Search

The pigment extract from purple carrot with high sugar is prone to microbial contamination and anthocyanidin deterioration. Effective desugar of natural pigment extracts is essential for improving product quality. This work aimed to design a yeast fermentation process to reduce sugar in the concentrated juice from purple carrot. The effects of fermentation parameters such as temperature, initial pH, and initial sugar content on the sugarremoving rate were analyzed via single-factor and response surface analysis. Results showed that the maximum desugar rate of 91.03% was obtained under the optimal conditions of initial pH 3.2, temperature 30°C, and initial sugar content of 160 g/L, which was similar with model predictions. Subsequently, to broaden the application of purple carrots, the fermentation process of purple carrot vinegar was investigated using the resulting fermented juices with low sugar as raw material. The fermentation broth was treated and inoculated with Acetobacter pasteuriana AS1.41. The optimized conditions were found as temperature of 30°C,, pH 4.2, and inoculation amount of 8%. The corresponding acetic acid content was 35.62 g/L. The work has thus provided new insights into the development of natural food additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flame morphology, flame instability and thermodynamic parameters of 2-methylfuran (2-MF) spherically expanding flame were studied at different initial temperatures, initial pressures, and equivalence ratios. Quantitative analysis of 2-MF flame surface cracks and cell structures was performed. The radius for the crack to enter the accelerated growth stage is reduced by 52.9% as the initial pressure increases from 2 bar to 4 bar. Also, the radius at which the crack enters the accelerated growth stage is reduced by 16.4% when the equivalence ratio is increased by 0.1. The radius required for the average cell area to stabilize is reduced by 31.5% when the initial pressure increases from 2 bar to 4 bar. Additionally, instability parameters were studied, and the results revealed that hydrodynamic instability and thermal-diffusion stability increase with increasing Peclet number. The relationship between the local instability and stability curves was discussed. The average wavenumber fitting line is closer to the upper limit of the instability curve when the equivalence ratio is 1.4, which is 8.5% higher than that of the equivalence ratio of 1.3. Next, the flame self-acceleration was studied, the initial pressure and equivalence ratio greatly promote the self-acceleration of the flame, but the temperature has no obvious effect, and the self-acceleration exponent of 2-MF flame is less than 1.5. Finally, the flame image information was reconstructed by a reconstruction algorithm and the cellularity factor was formulated to measure the degree of flame cellular. The cellularity factor is affected by initial pressure and equivalence ratio. Comparing and analyzing the evolution of flame cracks, flame self-acceleration, and cellularity factor, it was found that flame cracks promote flame self-acceleration and exacerbate flame cellularization and instability [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Electroacupuncture (EA) has a definite effect on the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCIs), but its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Meanwhile, MiR106b-5p is an autophagy- and apoptosis-related microribonucleic acid, but whether it regulates the progression of autophagy and apoptosis in SCIs is yet undetermined. As such, this study aimed to elucidate the involvement of miR-106b-5p in the EA treatment of an SCI. Methods: The miR-106b-5p level was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. In vitro, SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with miR-106b-5p mimics or inhibitors to regulate the miR-106b-5p expression, while in vivo, SCI rats were treated with EA for 7 days at the bilateral Zusanli (ST36) and Jiaji (EX-B2) acupoints. The motor function was evaluated using the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) criteria. Further, autophagic vacuoles, pathological damage, and neuronal cell morphology were observed by transmission electron microscopy, as well as by hematoxylin and eosin and Nissl staining, respectively. Results: The miR-106b-5p level, which can interact directly with Beclin-1 by influencing its expression, as well as the expressions of P62, Caspase-3, and Bax, was upregulated after an SCI, but it decreased after EA. Moreover, the ratio of LC3-II to LC3-I was upregulated after EA. EA can enhance autophagy, reduce neuronal apoptosis, and minimize motor dysfunction and histopathological deficits after an SCI. More importantly, however, all the above effects induced by EA can be reversed after an injection of miR-106-5p agomir to produce an overexpression of miR-106b-5p. Conclusion: EA treatment could downregulate miR-106b-5p to alleviate SCI-mediated injuries by promoting autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet the demand of stable and continuous household electricity consumption, the author proposes the modelling and simulation of photovoltaic fuel cell hybrid power generation system. The system is composed of photovoltaic power generation device, fuel cell/super capacitor, electrolytic cell, hydrogen storage device and power regulation unit. As photovoltaic power generation is affected by sunshine changes, the combination of fuel cells and super capacitors with photovoltaic devices can ensure the stability and reliability of power supply of hybrid power generation system. Taking sunshine intensity and household electricity consumption in a certain area as an example, the system is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The results show that: At 08:30-17:00, the output power of the fuel cell is almost zero. This is because the electric energy output by the photovoltaic power generation system can basically meet the power demand of users during this period. At 00:00-6:00 and 18:30-24:00, the sunlight intensity is zero, and the power output of the photovoltaic power generation system is zero, at this time, the user's electricity is completely supplied by the fuel cell. The investment cost of 1 kW fuel cell is about 45258.4 yuan, and that of 1 kW ordinary battery is about 15200 yuan, the investment cost of fuel cell is still high. In conclusion, the hybrid power generation system can meet the demand of ordinary household electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the shortcomings of single air source heat pump, single solar heat pump and solar air double heat source heat pump, one solar electric heat pump and multi-stage solar heat pump dual source heat pump, a solar integrated heat source heat pump is designed. The heating capacity and COP of the same heat pump and the solar double heat pump under three different operating conditions were simulated, and the simulation results were compared and analyzed. The simulation results were analyzed. The results show that the heat capacity and COP of the solar double heat pump system are higher than those of the heat pump system. With the continuous decrease of outdoor temperature, the advantages of solar wind tunnel hybrid heat pump system are more obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the shortcomings of single air source heat pump, single solar heat pump and solar air double heat source heat pump, one solar electric heat pump and multi-stage solar heat pump dual source heat pump, a solar integrated heat source heat pump is designed. The heating capacity and COP of the same heat pump and the solar double heat pump under three different operating conditions were simulated, and the simulation results were compared and analyzed. The simulation results were analyzed. The results show that the heat capacity and COP of the solar double heat pump system are higher than those of the heat pump system. With the continuous decrease of outdoor temperature, the advantages of solar wind tunnel hybrid heat pump system are more obvious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to meet the demand of stable and continuous household electricity consumption, the author proposes the modelling and simulation of photovoltaic fuel cell hybrid power generation system. The system is composed of photovoltaic power generation device, fuel cell/super capacitor, electrolytic cell, hydrogen storage device and power regulation unit. As photovoltaic power generation is affected by sunshine changes, the combination of fuel cells and super capacitors with photovoltaic devices can ensure the stability and reliability of power supply of hybrid power generation system. Taking sunshine intensity and household electricity consumption in a certain area as an example, the system is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The results show that: At 08:30-17:00, the output power of the fuel cell is almost zero. This is because the electric energy output by the photovoltaic power generation system can basically meet the power demand of users during this period. At 00:00-6:00 and 18:30-24:00, the sunlight intensity is zero, and the power output of the photovoltaic power generation system is zero, at this time, the user’s electricity is completely supplied by the fuel cell. The investment cost of 1 kW fuel cell is about 45258.4 yuan, and that of 1 kW ordinary battery is about 15200 yuan, the investment cost of fuel cell is still high. In conclusion, the hybrid power generation system can meet the demand of ordinary household electricity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a new model free inversion estimation framework using daily TROPOMI NO2 columns and observed fluxes from the continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) to quantify three years of daily-scale emissions of NOx at 0.05°×0.05° over Shanxi Province, a major world-wide energy producing and consuming region. The NOx emissions, day-to-day variability, and uncertainty on a climatological basis are computed to be 1.83, 1.01, and 1.06 Tg per year respectively. The highest emissions are concentrated in the lower Fen River valley, which accounts for 25 % of the area, 52 % of the NOx emissions, and 72 % of CEMS sources. Two major forcing factors (10th to 90th percentile) are horizontal transport distance per day (66-666 km) and lifetime of NOx (6.7-18.4 h). Both of these values are consistent with NOx emissions to both the surface layer and the free troposphere. The third forcing factor, the ratio of NOx / NO2, on a pixel-by-pixel basis is demonstrated to have a significant correlation with the combustion temperature and energy efficiency of large energy consuming sources. Specifically, thermal power plants, cement, and iron and steel companies have a relatively high NOx / NO2 ratio, while coking, industrial boilers, and aluminium oxide show relatively low ratio. Variance maximization is applied to daily TROPOMI NO2 columns identifies three significant modes, and successfully attributes them both spatially and temporally to (a) this work's computed emissions, (b) remotely sensed TROPOMI UVAI, and (c) computed transport based on TROPOMI NO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein S-glutathionylation (SSG) is a reversible post-translational modification (PTM) featuring the conjugation of glutathione to a protein cysteine thiol. SSG can alter protein structure, activity, subcellular localization, and interaction with small molecules and other proteins. Thus, it plays a critical role in redox signaling and regulation in various physiological activities and pathological events. In this review, we summarize current biochemical and analytical approaches for characterizing SSG at both the proteome level and at individual protein levels. To illustrate the mechanism underlying SSG-mediated redox regulation, we highlight recent examples of functional and structural consequences of SSG modifications. Finally, we discuss the analytical challenges in characterizing SSG and the thiol PTM landscape, future directions for understanding of the role of SSG in redox signaling and regulation and its interplay with other PTMs, and the potential role of computational approaches to accelerate functional discovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/aim: Hypoxia-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by prostacyclin (PGI2) disorder, which manifests in the same manner as in monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PAH. Endogenous PGI2 inhibitor coupling factor 6 (CF6) is involved in MCT-induced PAH. This study aimed to explore the presence or absence of a correlation between hypoxia-induced PAH and CF6. Materials and methods: This study was conducted between January 2019 and June 2020. A total of 135 male Wistar rats (aged 8 weeks and weighing 200-250 g) were randomly divided into five groups: (A) control, (B) 1 week of hypoxia, (C) 2 weeks of hypoxia, (D) 3 weeks of hypoxia, and (E) 4 weeks of hypoxia. CF6 expression in both lung tissue and blood samples from the lung vasculature and tail vein was measured by western blotting, immunohistochemistry, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Hemodynamic and morphological changes in hypoxia-induced rats indicated PAH development. The results showed the presence of a correlation between the mRNA and protein levels of CF6 in lung tissue, activity of mitochondrial ATP synthase, and hypoxia time, and there was a significant increment in the group exposed to hypoxia for 4 weeks compared to the control group. The decrement expression of ATPase inhibitory factor 1 (IF 1) mRNA was consistent with the outcomes of ATP synthase activity in lung tissue in the 4 weeks of hypoxia group compared with the control group. However, the levels of CF6 and ATP synthase activity did not differ between blood samples from the lung vasculature and tail vein. Conclusion: In hypoxia-induced PAH, CF6 showed downregulated expression in lung tissue, but not in pulmonary vasculature and circulation. Therefore, we speculated that CF6 and ATP synthase may play important roles in hypoxia-induced PAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent evidence suggests that the changes in gut microbiota and its metabolites could predict the clinical response of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, such as infliximab (IFX). However, whether manipulation of the gut microbiota can enhance the efficacy of anti-TNF agents remains unclear. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of a probiotic strain, Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) CECT 7894, on IFX efficacy for dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice and attempt to explore the potential involved mechanisms. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were treated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or B. longum CECT 7894 (5 × 108 CFU/day) once daily by gavage for 5 days and subsequently induced acute colitis by 3% (w/v) DSS in drinking water. The efficacies of IFX combined with or without B. longum CECT 7894 were assessed by weight loss, fecal consistency, colon length, and histopathological changes. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to examine the expression of tight junction proteins (TJPs) in colonic tissues. The microbiota composition was characterized through 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Fecal bile acids (BAs) levels were analyzed by targeted metabolomics. Results: B. longum CECT 7894 improved the efficacy of IFX for DSS-induced colitis as evidenced by decreased weight loss, disease activity index (DAI) scores, colon length shortening, histological damage, increased ZO-1, and Occludin expressions as compared with mice that received IFX only. B. longum CECT 7894 modified the composition and structure of the gut microbiota community in DSS-induced colitis mice. B. longum CECT 7894 increased the relative abundances of genera Bifidobacterium, Blautia, Butyricicoccus, Clostridium, Coprococcus, Gemmiger, and Parabacterioides, and reduced the relative abundances of bacteria genera Enterococcus and Pseudomonas. Furthermore, B. longum CECT 7894 changed the BAs metabolism by increasing the abundance of secondary BAs, such as a-MCA, ß-MCA, LCA, CDCA, UDCA, HCA, isoLCA, isoalloLCA. The covariance analysis revealed the upregulated secondary BAs were positively associated with the increased abundance of bacteria that contained bile salt hydrolases (BSH) and 7a-dehydroxylases genes. Conclusion: B. longum CECT 7894 improved the efficacy of IFX for DSS-induced colitis via regulating the gut microbiota composition and bile acid metabolism. Probiotics supplementation may provide a possibility to improve the clinical response of anti-TNF agents in IBD management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent evidence suggests that the changes in gut microbiota and its metabolites could predict the clinical response of anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents, such as infliximab (IFX). However, whether manipulation of the gut microbiota can enhance the efficacy of anti-TNF agents remains unclear. Here, we aim to evaluate the effect of a probiotic strain, Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) CECT 7894, on IFX efficacy for dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice and attempt to explore the potential involved mechanisms. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were treated with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or B. longum CECT 7894 (5 × 108 CFU/day) once daily by gavage for 5 days and subsequently induced acute colitis by 3% (w/v) DSS in drinking water. The efficacies of IFX combined with or without B. longum CECT 7894 were assessed by weight loss, fecal consistency, colon length, and histopathological changes. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to examine the expression of tight junction proteins (TJPs) in colonic tissues. The microbiota composition was characterized through 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Fecal bile acids (BAs) levels were analyzed by targeted metabolomics. Results: B. longum CECT 7894 improved the efficacy of IFX for DSS-induced colitis as evidenced by decreased weight loss, disease activity index (DAI) scores, colon length shortening, histological damage, increased ZO-1, and Occludin expressions as compared with mice that received IFX only. B. longum CECT 7894 modified the composition and structure of the gut microbiota community in DSS-induced colitis mice. B. longum CECT 7894 increased the relative abundances of genera Bifidobacterium, Blautia, Butyricicoccus, Clostridium, Coprococcus, Gemmiger, and Parabacterioides, and reduced the relative abundances of bacteria genera Enterococcus and Pseudomonas. Furthermore, B. longum CECT 7894 changed the BAs metabolism by increasing the abundance of secondary BAs, such as a-MCA, ß-MCA, LCA, CDCA, UDCA, HCA, isoLCA, isoalloLCA. The covariance analysis revealed the upregulated secondary BAs were positively associated with the increased abundance of bacteria that contained bile salt hydrolases (BSH) and 7α-dehydroxylases genes. Conclusion: B. longum CECT 7894 improved the efficacy of IFX for DSS-induced colitis via regulating the gut microbiota composition and bile acid metabolism. Probiotics supplementation may provide a possibility to improve the clinical response of anti-TNF agents in IBD management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sympathetic activation after myocardial infarction (MI) leads to ventricular arrhythmias (VAs), which can result in sudden cardiac death (SCD). The toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MyD88)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) axis within the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), a cardiac-neural sympathetic nerve centre, plays an important role in causing VAs. An MI rat model and a PVN-TLR4 knockdown model were constructed. The levels of protein were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence, and localizations were visualized by multiple immunofluorescence staining. Central and peripheral sympathetic activation was visualized by immunohistochemistry for c-fos protein, renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) measurement, heart rate variability (HRV) analysis and norepinephrine (NE) level detection in serum and myocardial tissue measured by ELISA. The arrhythmia scores were measured by programmed electrical stimulation (PES), and cardiac function was detected by the pressure–volume loop (P-V loop). The levels of TLR4 and MyD88 and the nuclear translocation of NF-kB within the PVN were increased after MI, while sympathetic activation and arrhythmia scores were increased and cardiac function was decreased. However, inhibition of TLR4 significantly reversed these conditions. PVN-mediated sympathetic activation via the TLR4/ MyD88/NF-kB axis ultimately leads to the development of VAs after MI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximum survival area after perforator flap elevation is mainly achieved through vasodilation and angiogenesis, and endothelial Ca2+ signals play a pivotal role in both of them. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels modulate many endothelial cell functions via mediating the extracellular Ca2+ entry. This study aims to investigate the correlation of TRPV4, TRPV1, and TRPA1 with vascular change after the inferior gluteal artery perforator flap elevation. A total of 50 adult male SD rats were used in this study. Ten rats were used in the part one to assess the flap viability on postoperative day 7. Twenty rats were used in the part two to evaluate blood flow change after flap elevation. The correlation of vascular change with TRPV1, TRPV4, and TRPA1 protein changes was investigated in 20 rats in the part three. The mean flap survival area percentage was 55 ± 5.7%. Blood flow in the overall flap and Zone II after the flap elevation markedly increased from the postoperative day 3. The most marked change of the vasodilation occurred on Days 3 and 5 after flap elevation. The angiogenesis occurred on Day 5 after flap elevation and the microvessel density peaked also on Day 5. Moreover, TRPA1 expression showed a trend towards continuous reduction over time. The expression of TRPV1 and TRPV4 reached the peak value on Day 3. The endothelial NO synthase expression showed an increasing trend at first, followed by a reduction over time, while VEGF expression reached the peak value on Day 3. The vascular changes after flap elevation might be associated with the changes in TRPV4, TRPV1, and TRPA1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose repair pipelining, a technique that speeds up the repair performance in general erasure-coded storage. By carefully scheduling the repair of failed data in small-size units across storage nodes in a pipelined manner, repair pipelining reduces the single-block repair time to approximately the same as the normal read time for a single block in homogeneous environments. We further design different extensions of repair pipelining algorithms for heterogeneous environments and multi-block repair operations. We implement a repair pipelining prototype, called ECPipe, and integrate it as a middleware system into two versions of Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) (namely, HDFS-RAID and HDFS-3) as well as Quantcast File System. Experiments on a local testbed and Amazon EC2 show that repair pipelining significantly improves the performance of degraded reads and full-node recovery over existing repair techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thiol redox proteome refers to all proteins whose cysteine thiols are subjected to various redox-dependent posttranslational modifications (PTMs) including S-glutathionylation (SSG), S-nitrosylation (SNO), S-sulfenylation (SOH), and S-sulfhydration (SSH). These modifications can impact various aspects of protein function such as activity, binding, conformation, localization, and interactions with other molecules. To identify novel redox proteins in signaling and regulation, it is highly desirable to have robust redox proteomics methods that can provide global, site-specific, and stoichiometric quantification of redox PTMs. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based redox proteomics has emerged as the primary platform for broad characterization of thiol PTMs in cells and tissues. Herein, we review recent advances in MS-based redox proteomics approaches for quantitative profiling of redox PTMs at physiological or oxidative stress conditions and highlight some recent applications. Considering the relative maturity of available methods, emphasis will be on two types of modifications: 1) total oxidation (i.e., all reversible thiol modifications), the level of which represents the overall redox state, and 2) S-glutathionylation, a major form of reversible thiol oxidation. We also discuss the significance of stoichiometric measurements of thiol PTMs as well as future perspectives toward a better understanding of cellular redox regulatory networks in cells and tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vesicular stomatitis (VS) is an acute, highly contagious and economically important zoonotic disease caused by the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). There is a need for effective and safe stable recombinant vaccine for the control of the disease. The human type 5 replication-defective adenovirus expression vector is a good way to construct recombinant vaccines. Results: Three recombinant adenoviruses (rAd) were successfully constructed that expressed the VSV Indiana serotype glycoprotein (VSV-IN-G), VSV New Jersey serotype glycoprotein (VSV-NJ-G), and the G fusion protein (both serotypes of G [VSV-IN-G-NJ-G]) with potentiality to induce protective immunity. G proteins were successfully expressed with good immunogenicity. The rAds could induce the production of VSV antibodies in mice, and VSV neutralizing antibodies in goats, respectively. The neutralizing antibody titers could reach 1:32 in mice and 1:64 in goats. The rAds induced strong lymphocyte proliferation in mice and goats, which was significantly higher compared to the negative control groups. Conclusions: The three rAds constructed in the study expressed VSV-G proteins and induced both humoral and cellular immune responses in mice and goats. These results lay the foundation for further studies on the use of rAds in vaccines expressing VSV-G. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The “bidirectional gene pair” indicates a particular head-to-head gene organization in which transcription start sites of two genes are located on opposite strands of genomic DNA within a region of one kb. Despite bidirectional gene pairs are well characterized, little is known about their expression profiles and regulation features in tumorigenesis. We used RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset for a systematic analysis of the expression profiles of bidirectional gene pairs in 13 cancer datasets. Gene pairs on the opposite strand with transcription end site distance within one kb or on the same strand with the distance of two genes between 1–10 kb and gene pairs comprising two randomly chosen genes were used as control gene pairs (CG1, CG2, and random). We identified and characterized up-/down-regulated genes by comparing the expression level between tumors and adjacent normal tissues in 13 TCGA datasets. There were no consistently significant difference in the percentage of up-/down-regulated genes between bidirectional and control/random genes in most of TCGA datasets. However, the percentage of bidirectional gene pairs comprising two up- or two down-regulated genes was significantly higher than gene pairs from CG1/2 in 12/11 analyzed TCGA datasets and the random gene pairs in all 13 TCGA datasets. Then we identified the methylation correlated bidirectional genes to explore the regulatory mechanism of bidirectional genes. Like the differentially expressed gene pairs, the bidirectional genes in a pair were significantly prone to be both hypo- or hyper-methylation correlated genes in 12/13 TCGA datasets when comparing to the CG2/random gene pairs despite no significant difference between the percentages of hypo-/hyper-methylation correlated genes in bidirectional and CG2/random genes in most of TCGA datasets. Finally, we explored the correlation between bidirectional genes and patient’s survival, identifying prognostic bidirectional genes and prognostic bidirectional gene pairs in each TCGA dataset. Remarkably, we found a group of prognostic bidirectional gene pairs in which the combination of two protein coding genes with different expression level correlated with different survival prognosis in survival analysis for OS. The percentage of these gene pairs in bidirectional gene pair were significantly higher than the gene pairs in controls in COAD datasets and lower in none of 13 TCGA datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two types of random copolymer poly(d-lactideco- ε-caprolactone) (PDLA-r-PCL) were added into poly(llactide) (PLLA) matrix by melt blending. The structure and property of PLLA/PDLA-r-PCL blends were investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and mechanical measurement. The results suggested that PDLA-r-PCL had little effect on the thermal property of PLLA. PDLA-r-PCL uniformly dispersed in PLLA matrix, which contributed to the improvement of stretching properties. During stretching at 25°C, with the increased content of PDLA-r-PCL, the elongation at break of PLLA increased and the strength decreased. The degree of decrease in fracture strength was related to the molecular structure of PDLA-r-PCL. When a small amount of stereocomplex crystals (SC) were formed in PLLA/PDLAr- PCL blends, the strength was maintained or slightly enhanced even though the elongation at break of the blends was significantly improved by soft chains of PCL. It might be caused by the synergistic effects of SC crystals and plasticization of PCL chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Madeng hot spring emerges in the central river valley in the northeastern Lanping Basin in Jianchuan county of Yunnan Province in China. Quaternary sand and gravel occur in the valley which is underlain by the red beds consisting of sandstone and mudstone. The temperature of the hot spring is 42.1°C. The spring water has a pH value of 6.41, TDS of 3.98 g/L, F contents of 3.08 mg/L, and H2SiO3 of 35.6 mg/L. The hot water is of SO4•Cl-Na•Ca type. There is a slight hydrogen sulfide odor in the spring water. Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes indicate that the hot water is of meteoric origin. It is estimated that the elevation of the recharge area of the hot spring is approximately 3800 m, the age of the hot water is some 140 years, the temperature of the geothermal reservoir is 75°C–80°C, the mixture ratio of cold water is approximately 80%, and the circulation depth of the thermal groundwater is 1870 m. After receiving recharge from infiltration of precipitation in the mountainous recharge areas, the groundwater undergoes a deep circulation, obtains heat from the heat flow, flows upward along the fractured zone, and emerges as an upflow spring through the Quaternary sand and gravel in the central low-lying river valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To characterize the patterns of brain atrophy and perfusion as measured by arterial spin labeling (ASL)-MRI, in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with varying levels of cognitive deficit, including ALS with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Methods: A total of 55 ALS patients and 20 healthy controls (HCs) were included, and all participants underwent neuropsychological assessments and MRI scans. According to their cognitive performance, ALS patients were further subclassified into ALS with normal cognition (ALS-Cn, n = 27), ALS with cognitive impairment (ALS-Ci, n = 17), and ALS-FTD (n = 11). Voxel-based comparisons of gray matter (GM) changes and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were conducted among the subgroups. Results: The whole-brain comparisons of GM changes and CBF among ALS-Ci, ALS-Cn, and HCs were not significantly different. However, the ALS-FTD patients demonstrated a similar pattern of GM loss and hypoperfusion with more significant alterations in the left frontal and temporal lobe compared with the HCs, ALS-Cn, and ALS-Ci patients. Decreased CBF was found in many of the same brain areas wherein structural alterations occurred, although isolated GM loss and hypoperfusion were also observed. In addition, for both GM and CBF abnormalities, a similar pattern of changes was found in the comparisons of ALS-FTD vs. ALS-Ci, ALS-FTD vs. ALS-Cn, and ALS-FTD vs. HCs, with the differences being most significant between ALS-FTD and HCs. Conclusion: The cognitive status of ALS patients is associated with different patterns of GM changes and cerebral perfusion. ASL-MRI might be a useful tool with which to investigate the pathological burden of ALS and to disclose the early signature of possible cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental test for laminar combustion of ethanol-air mixture was investigated in a constant volume combustion bomb. The laminar burning velocity and Markstein length were determined over an extensive range of equivalence ratios from 0.7-1.6 under an initial condition of 0.1 MPa pressure and 358 K temperature, with high-speed Schlieren system. The methods of linear extrapolation and non-linear extrapolation are compared and discussed. Apart from experiments, simulation was carried out in Chemkin by using the Marinov ethanol oxidation mechanism. Results indicate that non-linear extrapolation is more suitable to calculate the laminar burning velocity of ethanol-air mixture. The overall trends of laminar burning velocity vs. equivalence ratio are consistent between the experiment and simulation. The peak values of the laminar burning velocity from present experiment and simulation are 531.2 mm/s and 565.3 mm/s, both appearing at the equivalence ratio of 1.1. Moreover, the Markstein length of ethanol-air mixtures generally decreases with increasing equivalence ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time of flight (TOF) based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a technology for calculating distance between start/stop signals of time of flight. In lab-built LiDAR, two ranging systems for measuring flying time between start/stop signals include time-to-digital converter (TDC) that counts time between trigger signals and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that processes the sampled start/stop pulses waveform for time estimation. We study the influence of waveform characteristics on range accuracy and precision of two kinds of ranging system. Comparing waveform based ranging (WR) with analog discrete return system based ranging (AR), a peak detection method (WR-PK) shows the best ranging performance because of less execution time, high ranging accuracy, and stable precision. Based on a novel statistic mathematical method maximal information coefficient (MIC), WR-PK precision has a high linear relationship with the received pulse width standard deviation. Thus keeping the received pulse width of measuring a constant distance as stable as possible can improve ranging precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repair performance in hierarchical data centers is often bottlenecked by cross-rack network transfer. Recent theoretical results show that the cross-rack repair traffic can be minimized through repair layering, whose idea is to partition a repair operation into inner-rack and cross-rack layers. However, how repair layering should be implemented and deployed in practice remains an open issue. In this article, we address this issue by proposing a practical repair layering framework called DoubleR.We design two families of practical double regenerating codes (DRC), which not only minimize the cross-rack repair traffic but also have several practical properties that improve state-of-the-art regenerating codes. We implement and deploy DoubleR atop the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and show that DoubleR maintains the theoretical guarantees of DRC and improves the repair performance of regenerating codes in both node recovery and degraded read operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial laser scanning sensors deliver not only three-dimensional geometric information of the scanned objects but also the intensity data of returned laser pulse. Recent studies have demonstrated potential applications of intensity data from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS). However, the distance and incident angle effects distort the TLS raw intensity data. To overcome the distortions, a new intensity correction method by combining the piecewise fitting and overlap-driven adjustment approaches was proposed in this study. The distance effect is eliminated by the piecewise fitting approach. The incident angle effect is eliminated by overlap-driven adjustment using the Oren-Nayar model that employs the surface roughness parameter of the scanned object. The surface roughness parameter at a certain point in an overlapped region of the multi-station scans is estimated by using the raw intensity data from two different stations at the point rather than estimated by averaging the surface roughness at other positions for each kind of object, which eliminates the estimation deviation. Experimental results obtained by using a TLS sensor (Riegl VZ-400i) demonstrate that the proposed method is valid and the deviations of the retrieved reflectance values from those measured by a spectrometer are all less than 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pulsed time-of-flight (TOF) measurement-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system is more effective for medium-long range distances. As a key ranging unit, a time-pickoff circuit based on automatic gain control (AGC) and constant fraction discriminator (CFD) is designed to reduce the walk error and the timing jitter for obtaining the accurate time interval. Compared with Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) and the estimation of the timing jitter, four parameters-based Monte Carlo simulations are established to show how the range precision is influenced by the parameters, including pulse amplitude, pulse width, attenuation fraction and delay time of the CFD. Experiments were carried out to verify the relationship between the range precision and three of the parameters, exclusing pulse width. It can be concluded that two parameters of the ranging circuit (attenuation fraction and delay time) were selected according to the ranging performance of the minimum pulse amplitude. The attenuation fraction should be selected in the range from 0.2 to 0.6 to achieve high range precision. The selection criterion of the time-pickoff circuit parameters is helpful for the ranging circuit design of TOF LiDAR system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a devastating disease that lacks sufficient treatment. Studies have shown that the Nod-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome contributes to PAH pathogenesis, but the role of the upstream molecular P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) has remained unexplored. We investigated the role of P2X7R in the pathogenesis of PAH.Methods and Results: PH was induced by a single subcutaneous injection of monocrotaline (MCT) (60 mg/kg) on left pneumonectomised Sprague-Dawley rats, as validated by significant increases in pulmonary artery pressure and vessel wall thickness. Marked P2X7R was detected by predominant PA immunostaining in lungs from PH rats. Western blot revealed a significant increase in the protein levels of P2X7R as well as NLRP3 and caspase-1 in the diseased lung tissue compared with normal tissue. The rats received A-740003 (a selective P2X7 receptor antagonist, 30 mg/kg) daily starting from 1 week before or 2 weeks after MCT injection. Consequently, A-740003 reversed the NLRP3 inflammasome upregulation, significantly decreased the mean right ventricular (RV) pressure and RV hypertrophy, and reversed pulmonary arterial remodelling 4 weeks after MCT injection, as both a pretreatment and rescue intervention. Notably, A-740003 significantly reduced macrophage and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, as measured via bronchoalveolar lavage. The recruitment of macrophages as well as collagen fibre deposition in the perivascular areas were also reduced, as confirmed by histological staining.Conclusions: P2X7R contributes to the pathogenesis of PH, probably in association with activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Blockade of P2X7R might be applied as a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of PAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catastrophic earthquake that struck Sichuan Province, China, in 2008 caused serious damage to Wenchuan County and surrounding areas in southwestern China. In recent years, great attention has been paid to the resilience of the affected area. This study applied the resilience inference measurement (RIM) model to quantify and validate the community resilience of 105 counties in the impacted area. The RIM model uses cluster analysis to classify counties into four resilience levels according to the exposure, damage, and recovery conditions. The model then applies discriminant analysis to quantify the influence of socioeconomic characteristics on the county's resilience. Analysis results show that counties located at the epicenter had the lowest resilience, but counties immediately adjacent to the epicenter had the highest resilience capacities. Counties that were farther away from the epicenter returned to normal resiliency quickly. Socioeconomic variables--including sex ratio, per capita GDP, percent of ethnic minority, and medical facilities--were identified as the most influential characteristics influencing resilience. This study provides useful information to improve county resilience to earthquakes and support decision making for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an explorative analysis of community resilience to seismic hazard in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake area of Southwest China. We used a regression model to analyze the impact of 13 key socioeconomic and demographic variables on community resilience in 105 counties, based on data derived from population census and provincial statistical yearbooks of China. In this research, we argue that community resilience should be measured by the change of population growth rate (Δdp) instead of population growth rate (Δp) when using socioeconomic data from a fast-growing country such as China. Using Ddp as the dependent variable resulted in a better regression model. To avoid the common multicollinearity problems among the independent variables, a principal component-based factor analysis was used to consolidate the socioeconomic variables into four comprehensive factors. The geographically weighted regression coefficient maps revealed the spatial pattern of the association of the variables with resilience. We also used the K-means cluster method to segment the study area into four subregions that exhibit localized characteristics defined by the regression coefficients. In this way, we could infer location-sensitive disaster management policies that help to enhance social resilience to seismic hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive and life-threatening disease associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. However, the exact regulatory mechanism of PAH is unknown. Although coupling factor 6 (CF6) is known to function as a repressor, its role in PAH has not been explored. Here, we investigated the involvement of endogenous CF6 in the development of PAH.Methods: PAH was induced with monocrotaline (MCT), as demonstrated by significant increases in pulmonary artery pressure and vessel wall thickness. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) carrying CF6 short hairpin RNA (shRNA) or control vector (2×10(10) gp) was intratracheally transfected into the lungs of rats 2 weeks before or after MCT injection.Results: A 2-6-fold increase in CF6 was observed in the lungs and circulation of the MCT-injected rats as confirmed by qRT-PCR and ELISA. Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed a small quantity of CF6 localized to endothelial cells (ECs) under physiological conditions spread to surrounding tissues in a paracrine manner in PAH lungs. Notably, CF6 shRNA effectively inhibited CF6 expression, abolished lung macrophage infiltration, reversed endothelial dysfunction and vascular remodeling, and ameliorated the severity of pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction at 4 weeks both as a pretreatment and rescue intervention. In addition, the circulating and lung levels of 6-keto-PGF1a, a stable metabolite of prostacyclin, were reversed by CF6 inhibition, suggesting that the effect of CF6 inhibition may partly be mediated through prostacyclin.Conclusions: CF6 contributes to the pathogenesis of PAH, probably in association with downregulation of prostacyclin. The blockage of CF6 might be applied as a novel therapeutic approach for PAH and PA remodeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the spatial heterogeneity and temporal dynamics of urban air pollution. The PM10 data from 2004 to 2013 was chosen as the index of air pollutant. Thirty-one major cities including Beijing and its adjacent cities were selected as the study area. Using Global Spatial Autocorrelation, evaluation of whether the air pollutant's pattern is clustered in Chinese mainland area during the study period is conducted. Moreover, the Local Moran's I Index was employed to detect the spatial cluster and outlier distribution of air pollutant. The result shows that air pollution in the study area has made increasing influence on annual average concentration of PM10 in the surrounding area and increasing heterogeneity of PM10. By observing the Local Moran's I Index distribution of PM10 from 2004 to 2013, it is found that several cities around Beijing in north China, which have been suffering from serious air pollution, are spatially aggregated and have influence on their surrounding air quality. In contrast, Haikou and other coastal cities suffer less air pollution and have some purification effects on air environment of surrounding cities. The aggregated distribution pattern is comparatively stable from 2004 to 2013, which led to the speculation that there is interaction on air pollution between the large-scaled aggregated regions and individual cities. This paper is significant to inspire the awareness of air pollution by local government and the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]