact between pollutants and photocatalysts. Meanwhile, the introduction of ultrathin MoS 2 nanosheet was conducive to the separation and utilization of photoinduced charge carriers, thus further suppressed high recombination rate in pure Bi 5 O 7 I nanorods. Moreover, a possible charge transfer path in MoS 2 /Bi 5 O 7 I composite material was also put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NK-lysins, a type of broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptide (AMP), act as an essential effector of innate defense against microbial attack in higher vertebrates and so in fish. The present study delineates the structural and functional characterization of NK-lysin from yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidrac) (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco). PfNK-lysin encodes a 153-residue peptide, which displays the hallmark features of other known NK-lysins with the ordered array of six well-conserved cysteine residues and five-exon/four-intron structure. It was found to be ubiquitous in tissues, being detected most abundantly in gill and head kidney. In vivo exposure to stimuli (LPS, PolyI:C, and Edwardsiella ictaluri) induced PfNK-lysin expression in head kidney and spleen. Synthetic PfNK-lysin-derived peptide exhibited in vitro bactericidal potency against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with the highest inhibitory effect on pathogen Edwardsiella ictaluri. Fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy further confirmed its capacity to cause damage to the bacterial plasma membrane. Taken together, these data suggest that PfNK-lysin might participate in antimicrobial defense of yellow catfish by membrane-disruptive action. • A NK-lysin homologue (PfNK-lysin) was identified and characterized from yellow catfish. • PfNK-lysin could be induced by LPS, PolyI:C, and Edwardsiella ictaluri. • PfNK-lysin derived peptide showed bactericidal potency against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. • PfNK-lysin exerted its antibacterial effect through damage of bacterial membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigo, an economically important dye, could be biosynthesized from indole by catalysis of the styrene monooxygenase StyAB. To enhance indigo biosynthesis, the styAB gene and its transcription regulator gene styS / styR in styrene catabolism were cloned from Pseudomonas putida and coexpressed in Escherichia coli. The presence of the intact regulator gene styS/styR dramatically increased the transcriptional levels of styA and styB by approximately 120-fold in the recombinant strain SRAB2 with coexpression of styS/styR and styAB compared to the control strain ABST with solo expression of styAB. A yield of 67.6 mg/L indigo was detected in strain SRAB2 after 24 h of fermentation with 120 μg/mL indole, which was approximately 14-fold higher than that in the control strain ABST. The maximum yield of indigo was produced from 160 μg/mL indole in fermentation of strain SRAB2. However, the addition of styrene to the media significantly inhibited the transcription of styA and styB and consequent indigo biosynthesis in recombinant E. coli strains. Furthermore, the substitution of indole with tryptophan as the fermentation substrate remarkably boosted indigo production, and the maximal yield of 565.6 mg/L was detected in strain SRAB2 in fermentation with 1.2 mg/mL tryptophan. The results revealed that the regulation of styAB transcription by the two-component regulator StyS/StyR in styrene catabolism in P. putida was effective in E. coli , which provided a new strategy for the development of engineered E. coli strains with the capacity for highly efficient indigo production. • Expression of styS/styR dramatically increased the transcriptional levels of styAB in E. coli. • Co-expression of styS/styR and styAB led to the maximal indigo yield of 565.6 mg/L from 1.2 mg/mL tryptophan in E. coli. • Transcriptional regulation of styAB by StyS/StyR in P. putida was effective in E. coli. • A new strategy for development of engineered E. coli for highly efficient indigo production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The review of rare earth ions decorated COFs hybrid material is rare. • The preparation and application of rare earth ions decorated COFs hybrid material are introduced in detail. • The development of rare earth ions decorated COFs hybrid material is prospected. With the continuous development of the research on covalent organic frameworks (COFs), the composite of COFs and other materials have received more and more attention, and have shown outstanding properties in many fields. Recently, rare earth ions decorated COFs hybrid material have been gradually reported. Currently, lanthanide ions such as Eu3+, Tb3+, Dy3+, Ce3+, La3+, are utilized to construct rare earth-COFs hybrid materials (Ln3+-COFs), which show excellent performance in the fields of luminescence, catalysis, and so on. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the reported Ln3+-COFs, including their preparation strategies, applications, and mechanisms. Although the research on rare earth ions decorated COFs hybrid material is still in its infancy, it has shown excellent application prospects and will have a great impact on its field as the research progresses. This review has positively contributed to the understanding of post-synthetic modification of COFs and rare earth ions modified COFs materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Twenty-nine 20(R)-Panaxadiol derivatives with carbamate structures were designed and synthesized and characterized. • In vitro neuroprotective activity was assessed using an Aβ 25-35 -induced PC12 cell injury model. • Molecular docking studies revealed a stronger binding affinity of compound Q4 for β-secretase. • In vivo experiments, Q4 significantly alleviated learning and memory deficits in mice. • Q4 is a potential multifunctional neuroprotective agent. It is reported that panaxadiol has neuroprotective effects. Previous studies have found that compound with carbamate structure introduced at the 3-OH position of 20 (R) -panaxadiol showed the most effective neuroprotective activity with an EC 50 of 13.17 μM. Therefore, we designed and synthesized a series of ginseng diol carbamate derivatives with ginseng diol as the lead compound, and tested their anti-AD activity. It was found that the protective effect of compound Q4 on adrenal pheochromocytoma was 80.6 ± 10.85 % (15 μM), and the EC 50 was 4.32 μM. According to the ELISA results, Q4 reduced the expression of Aβ 25-35 by decreasing β-secretase production. Molecular docking studies revealed that the binding affinity of Q4 to β-secretase was −49.67 kcal/mol, indicating a strong binding affinity of Q4 to β-secretase. Western blotting showed that compound Q4 decreased IL-1β levels, which may contribute to its anti-inflammatory effect. Furthermore, compound Q4 exhibits anti-AD activities by reducing abnormal phosphorylation of tau protein and activation of the mitogen activated protein kinase pathway. The learning and memory deficits in mice treated with Q4 in vivo were significantly alleviated. Therefore, Q4 may be a promising multifunctional drug for the treatment of AD, providing a new way for anti-AD drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southern Okinawa Trough has been widely considered an important area with hydrothermal activity. Several active hydrothermal fields have been reported, especially around the Yonaguni Knoll IV. In this study, we collected marine sediment cores around the Yonaguni Knoll IV by using the R/V Ocean Research 1. Core sites with and without gas disturbance were selected based on the single-beam bathymetry (Chirp) by using the onboard echo sounder system. For the sites away from gas disturbance, which are generally considered showing the background situation in the southern Okinawa Trough, variations of the magnetic susceptibility in these cores are relatively stable with values about between 20 × 10-5 and 60 × 10-5 SI. As for the sites with clear gas-features detected by the Chirp sonar, the signature with dramatically changing magnetic susceptibility is observed in the cores. In general, gasfeatures are considered linking to the hydrothermal activity in the southern Okinawa Trough. Magnetic signature with such abruptly changing magnetic susceptibility could also be considered being caused by authigenic iron sulfides associated with the hydrothermal alternation. Therefore, the rock magnetic anomaly could be suggested as an indicator revealing the hydrothermal activity in the southern Okinawa Trough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Autophagy acts as a cytoprotective mechanism for malignant tumors, thus maintaining the survival and promoting proliferation and metastasis of malignant tumors. Recent studies have showed that autophagy inhibitors can enhance the chemotherapeutic efficacy of anti-tumor growth. However, the antimetastasis effects and the possible mechanisms of chemotherapeutics combined with autophagy inhibitors have not been thoroughly explored. Here, we prepared R8-dGR peptide modified paclitaxel (PTX) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) co-loaded liposomes (PTX/HCQ-R8-dGR-Lip) for enhanced delivery by recognizing integrin αvβ3 receptors and neuropilin-1 receptors on B16F10 melanoma cells. Our results showed that R8-dGR modified liposomes (R8-dGR-Lip) enhanced tumor-targeting delivery in vitro and in vivo. Besides, PTX/HCQ-R8-dGR-Lip exhibited the optimum inhibitory effects on migration, invasion and anoikis resistance of B16F10 cells in vitro, and showed enhanced efficiency on inhibiting primary tumor growth and reducing lung metastasis in vivo. Meanwhile, the antimetastasis mechanism studies confirmed that the combination of the chemotherapeutic PTX and the autophagy inhibitor HCQ further suppressed the degradation of paxillin, the expression of MMP9 and MMP2. Moreover, HCQ disturbed the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis which could induce invasion and metastasis of malignant melanoma in an autophagy-independent way. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Enhanced tumor-targeting delivery based on R8-dGR modification. • Enhanced anti-tumor and antimetastasis efficacy based on the combination of paclitaxel and hydroxychloroquine. • Regulation of paxillin and matrix metalloproteinases in an autophagy-dependent way. • Disturbance of CXCR4/CXCL12 axis in an autophagy-independent way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel visible-light-driven PbBiO2I materials have been successfully synthesized through a one-pot ethylene glycol assisted solvothermal process in the presence of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide ([Hmim]I). The morphologies, compositions and properties of the PbBiO2I materials were investigated by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, DRS and nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms. The results of SEM and TEM indicated that the as-prepared PbBiO2I samples were microspheres with a diameter of about 1.5 μm assembled by nanosheets. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared PbBiO2I materials was determined by colorless endocrine disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP). PbBiO2I materials have a very good visible light response with band gap of 1.98 eV, thus result in better photocatalytic degradation activity. Under the visible light irradiation for 3 h, about 72.5% of the BPA could be removed by PbBiO2I microspheres. The main active species during the photodegradation process were determined to be superoxide radicals and holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In attempts to explore the role of autophagy in breast cancer metastasis, we here report a tumor-activatable particle (named as “D/PSP@CQ/CaP”) with the ability of efficient autophagy inhibition. D/PSP@CQ/CaP was prepared by coprecipitating chloroquine phosphate (CQ) with calcium chloride, in the form of chloroquine-calcium phosphate coprecipitate (CQ/CaP), onto the surface of a deep-tumor-penetrating doxorubicine (DOX)-loading core particle (named as “D/PSP”). CQ/CaP could partly disintegrate and release CQ within tumor microenvironment and totally be dissolved within lysosomes. Paxillin is a key component of focal adhesion which functions to anchor tumors cells within the primary tumor for limiting cancer cells' detachment from the primary tumor. We tested that autophagy inhibition caused by CQ released from CQ/CaP could reduce the degradation of paxillin by 2.9 folds in vitro and 2.5 folds in vivo ( vs. Control), respectively. Thus metastasis could be influenced by exploiting autophagy-dependent paxillin degradation. Data analysis together proved that D/PSP@CQ/CaP decreased the cancer metastatic extent by 7.5 folds ( vs. Control) on mice model via inhibiting the autophagy-dependent disassembly of focal adhesion. At the same time, the growth rate of tumors treated by D/PSP@CQ/CaP was inhibited by 9.1 folds ( vs. Control), which could be attributed to its effective tumor drug delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is widely used in aerospace industry and difficult-to-machine materials field. But the research on machining mechanism is insufficient and it has become a bottleneck of restricting its further development. In this paper, spark discharge self-sustaining conditions, the effects of pulse power circuit parameters on gap volt-ampere characteristics of EDM, formation of maintaining voltage of spark discharge, frequency and amplitude fluctuation of high-frequency components of maintaining voltage, and stability of spark discharge state are studied. Forming process of maintaining voltage of spark discharge is analyzed through discharge main circuit structure of transistor resistor pulse power. Influence of current-limiting resistor on maintaining voltage of spark discharge is also studied. The effect law of current-limiting resistor on oscillation frequency of maintaining voltage of spark discharge is obtained through spectrum analysis of maintaining voltage of spark discharge by methods of fast Fourier transform (FFT). Gap spark discharge control system is established through discharge circuit model of transistor resistor pulse power and the gap of EDM is replaced by spark discharge gap equivalent form. Input of the control system is the voltage of pulse power and its output is the gap voltage. Influence of current-limiting resistor on stability and response speed of the system is analyzed. The above research is important for revealing the mechanism of EDM, maintaining the stability of spark discharge, and guiding the design of pulse power and selection of processing parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel MoS 2 /PbBiO 2 I hybrid microspheres were controllably synthesized via the ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide ([Hmim]I) assisted solvothermal method. The morphologies, structures, optical and electronic properties of the materials were explored by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, DRS, EIS and photocurrent analysis. The photocatalytic activity of MoS 2 /PbBiO 2 I was evaluated by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), antibiotic agent ciprofloxacin (CIP) and bisphenol A (BPA) under visible light irradiation. The photodegradation results showed that the activity of MoS 2 /PbBiO 2 I was higher than that of pure PbBiO 2 I because of suitable band alignment, a larger specific surface area, an enhanced light absorption region, and stronger photocurrent intensity arising from the interface interaction between MoS 2 and PbBiO 2 I. The 1.0 wt% MoS 2 /PbBiO 2 I showed the best photocatalytic performance. Electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments and free radical trapping experiments showed that the superoxide radicals (O 2 − ) and holes (h + ) were determined to be the main active species for the photocatalysis process. A possible mechanism was presented based on the detection and analysis results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food quality and safety oversight now urgently require the identification of similar food samples. Using infant rice cereals as an example, this study collected the Raman spectra of samples from various brands and used a statistical control chart method to reveal that samples from the same brand have controllable quality fluctuations. Additionally, samples from different brands also fall within the control limit, indicating a high degree of similarity between the samples. Under conditions of raw data, the extreme learning machine algorithm and Raman spectroscopy for sample identification demonstrated a recognition rate of 77.6%, suggesting that the machine learning algorithm has some identification effect. After optimizing the conditions, it was found that the recognition accuracy was significantly improved, reaching 99.9%, based on coif3 wavelet denoising and 0~0.1 normalization processing. During the experiment, it took 100 seconds to collect the Raman spectrum signal of a single sample and running the intelligent algorithm only took less than one second to obtain the calculation results. The optimization and identification methods proposed in this work have the advantages of efficiency and accuracy, which can provide a reference for the identification of similar samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-enhanced fluorescence of fluoroquinolones (FQs) was first observed in aqueous solutions. In addition, a new type of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) was synthesized with simple and easy synthetic processes and environmentally friendly compounds. The effects of different concentrations of AgNPs on the fluorescence behaviours of ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENR) and lomefloxacin (LMF) in aqueous solutions were investigated, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that the fluorescence peak shapes and the locations of the features in the excitation and emission spectra for each FQ that was mixed with AgNPs were almost the same as those of the standard FQs. An enhancement or quenching of the fluorescence can also be observed, depending on the exact conditions. Compared with the identical control samples that lack AgNPs, the fluorescence of each FQ in aqueous solutions was greatly enhanced by AgNPs with concentrations at a volume ratio of 5%. Moreover, at the optimum AgNP concentration, novel sensitive fluorometric methods for the separate determination of trace amounts of CIP, ENR and LMF in aqueous solutions were established. Under optimal experimental conditions, the linear dynamic ranges for the determination of CIP, ENR and LMF concentrations varied from 0.025 to 1.0 mg L −1 , 5.0 to 160 ng L −1 and 0.01 to 0.8 mg L −1 , and the limits of detection were 90, 5 and 6 ng L −1 , respectively; the relative standard deviation was less than 1.2% (n = 9). The experimental recovery results for the determination of CIP, ENR and LMF in aqueous solutions ranged from 99% to 102%, 90% to 103% and 92% to 107%, respectively. Compared with the established method in which no AgNPs were added, the quantitation limits of the silver nanoparticle-enhanced fluorometric methods were approximately 2-fold lower for CIP, 2.6-fold lower for ENR and 4-fold lower for LMF. Significantly, the novel silver nanoparticle-enhanced fluorometric methods were successfully applied to directly determine CIP, ENR and LMF concentrations in pharmaceutical preparations, demonstrating the methods’ advantages of simplicity, sensitivity and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We investigated the functional status of adult supratentorial superficial low-grade glioma (ASS-LGG) after surgery and analyzed its relevant factors to guide the therapeutic strategy and improve the life quality of these patients. Methods: Clinical materials from January 2008 to December 2010 in 104 adults with ASS-LGG were analyzed retrospectively. The follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 1.5 years. The logistic regression was used to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative variation of functional status in patients to disclose the relevant factors affecting postoperative functional status, such as age, gender, the duration of symptom, size and location of the tumor, hemisphere, resection degree, and tumor pathologic grade and preoperative Karnofsky performance status (Pre-KPS). Results: Four out of nine candidate factors are related to the postoperative functional status. They are age less than 40 years, the size of tumor less than 5 cm in diameter, tumor located in the right hemisphere, and limited resection of tumor in the eloquent area. Conclusions: It seems more meaningful to evaluate the functional status of the patients with ASS-LGG on the basis of these clinical features, involving age, tumor size, location, and extent of resection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]