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Urban morphology quantitatively expresses a city’s spatial structure, internal relationships, and physical form. It has advantages for predicting urban growth and analyzing the current state of cities in the literature. A comprehensive study on the complex relationships between urban morphology and urban heat island intensity (UHII) is of great importance for mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect for megacities. This study models urban morphological indicators in fine resolution based on three aspects: building morphology, ecological infrastructure, and human activities. The model accurately captures UHII by employing the definition of UHI effects. The relationship between urban morphology and UHII was further examined using extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and Shapley additive explanations (SHAP). By taking central Beijing, China as study area, major findings include the following: (1) Significant daytime UHI effects were observed within the research area, particularly during the summer months, when it appears to be most severe. More than 90% of the region experiences varying degrees of the UHI effects. (2) UHI is significantly correlated with both 2D and 3D urban morphological indicators. Low sky view factor (SVF) and high SVF tend to mitigate UHI, whereas moderate SVF tends to aggravate UHI. (3) In densely populated areas, tall trees may be more effective than other forms of vegetation at mitigating UHI. Based on the aforementioned findings, this article suggests that urban morphology optimization should focus on seasonality, spatial specificity, and indicator specificity for megacities in urban design and spatial planning aimed at mitigating UHI.

Though the advancement of pre-trained large language models unfolds, the exploration of building a unified model for language and other multi-modal data, such as motion, remains challenging and untouched so far. Fortunately, human motion displays a semantic coupling akin to human language, often perceived as a form of body language. By fusing language data with large-scale motion models, motion-language pre-training that can enhance the performance of motion-related tasks becomes feasible. Driven by this insight, we propose MotionGPT, a unified, versatile, and user-friendly motion-language model to handle multiple motion-relevant tasks. Specifically, we employ the discrete vector quantization for human motion and transfer 3D motion into motion tokens, similar to the generation process of word tokens. Building upon this "motion vocabulary", we perform language modeling on both motion and text in a unified manner, treating human motion as a specific language. Moreover, inspired by prompt learning, we pre-train MotionGPT with a mixture of motion-language data and fine-tune it on prompt-based question-and-answer tasks. Extensive experiments demonstrate that MotionGPT achieves state-of-the-art performances on multiple motion tasks including text-driven motion generation, motion captioning, motion prediction, and motion in-between., Project Page: https://github.com/OpenMotionLab/MotionGPT

Financial Distress Prediction plays a crucial role in the economy by accurately forecasting the number and probability of failing structures, providing insight into the growth and stability of a country's economy. However, predicting financial distress for Small and Medium Enterprises is challenging due to their inherent ambiguity, leading to increased funding costs and decreased chances of receiving funds. While several strategies have been developed for effective FCP, their implementation, accuracy, and data security fall short of practical applications. Additionally, many of these strategies perform well for a portion of the dataset but are not adaptable to various datasets. As a result, there is a need to develop a productive prediction model for better order execution and adaptability to different datasets. In this review, we propose a feature selection algorithm for FCP based on element credits and data source collection. Current financial distress prediction models rely mainly on financial statements and disregard the timeliness of organization tests. Therefore, we propose a corporate FCP model that better aligns with industry practice and incorporates the gathering of thin-head component analysis of financial data, corporate governance qualities, and market exchange data with a Relevant Vector Machine. Experimental results demonstrate that this strategy can improve the forecast efficiency of financial distress with fewer characteristic factors.

Additional file 2. Fig. S1 The expression fold change of 12 candidate genes of Burkholderia pyrrocinia P10 strain under root exduates of peanut.

The 2021 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System (fifth edition) was released. One of the biggest differences between new edition tumors classification and the previous editions is that the pediatric ⁃ type diffuse low ⁃ grade gliomas and the pediatric ⁃ type diffuse high ⁃ grade gliomas are classified into independent tumor families. This change is based on the fact that although pediatric ⁃ type diffuse gliomas morphologically resemble their adult counterparts, while their molecular genetics features are completely different, and the prognosis of these tumors with different molecular genetics features is different accordingly, so different treatment strategies are needed. Physicians and surgeons need to know of the features of these pediatric ⁃ type diffuse gliomas. This paper reviews the existing literature, and the pathological reports and imaging data of our hospital, summarizes the imaging and pathological diagnostic features, as well as the clinical manifestations, prognostic features and treatment suggestions of these pediatric⁃type diffuse gliomas. This review will provide an annotation from the view of diagnosis and treatment on pediatric⁃type diffuse gliomas for the physicians and surgeons.

Electric vehicles are effective way to solve energy and environmental problems, but the promotion and application of electric vehicles are suppressed by their limited endurance range seriously. The regenerative braking technology is an important method to increase the endurance range of the electric vehicle. During the braking process, the kinetic energy of the electric vehicle can be converted into electric energy and stored in the energy source device with the regenerative braking system, so the endurance range of the electric vehicle can be increased accordingly. In order to increase the efficiency of energy recovery, a regenerative braking strategy with the optimization distribution algorithm is proposed in this paper, and the braking forces of the front and rear axles are distributed optimally with variable ratios based on the braking strength. With the optimal braking force distribution ratio and related constraint conditions, the regenerative braking control strategy was designed to meet the braking stability and the maximum braking energy recovery. And then a simulation model of the braking control strategy was built with MATLAB/Simulink software, and the simulation tests on UDDS and NEDC cycle conditions were done to verify the effectiveness of the designed regenerative braking control strategy. Compared with the control strategy of ADVISOR software, the braking energy recovery efficiency was improved more than 51.9 % while maintaining the braking stability.

Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (IR) after ischemic stroke causes deleterious microglial activation. Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) exacerbates neuroinflammation, yet the effect of the inhibition on microglial activation and cerebral IR injury is unknown. A cerebral IR rat model was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and reperfusion. The PTP1B inhibitor, sc-222227, was administered intracerebroventricularly. Neurologic deficits, infarct volume, and brain water content were examined. An in vitro oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) model was established in primary microglia and BV-2 cells. Microglial activation/polarization, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, autophagy, and apoptosis were detected using western blot, immunohistology, ELISA, and real-time PCR. Protein interaction was assessed by a proximity ligation assay. The results showed a significant increase in microglial PTP1B expression after IR injury. Sc-222227 attenuated IR-induced microglial activation, ER stress, and autophagy and promoted M2 polarization. Upon OGD/R, sc-222227 mitigated microglial activation by inhibiting ER stress-dependent autophagy, the effect of which was abolished by PERK activation, and PERK inhibition attenuated microglial activation. The PTP1B-phosphorylated PERK protein interaction was significantly increased after OGD/R, but decreased upon sc-222227 treatment. Finally, sc-222227 mitigated neuronal damage and neurologic deficits after IR injury. Treatment targeting microglial PTP1B might be a potential therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke treatment.

Additional file 2. Original gel of the cropped gels in Fig. 5.

We study a challenging task, conditional human motion generation, which produces plausible human motion sequences according to various conditional inputs, such as action classes or textual descriptors. Since human motions are highly diverse and have a property of quite different distribution from conditional modalities, such as textual descriptors in natural languages, it is hard to learn a probabilistic mapping from the desired conditional modality to the human motion sequences. Besides, the raw motion data from the motion capture system might be redundant in sequences and contain noises; directly modeling the joint distribution over the raw motion sequences and conditional modalities would need a heavy computational overhead and might result in artifacts introduced by the captured noises. To learn a better representation of the various human motion sequences, we first design a powerful Variational AutoEncoder (VAE) and arrive at a representative and low-dimensional latent code for a human motion sequence. Then, instead of using a diffusion model to establish the connections between the raw motion sequences and the conditional inputs, we perform a diffusion process on the motion latent space. Our proposed Motion Latent-based Diffusion model (MLD) could produce vivid motion sequences conforming to the given conditional inputs and substantially reduce the computational overhead in both the training and inference stages. Extensive experiments on various human motion generation tasks demonstrate that our MLD achieves significant improvements over the state-of-the-art methods among extensive human motion generation tasks, with two orders of magnitude faster than previous diffusion models on raw motion sequences., Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, conference

Vinyl chloride, the monomer of polyvinyl chloride, is produced primarily via acetylene hydrochlorination catalyzed by environmentally toxic carbon-supported HgCl2. Recently, nitrogen-doped carbon materials have been explored as metal-free catalysts to substitute toxic HgCl2. Herein, we describe the development of a cationic covalent triazine network (cCTN, cCTN-700) that selectively catalyzes acetylene hydrochlorination. cCTN-700 exhibited excellent catalytic activity with initial acetylene conversion, reaching ~99% and a vinyl chloride selectivity of >98% at 200 °C during a 45 h test. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, temperature programmed desorption, and charge calculation results revealed that the active sites for the catalytic reaction were the carbon atoms bonded to the pyridinic N and positively charged nitrogen atoms (viologenic N+) of the viologen moieties in cCTN-700, similar to the active sites in Au-based catalysts but different from the those in previously reported nitrogen-doped carbon materials. This research focuses on using cationic covalent triazine polymers for selective acetylene hydrochlorination.

Background This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the risk of shunt-dependent hydrocephalus among patients with ruptured intracranial aneurysms treated with either coil placement or clipping. Methods A systematic literature search of Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library was performed to confirm relevant studies. The scientific literature was screened in accordance with the predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. After quality assessment and data extraction from the eligible studies, a meta-analysis was conducted using the STATA 12.0 software (Stata corporation, College Station, Texas, USA). Results Thirteen studies met all inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. In total, these studies included 13,751 patients. Of the patients, 8444 of them underwent neurosurgical clipping, and 5307 underwent endovascular coiling. The overall result of a pooled estimate revealed there was no statistically significant risk of shunt dependency difference between the clipping and coiling groups (11.4% vs. 12.0%, respectively; relative risk [RR], 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84–1.01). Six prospective studies (n = 1373) reported shunt-dependent hydrocephalus revealed no significant difference between clipping and coiling (23.3% vs. 20.1%, respectively; RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 0.91–1.38). Seven retrospective studies (n = 12,378) reported shunt-dependent hydrocephalus found statistical significance between the surgical and endovascular treatment groups (10.0% vs. 11.1%, respectively; RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.79–0.98). Conclusions Microsurgical clipping and endovascular coiling of ruptured cerebral aneurysms are associated with similar incidences of ventricular shunt placement for hydrocephalus. The risk of shunt-dependent hydrocephalus is not higher after coiling than after clipping of ruptured intracranial aneurysms.

The conversion of CO2 into more synthetically flexible CO is an effective and potential method for CO2 remediation, utilization and carbon emission reduction. In this paper, the reaction of carbon-carbon dioxide (Boudouard reaction) was performed in a microwave fixed bed reactor using semi-coke (SC) as both the microwave absorber and reactant and was systematically compared with that heated in a conventional thermal field. The effects of the heating source, SC particle size, CO2 flow rate and additives on CO2 conversion and CO output were investigated. By microwave heating (MWH), CO2 conversion reached more than 99 %, while by conventional heating (CH), the maximum conversion of CO2 was approximately 29% at 900 °C. Meanwhile, for the reaction with 5 wt% Barium Carbonate added as a promoter, the reaction temperature was significantly reduced to 750 °C with almost quantitative conversion of CO2. Further kinetic calculations showed that the apparent activation energy of the reaction under microwave heating was 46.3 kJ/mol, which was only one-third of that observed under conventional heating. The microwave-assisted Boudouard reaction with catalytic barium carbonate is a promising method for carbon dioxide utilization.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tan-10.1177_17562864211050027 for Response to antiseizure medications in epileptic patients with malformation of cortical development by Wei Chen, Bo Jin, Thandar Aung, Chenmin He, Cong Chen, Shan Wang, Yao Ding, Fang Ding, Chao Wang, Hong Li, Biao Jiang, Zhe Zheng, Haibin Dai, Junming Zhu, Yu Geng, Meiping Ding and Shuang Wang in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-tan-10.1177_17562864211021181 for 7T MRI with post-processing for the presurgical evaluation of pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy by Cong Chen, Juan-Juan Xie, Fang Ding, Ya-Si Jiang, Bo Jin, Shan Wang, Yao Ding, Hong Li, Biao Jiang, Jun-Ming Zhu, Mei-Ping Ding, Zhong Chen, Zhi-Ying Wu, Bao-Rong Zhang, Yi-Cheng Hsu, Hsin-Yi Lai and Shuang Wang in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-tan-10.1177_17562864211050027 for Response to antiseizure medications in epileptic patients with malformation of cortical development by Wei Chen, Bo Jin, Thandar Aung, Chenmin He, Cong Chen, Shan Wang, Yao Ding, Fang Ding, Chao Wang, Hong Li, Biao Jiang, Zhe Zheng, Haibin Dai, Junming Zhu, Yu Geng, Meiping Ding and Shuang Wang in Therapeutic Advances in Neurological Disorders

Background The role of plasma heat shock protein 90alpha (Hsp90α) in gastric cancers remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the diagnostic and prognostic value of plasma Hsp90α in gastric cancer. Methods Data regarding 976 gastric cancer, 50 gastric inflammatory diseases, and 100 healthy controls were collected. Plasma Hsp90α levels in gastric cancer were compared to those in controls. Its correlation with tumor biomarkers and immune cells was examined. The association of plasma Hsp90α with clinical features and the diagnostic and prognostic value in gastric cancer were also determined. Results Plasma Hsp90α levels were remarkably increased in gastric cancer, compared to those in gastric inflammatory diseases and healthy controls. Moreover, plasma Hsp90α was correlated with CEA, CA125, CA153, CA199, T cells, Th/Ts ratio, and B cells. Plasma Hsp90α was also associated with the metastasis stage. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that Hsp90α, B cells, and T cells were significantly associated with gastric cancer. Plasma Hsp90α has a moderate diagnostic value, which increased when combined with B cell, T cells. Finally, plasma Hsp90α was not associated with the survival of gastric cancer patients. Conclusion Plasma Hsp90α was elevated in gastric cancer and correlated with tumor biomarkers and immune cells. Plasma Hsp90α was associated with the metastasis stage and had moderate diagnostic performance but little prognostic value in gastric cancer.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Single cell on average between Lv and Bai.

Additional file 3: Figure S3. The number of DEGs belonging to different transcription factor families detected in Lv and Bai.

Table S1. sgRNA-targeted genomic sites in this study. Table S2. Primer list.

Figure S1. Comparison of the in vitro activity of M13 and f1 phage G8PPD. Figure S2. MS analyses of the interface between SpCas9 and M13 G8PPD. Figure S3. Construction and purification of SpCas9 K1158 and K1176 mutants. Figure S4. Profile of SpCas9-induced mutations in the absence and presence of G8PPD. Figure S5. G8PPD peptides derived from inoviridae bacteriophages. Figure S6. NGS analyses of the effects of G8P pre-incubation on NmCas9 and SaCas9 in HEK293 cells. Figure S7. NGS analyses of the effects of G8Ps on the specificity of SpCas9 at HBB site in HEK293 cells. Figure S8. Cytotoxicity of CRISPR inhibitors. Figure S9. ChIP-qPCR analyses of the effects of M13 G8Ps on Cas9 binding at AAVS1 on target and pre-determined off-target sites in Hela cells.

Additional file 4: Figure S4. Relative expression of genes related to transcriptional factors. Data is presented as the mean ± standard deviation (n = 9).

Review history.

Additional file 2: Figure S2. The correlation analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) in Lv and Bai fruit.

Background Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is an inflammatory biomarker. We elucidated the relationship between serum IL-33 concentrations, severity and prognosis in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Methods We prospectively recruited 175 controls and 175 aSAH patients. Serum IL-33 concentrations were gauged using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Clinical and radiological severity was assessed by World Federation of Neurological Surgeons (WFNS) scale and modified Fisher grading scale respectively. Poor outcome was defined as Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 1–3. Results Serum IL-33 concentrations were significantly higher in patients than in controls. IL-33 concentrations were significantly increased with increasing WFNS scores, modified Fisher scores and serum C-reactive protein concentrations. Serum IL-33 emerged as an independent predictor for 6-month mortality and poor outcome. Under receiver operating characteristic curve, the prognostic predictive ability of serum IL-33 was equivalent to those of WFNS scores and modified Fisher scores. Moreover, serum IL-33 significantly improved the prognostic predictive performance of WFNS scores and modified Fisher scores. Conclusions High serum IL-33 concentrations have close relation to the inflammation, severity and poor outcome in aSAH, indicating IL-33 might have the potential to be an inflammatory biomarker for assessing severity and reflecting prognosis of aSAH.

Nanofluidic channels with a depth of ∼100 nm were developed as a leak element, where the fluidic channels were etched on silicon wafer by reactive ion etching and then enclosed by direct silicon bonding. Instead of the Torr-seal gluing method, a tight lamination between the chip and the vacuum flange was achieved using indium gasket sealing, eliminating the influence of Torr-seal outgassing. Two leak elements with different amount of parallel channels were fabricated and their values were characterized by the difference method. The results demonstrate that the conductance of the leak elements behave in reasonable agreement with their theoretically calculated conductance with relative errors of approximately 4.9% and 42.7%, respectively. The gas flow through these leak elements realizes molecular flow at pressures ranging from high vacuum up to 105 Pa for helium, argon, and nitrogen and can therefore be used as predictable leak elements for any gas.

Ketone–ketone cross-aldol reaction of isatins and unactivated ketones was catalyzed by glucose-containing imidazolium salt β-1-imidazole-2,3,4,6-tetra-o-hydroxy-d-glucopyranosyl bromide in neutral condition to generate 3-alkyl-3-hydroxyindolin-2-ones in excellent yield.

A large cranial defect combined with hydrocephalus is a frequent sequela of decompressive craniectomy (DC) performed to treat malignant intracranial hypertension. Currently, many neurosurgeons perform simultaneous cranioplasty and shunt implantation on such patients, but the safety of this combined procedure remains controversial.We retrospectively evaluated 58 patients treated via cranioplasty and shunt implantation after DC. Twenty patients underwent simultaneous procedures (simultaneous operation group) and 38 underwent staged procedures (staged operation group). We collected and analysed demographic data, information on disease histories, and clinical findings.The overall complication rate was 19%. The two groups did not significantly differ regarding the all-complication (30% vs. 13%), bleeding complication (0% vs. 5%), or treatment failure (15% vs. 3%) rates. However, the rate of surgical site infection/incision healing problems (25% vs. 3%) and the re-operation rate (20% vs. 3%) were significantly higher in the simultaneous operation group.Patients undergoing simultaneous cranioplasty/shunt implantation may be at a higher risk of infectious complications than those undergoing staged operations.

OBJECTIVEErythropoietin (EPO) exerts a neuroprotective effect in animal models of traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, its effectiveness in human patients with TBI is unclear. In this study, the authors conducted the first meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness and safety of EPO in patients with TBI.METHODSIn December 2015, a systematic search was performed of PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Library databases, and Google Scholar. Only English-language publications of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using EPO in patients with TBI were selected for analysis. The assessed outcomes included mortality, favorable neurological outcome, hospital stay, and associated adverse effects. Continuous variables were presented as mean difference (MD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Dichotomous variables were presented as risk ratio (RR) or risk difference (RD) with a 95% CI. Statistical heterogeneity was examined using both I2 and chi-square tests.RESULTSOf the 346 studies identified in the search, 5 RCTs involving 915 patients met the inclusion criteria. The overall results demonstrated that EPO significantly reduced mortality (RR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49–0.96, p = 0.03) and shortened the hospitalization time (MD −7.59, 95% CI −9.71 to −5.46, p < 0.0001) for patients with TBI. Pooled results of favorable outcome (RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.88–1.15, p = 0.97) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT; RD 0.00, 95% CI −0.05 to 0.05, p = 1.00) did not show a significant difference.CONCLUSIONSThe authors suggested that EPO is beneficial for patients with TBI in terms of reducing mortality and shortening hospitalization time without increasing the risk of DVT. However, its effect on improving favorable neurological outcomes did not reach statistical significance. Therefore, more well-designed RCTs are necessary to ascertain the optimum dosage and time window of EPO treatment for patients with TBI.

Troger's base (TB) and its derivatives, especially chiral TBs are widely used in many fields. Although there is an urgent demand for the direct synthesis of pure enantiomers of TBs, convenient synthetic strategies are far less developed. Ionic liquids are green and recyclable solvent, therefore, in this paper, novel chiral glucose-containing pyridinium ionic liquids (1-((2S,3S,4R,5S,6S)-3,4,5-triacetoxy-6-(acetoxymethyl)tetra hydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)pyridin-1-ium tetrafluoroborate, [EY-GrEBE41-, 5) was synthesized and used as catalyst and solvent, while trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) was used as co-catalyst, to promote the one-step direct asymmetric synthesis of Troger's bases with pyrazol flank (7) firstly at room temperature with high yields (up to 83%) and high ee value (up to 84%). A reasonable reaction mechanism was investigated by using chemical experiments, H-1 NMR analysis and mass spectrometry. The novel method is environmental friendly and the result indicated its value of practical application. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tetrasubstituted imidazoles were synthesized in high yields via the four-component reaction of aromatic aldehydes, amines, substituted benzils and ammonium acetate catalyzed by a porous CeO2 nanorod. Their anti-cancer activities on the Huh-7 hepatocellular carcinoma cell and antibacterial activities on four bacterial species (wild-type Escherichia coli, wild-type Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAM1032 and Escherichia coli-NMD-1) in vitro were evaluated. One compound (5p) was screened out because of its high inhibition rate on all four bacterials at 100 μg/mL. Three products (5p, 5t and 5y) showed a high inhibition rate on the Huh-7 hepatocellular carcinoma cell at 10 μg/mL. The results indicated their potential in new drug development.

Recently, we have proposed a theoretical modified tri-exponential model for multi-b-value diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) to measure the cytoplasmic organelle water fraction (COWF). This study aims to investigate whether COWF maps are effective in evaluating the malignant degree of gliomas and distinguishing primary central nervous system lymphomas (PCNSL) from gliomas. We performed this retrospective study based on our prospectively collected data. All patients underwent preoperative multi-b-value DWI. Parametric maps were derived from multi-b-value DWI maps using the modified tri-exponential model. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were used to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the parameter maps. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to investigate the correlations between the parameters and the Ki-67 proliferation index. A total of 66 patients were enrolled, including 16 low-grade gliomas (LGG), 45 high-grade gliomas (HGG), and 5 PCNSL. The mean COWF values were significantly different among LGG (3.1 ± 1.4%), HGG (6.9 ± 2.8%), and PCNSL (14.0 ± 2.2%) (P

Allicin can be used as fumigant to protect food and cultural relics from fungal contamination because of its strong antifungal activity and the characteristics of high volatility and no residues. However, the obvious disadvantages such as high minimal inhibitory concentration and instability prevent it from wide application. In this study, a stable derivative of allicin, S-ethyl ethanethiosulfinate (ALE), was synthesized. We further explored its antifungal activity and apoptosis-inducing effect, as well as the underlying mechanism. ALE had an excellent capability of inhibiting spore germination and mycelial growth of Penicillium chrysogenum observed by inverted microscope and scanning electron microscopy. XTT colorimetric assay indicated ALE could reduce the cell viability obviously and IC50 was 0.92 μg/ml, only 1/42 of allicin (38.68 μg/ml). DHR 123 ROS Assay Kit, flow cytometry assay and confocal immunofluorescence revealed intercellular ROS generation and metacaspase-dependent apoptosis triggered by ALE, while antioxidant tocopherol could reverse ALE-induced cytotoxicity effect and metacaspase activation. These results indicate that ALE induces metacaspase-dependent apoptosis through ROS generation, thus possesses an effective antifungal activity. This new derivative of allicin might be developed as a high efficient alternative to the conventional fungicides for food storage and cultural relic protection.

Cucumber is of tropical origin and is sensitive to low temperature. In temperate growing regions or production areas at a high altitude, low temperature germination (LTG) ability is an ideal trait that would allow for early planting. However, the genetic basis for LTG ability in cucumber is poorly understood. In the present study, we conducted QTL analysis for LTG ability using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the cross between the LTG tolerant variety Coolgreen and the sensitive inbred line 7088D. Phenotypic data on LTG ability in terms of germinate rate at 13 degrees C were collected from 138 RILs in five environments which were used in QTL analysis. Three QTL, qLTG1.2, qLTG2.1 and qLTG4.1 on chromosomes 1, 2 and 4, respectively, were consistently detected across multiple environments, which could explain 27.3-52.5% observed total phenotypic variance. The two QTL qLTG1.2 and qLTG2.1 exhibited major- and minor- positive effects on increasing LTG ability, respectively, whereas qLTG4.1 had moderate but negative effect on LTG in this RIL population. Additional QTL analysis using 67 recombinant F-2:3 families identified from 602 7088DxCoolgreen F-2 plants validated the major-effect QTL qLTG1.2, which also allowed to narrow this QTL down to a region of348kb in size. Results from this study provide a basis for further fine mapping and functional study of QTL for low temperature germination in cucumber. The knowledge is also useful for marker-assisted selection in breeding for this trait.

Porous CeO2 nanorod has been used as efficient and recyclable heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of highly functionalized imino-pyrrolidine-thiones via the reaction of aromatic aldehyde (especially one bearing an electron-donating group), malononitrile, isocyanide and unactivated weakly acidic heterocyclic thiophenol. The high catalytic efficiency of porous CeO2 nanorod in this reaction was discussed preliminarily based on their morphology and structure.

The Gaoshan gold-silver deposit, located between the Yuyao-Lishui Fault and Jiangshan-Shaoxing fault in Longquan Area, occurs in the Suichang-Longquan gold-silver polymetallic metallogenic belt. This study conducted an investigation for ore-forming fluids using microthermometry, D-O isotope and trace element. The results show that two types of fluid inclusions involved into the formation of the deposit are pure liquid phase and gas-liquid phase aqueous inclusions. The homogenization temperature and salinity of major mineralization phase ranges from 156°C to 236°C (average 200°C) and 0.35% to 8.68% (NaCleqv) (average 3.68%), respectively, indicating that the ore-forming fluid is characteristic of low temperature and low salinity. The ore-forming pressure ranges between in 118.02 to 232.13′105 pa, and it is estabmiated that the ore-forming depth ranges from 0.39 to 0.77 km, indicating it is a hypabyssal deposit in genesis. The low rare earth elements content in pyrites, widely developed fluorite in late ore-forming stage and lack of chlorargyrite (AgCl), indicates that the ore-forming fluid is rich in F rather than CI. The ratios of Y/Ho, Zr/Hf and Nb/Ta of between different samples have little difference, indicating that the later hydrothermal activities had no effects on the former hydrothermal fluid. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns of pyrites from country rocks and ore veins are basically identical, with the characteristics of light REE enrichment and negative Eu anomalies, implying that the ore-forming fluid was oxidative and derived partly from the country rocks. The δD and δ18O of fluid inclusions in quartz formed during the main metallogenic stage range from —105‰ to –69 ‰ and –6.01‰ to –3.81‰, respectively. The D-O isotopie diagram shows that the metallogenic fluid is characterized by the mixing of formation water and meteoric water, without involvement of magmatic water. The geological and geochemical characteristics of the Gaoshan gold-silver deposit are similar to those of continental volcanic hydrothermal deposit, and could be assigned to the continental volcanic hydrothermal gold-silver deposit type.

Diphenylamine, phenothiazine or carbazole were introduced into Troger's base skeleton via Ullmann or Suzuki coupling to afford new TB derivatives. Their optical properties tests, density functional theory (B3LYP; 6-31G*) calculations were investigated. Incidentally anti-cancer activity against human hepatoma HepG2 cells in vitro (MTT assay) were investigated. All the results indicated that these novel compounds have the potential as fluorescence materials.

The production of vinyl chloride (VCM) by pyrolysis of 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) is an important process in the ethylene-based poly(vinyl chloride) industry. The pyrolysis is performed at temperatures above 500 °C, gives low conversions, and has high energy consumption. We have shown that N-doped carbon catalysts give excellent performances in DCE dehydrochlorination at 280 °C. The current understanding of the active sites, mechanism, and kinetics of DCE dehydrochlorination over N-doped carbon catalysts is limited. Here, we showed that pyridinic-N on a N-doped carbon catalyst is the active site for catalytic production of vinyl chloride monomer from DCE. The results of CO2 and DCE temperature-programmed desorption experiments showed that the pyridinic-N catalytic sites are basic, and the mechanism of dehydrochlorination on a N-doped carbon catalyst involves a carbanion. A kinetic study of dehydrochlorination showed that the surface reaction rate on the N-doped carbon catalyst was the limiting step in the catalytic dehydrochlorination of DCE. This result enabled clarification of the dehydrochlorination mechanism and optimization of the reaction process. These findings will stimulate further studies to increase our understanding of the relationship between the base strength and catalytic performance. The results of this study provide a method for catalyst optimization, namely modification of the amount of pyridinic-N and the base strength of the catalyst, to increase the surface reaction rate of DCE dehydrochlorination on N-doped carbon catalysts.

Rationale: Wooden transorbital penetrating injury is an uncommon and serious trauma that may cause multiply complications. Patient concerns: Here we describe a 62-year-old Chinese woman with a transorbital penetrating injury caused by a long bamboo branch. Diagnosis: Computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging showed the presence of a wooden foreign body. Interventions: Cerebrovascular digital subtraction angiography and temporary balloon occlusion were performed with general anesthesia. Anti-inflammatory therapy was subsequently administered. Outcomes: Retention of wooden foreign body, orbital cellulitis, and traumatic aneurysm at the right internal carotid artery were diagnosed 1 month later. Coil embolization of the right internal carotid artery aneurysm and endoscopic sinus surgery were then performed, and postoperative condition was monitored and recorded. Lessons: Penetrating transorbital injury complications may occur because of retained wooden foreign bodies near the intracranial arteries. Reasonable surgical intervention and special attention should be performed in this kind of trauma.

A large cranial defect following decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a common sequela in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Such a defect can cause severe disturbance of cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation. This study investigated the impact of cranioplasty on CBF in these patients.Patients who underwent DC and secondary cranioplasty were prospectively studied for a severe TBI. CT perfusion was used to measure CBF before and after cranioplasty. The basal ganglia, parietal lobe and occipital lobe on the decompressed side were chosen as zones of interest for CBF evaluation.Nine patients representing nine cranioplasty procedures were included in the study. Before cranioplasty, CBF on the decompressed side was lower than that on the contralateral side. During the early stage (10 days) after cranioplasty, CBF on the decompressed side was increased and this increase was significant in the parietal and occipital lobe. CBF was also increased on the contralateral side. In addition, the difference in CBF between the contralateral side and the decompressed side was reduced after cranioplasty. Further, the CT perfusion showed that the CBFs decreased again 3 months post-cranioplasty among four cases, but was still higher than those before cranioplasty.This study indicates that cranioplasty may increase CBF and benefit the recovery in patients with DC for TBI.

Cu–0.81Cr–0.12Zr–0.05La–0.05Y (mass fraction) alloy was successively subjected to hot rolling, solid solution treatment, cold rolling and aging treatments. Its microstructure, microhardness and electrical conductivity at different states were systematically investigated. The as-cast microstructure consists of three phases: Cu matrix, Cr and Cu 5 Zr. Zr is completely dissolved into the matrix while partial Cr remains after the solid solution treatment. Aging of the cold-rolled sample makes nanocrystals of Cr and Cu 5 Zr precipitate from the matrix, and the microhardness and electrical conductivity rise. A combination of high microhardness (HV 186) and high conductivity (81% IACS) can be obtained by aging the sample at 773 K for 60 min. As the aging temperature increases, the orientation degree of the Cu crystals gradually decreases to zero, but the microstrain in them cannot be eliminated completely owing to the presence of precipitates and dislocations. The Cr precipitates exhibit the N–W orientation relationship with the matrix when the coherence strengthening mechanism plays a main role.

A 40-year-old man suffered severe brain injury and received left side subdural hematoma evacuation with decompressive craniectomy. Intraoperative brain swelling had occurred during the surgery. Postoperative computed tomography (CT) scan was done immediately and showed a contralateral epidural hematoma resulting in herniation. Secondary hematoma evacuation was performed and found a linear fracture near a bleeding meningeal artery. 2 days later CT scan showed cerebral infarction mainly in right posterior cerebral artery distribution. Early diagnosis by postoperative CT scan or other potential ways such as intraoperative sonography is important to prompt treatments and interrupt the pathophysiological chain of the serial attacks.

Bamboo is an important biomass, and bamboo hydrolysate is used by Klebsiella pneumoniae as a feedstock for chemical production. Here, bamboo powder was pretreated with NaOH and washed to a neutral pH. Cellulase was added to the pretreated bamboo powder to generate the hydrolysate, which contained 30 g/L glucose and 15 g/L xylose and was used as the carbon source to prepare a medium for chemical production. When cultured in microaerobic conditions, 12.7 g/L 2,3-butanediol was produced by wildtype K. pneumoniae. In aerobic conditions, 13.0 g/L R-acetoin was produced by the budC mutant of K. pneumoniae. A mixture of 25.5 g/L 2-ketogluconic acid and 13.6 g/L xylonic acid was produced by the budA mutant of K. pneumoniae in a two-stage, pH-controlled fermentation with high air supplementation. In the first stage of fermentation, the culture was maintained at a neutral pH; after cell growth, the fermentation proceeded to the second stage, during which the culture was allowed to become acidic.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection can cause fetal developmental abnormalities and Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults. Although progress has been made in understanding the link between ZIKV infection and microcephaly, the pathology of ZIKV, particularly the viral reservoirs in human, remains poorly understood. Several studies have shown that compared to serum samples, patients' urine samples often have a longer duration of ZIKV persistency and higher viral load. This finding suggests that an independent viral reservoir may exist in the human urinary system. Despite the clinical observations, the host cells of ZIKV in the human urinary system are poorly characterized. In this study, we demonstrate that ZIKV can infect renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (RPTEpiCs) in immunodeficient mice in vivo and in both immortalized and primary human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells (hRPTEpiCs) in vitro. Importantly, ZIKV infection in mouse kidneys caused caspase-3-mediated apoptosis of renal cells. Similarly, in vitro infection of immortalized and primary hRPTEpiCs resulted in notable cytopathic effects. Consistent with the clinical observations, we found that ZIKV infection can persist with prolonged duration in hRPTEpiCs. RNA-Seq analyses of infected hRPTEpiCs revealed a large number of transcriptional changes in response to ZIKV infection, including type I interferon signaling genes and anti-viral response genes. Our results suggest that hRPTEpiCs are a potential reservoir of ZIKV in the human urinary system, providing a possible explanation for the prolonged persistency of ZIKV in patients' urine.

Background: The Marshall computed tomography (CT) system for classification of traumatic brain injury (TBI) includes the most important independent prognostic variables except for traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (tSAH). Objectives: To evaluate the prognostic effect of tSAH on different injury types based on the Marshall CT system. Methods: We performed a retrospective study. All patients with severe closed head injury admitted from February 2011 to July 2012 were included. Their scans were classified into two groups: localized injury and diffuse injury using the Marshall classification. Outcomes were compared between patients with tSAH and those without tSAH among the two groups. Results: Ninety-six patients were included in this study. Seventy-two (75%) were found to have tSAH, and outcomes significantly negatively correlated with tSAH in both localized injury and diffused injury groups. Conclusions: tSAH had an important effect on the patients’ outcome. Although the Marshall classification includes important independent prognostic variables, tSAH should also be added.