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At present, the majority of known clinical drugs originated from cultivated species of a few bacterial lineages. It is vital for the development of new pharmaceuticals to explore the biosynthetic potential of naturally uncultivable microorganisms using new techniques.

Artemisia songarica Schrenk is a dominant sand fixation plant growing in the People's Republic of China. At present, there are rare studies on the chemical composition and biological activity of A. songarica. The chemical composition of the original oil was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and 16 compounds were determined. The main compounds were bisabolol oxide II (28.7%), nerolidol (18.6%), bisabolol (12.9%), bisaboloxide A (10.0%), and spathulenol (6.0%). The contact toxicity and repellent activity of A. songarica essential oil and four selected compounds (bisabolol, geranyl butyrate, nerolidol, and santalol) were assessed against Tribolium castaneum Herbst and Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel. Bioassays showed that the crude essential oil exhibited strong insecticide and repellent activities against both pests. Santalol possessed the strongest contact toxicity (50% lethal dose [LD50] = 1.29 μg per adult) against T. castaneum. Nerolidol, santalol, and geranyl butyrate showed fair contact activity against L. bostrychophila. In particular, geranyl butyrate exhibited outstanding activity (LD50 = 11.53 μg/cm2). In addition, all of the four compounds did not detect a difference between compounds and the positive control (P0.05) against two pests at five tested concentrations. These results indicated that A. songarica and its selected compounds could be used as prospective insecticidal and repellent agents for further development and use.

Deficiency of G protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) was found to protect mice from dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. Paeoniflorin-6'-O-benzene sulfonate (CP-25) has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory immune regulatory effects in animal models of inflammatory autoimmune disease. This study aimed to investigate the of GRK2 in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) and its effects on macrophage polarization, macrophage subtype regulation of intestinal barrier function, and therapeutic effects of CP-25 in mice with DSS-induced colitis. We found imbalanced macrophage polarization, intestinal barrier dysfunction, and abnormal activation of GRK2 and TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway in the colonic mucosa of patients with UC. CP-25, restored the damaged intestinal barrier function by inhibiting the transmembrane region of GRK2 in macrophages stimulated by lipopolysaccharides. CP-25 exerted therapeutic effects by ameliorating clinical manifestation, regulating macrophage polarization, and restoring abnormally activated TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway by inhibiting GRK2. These data suggest the pathogenesis of UC may be related to the imbalance of macrophage polarization, which leads to abnormal activation of TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway mediated by GRK2 and destruction of the intestinal mucosal barrier. CP-25 confers therapeutic effects on colitis by inhibiting GRK2 translocation to induce the downregulation of TLR4-NF-κB-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling in macrophages.

Photovoltaic (PV) power generation plays a significant role with the increase of installed capacity of renewable energy. The effects of environmental stress on insulating backsheets have been considered as the main cause of failure in PV systems. However, traditional aging models are difficult to realize the comprehensive evaluation of the lifetime of insulating backsheets. In this paper, the analytical method of complex chemical degradation related to the insulation was replaced by a physics-based method to quantify the elongation at the break as a function of time corresponding to temperature and radiation. In contrast to traditional aging models, this model simply used one parameter, namely drop-off rate (

The heterogeneity of inpatient pulmonary embolism (PE) presentations may lead to computed tomography pulmonary angiograms (CTPA) being over-requested. Current clinical predictors for PE, including Wells criteria and Pulmonary Embolism Rule-out Criteria (PERC), have predominantly focussed on outpatient and emergency department populations.To determine the clinical indicators for ordering inpatient CTPA and the predictors of positive scans for PE.Consecutive inpatient CTPA (performed24 h after admission) from January 2017 to December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Variables including baseline characteristics, vital signs and risk factors for PE were extracted.A total of 312 CTPA was reviewed (average patient age 67 years; 46% male) and 36 CTPA were positive for PE (11.5%). The average time to inpatient CTPA request was 7 days. Clinical indicators associated with positive scans were hypoxia (odds ratio (OR) 2.4; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-5.6), tachypnoea (OR 2.5; 95% CI 1.2-6.0), recent surgery or immobilisation (OR 2.7; 95% CI 1.2-6.4), S1Q3T3 pattern on electrocardiogram (ECG; OR 7.2; 95% CI 1.4-35.7) and right bundle branch block pattern on ECG (OR 4.7; 95% CI 1.6-13.1). Hypotension, fever and malignancy were not significant. Both PERC and Wells criteria had poor positive predictive value (12% and 27% respectively), but the negative predictive value for PERC and Wells was 100% and 95.8% respectively.Inpatient CTPA appear to be over-requested and can potentially be rationalised based on a combination of clinical predictors and Wells criteria and/or PERC rule. Further prospective studies are needed to develop accurate clinical decision tools targeted towards inpatients.

In group decision support systems, it is important on how to process and manage individual decision information. In the paper, a sequential model is proposed to manage individual judgements with additively reciprocal property over paired alternatives. The process of realizing additive complementary pairwise comparisons (ACPCs) is captured. A real-time feedback mechanism is constructed to address the irrational behavior of individuals. An optimization model is established and solved by using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, such that the consistency of individual judgements can be improved fast yet effectively. For the aggregation of individual decision information in group decision making (GDM), the weighted averaging operator is used. It is found that when all individual judgements are acceptably additively consistent, the collective matrix is with acceptable additive consistency. Under the control of individual consistency degrees, the approach of reaching consensus in GDM is further proposed. By comparing with some existing models, the observations reveal that the sequential model of originating additive complementary pairwise comparisons possesses the ability to rationally manage individual decision information.

Despite broad consensus about multicultural experience's benefits, there is a lack of research on the antecedents to multicultural experiences. Research has indicated that awe shifts attention away from the self toward larger entities, which could include elements of other cultures.Four studies (N = 2915) tested whether trait, daily, and induced awe promoted multicultural experience.Studies 1-2 (adolescents, young, middle, and older adults) showed that trait awe predicted greater multicultural identity and experience independent of other positive emotions and openness. Study 3 (studentsadults in U.S.Malaysia) demonstrated that daily awe predicted more daily multicultural experience independent of yesterday's multicultural experience. These results were explained by trait and daily curiosity. Study 4 (adults) found that induction of awe increased state multicultural identity and experience via state curious emotions and then state curious personality.We found that experiencing more awe can be a tool for enhancing the multicultural experience. The discussion focuses on the implications for future research on awe and multicultural experiences.

The present study evaluated the effect of Shenqi Jiangtang Granules(SJG) combined with western medicine on the adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM). PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP were searched for clinical randomized controlled trials(RCTs) of SJG combined with western medicine against GDM. The included RCTs were assessed for risks using the assessment criteria recommended by the Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 12.0 and RevMan 5.3. Nineteen RCTs were included, with 1 647 patients involved, including 824 cases treated with western medicine alone, and 823 cases treated with SJG combined with western medicine. The course of treatment ranged from 2 to 12 weeks. As revealed by Meta-analysis results, compared with western medicine treatment alone, SJG combined with western medicine could reduce the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage(OR=0.23, 95%CI[0.10, 0.53], P=0.000 6), gestational hypertension(OR=0.24, 95%CI[0.13, 0.45], Plt;0.000 01), polyhydramnios(OR=0.24, 95%CI[0.12, 0.45], Plt;0.000 1), premature rupture of membranes(OR=0.20, 95%CI[0.09, 0.45], Plt;0.000 1), cesarean section(OR=0.40, 95%CI[0.29, 0.55], Plt;0.000 01), macrosomia(OR=0.19, 95%CI[0.08, 0.47], Plt;0.000 3), neonatal asphyxia(OR=0.22, 95%CI[0.12, 0.40], Plt;0.000 01), premature delivery(OR=0.19, 95%CI[0.12, 0.30], Plt;0.000 01), proteinuria(OR=0.19, 95%CI[0.06, 0.58], P=0.004) and hypoglycemia(OR=0.28, 95%CI[0.16, 0.50], Plt;0.000 1). The funnel plots and Egger's test showed that except macrosomia, there was no significant publication bias in the results of other indicators. Therefore, as indicated by the findings, SJG combined with western medicine can reduce the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in GDM patients. However, due to the uneven quality of the included trials, the clinical application of this protocol requires caution.

Licorice is a multi-purpose plant raw material, which is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and food industry, cosmetic industry, etc. It has a wide application in various countries and regions around the world.This paper studied the trade situation of licorice-related products among major countries and regions in the world, providing a practical reference for the sustainable development of the global licorice industry.The licorice trade data of licorice-related products came from the United Nations Commodity Trade Database and China Customs data. We analyzed the world's major trading countries by using international market share (IMS), trade competitiveness index (TC), average export price (AEP) and average import price (AIP), and analyzed global trade flows with chord diameter.Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Iran mainly export licorice raw materials and low value-added products. China is both a producer and a consumer of licorice raw materials and licorice products. The processing trade of the licorice industry in China has advantages, and the structure of import and export trade has been continuously improved. The United States, France, Germany and other developed countries are still important consumers who rely on the intellectual property rights and brand advantages of licorice products, which have stronger global trade radiation capacity.China's trade structure has been optimized and its industrial competitiveness has been enhanced. China's experience can be used for reference by other countries, especially those with rich licorice resources among the SCO members.

Asgard archaea are widely distributed in anaerobic environments. Previous studies revealed the potential capability of Asgard archaea to utilize various organic substrates including proteins, carbohydrates, fatty acids, amino acids and hydrocarbons, suggesting that Asgard archaea play an important role in sediment carbon cycling. Here, we describe a previously unrecognized archaeal phylum, Hermodarchaeota, affiliated with the Asgard superphylum. The genomes of these archaea were recovered from metagenomes generated from mangrove sediments, and were found to encode alkyl/benzyl-succinate synthases and their activating enzymes that are similar to those identified in alkane-degrading sulfate-reducing bacteria. Hermodarchaeota also encode enzymes potentially involved in alkyl-coenzyme A and benzoyl-coenzyme A oxidation, the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway and nitrate reduction. These results indicate that members of this phylum have the potential to strictly anaerobically degrade alkanes and aromatic compounds, coupling the reduction of nitrate. By screening Sequence Read Archive, additional genes encoding 16S rRNA and alkyl/benzyl-succinate synthases analogous to those in Hermodarchaeota were identified in metagenomic datasets from a wide range of marine and freshwater sediments. These findings suggest that Asgard archaea capable of degrading alkanes and aromatics via formation of alkyl/benzyl-substituted succinates are ubiquitous in sediments.

Disrupted redox status primarily contributes to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI). NRF2, the endogenous antioxidant regulator, might provide therapeutic benefits. Dihydrotanshinone-I (DT) is an active component in Salvia miltiorrhiza with NRF2 induction potency. This study seeks to validate functional links between NRF2 and cardioprotection of DT and to investigate the molecular mechanism particularly emphasizing on NRF2 cytoplasmic/nuclear translocation. DT potently induced NRF2 nuclear accumulation, ameliorating post-reperfusion injuries via redox alterations. Abrogated cardioprotection in NRF2-deficient mice and cardiomyocytes strongly supports NRF2-dependent cardioprotection of DT. Mechanistically, DT phosphorylated NRF2 at Ser40, rendering its nuclear-import by dissociating from KEAP1 and inhibiting degradation. Importantly, we identified PKC-δ-(Thr505) phosphorylation as primary upstream event triggering NRF2-(Ser40) phosphorylation. Knockdown of PKC-δ dramatically retained NRF2 in cytoplasm, convincing its pivotal role in mediating NRF2 nuclear-import. NRF2 activity was further enhanced by activated PKB/GSK-3β signaling via nuclear-export signal blockage independent of PKC-δ activation. By demonstrating independent modulation of PKC-δ and PKB/GSK-3β/Fyn signaling, we highlight the ability of DT to exploit both nuclear import and export regulation of NRF2 in treating reperfusion injury harboring redox homeostasis alterations. Coactivation of PKC and PKB phenocopied cardioprotection of DT in vitro and in vivo, further supporting the potential applicability of this rationale.

Background Simple hepatic cysts are relatively common in adults, and mostly appear as asymptomatic incidental radiologic findings. Occasionally, a large cyst will cause symptoms. Elevations in the serum biomarkers protein induced by vitamin K absence (PIVKA)-II, cancer antigen (CA) 12-5, and CA19-9 are often associated with malignant tumors in the liver or bile ducts. This is the first report to describe a case of hepatic cyst with elevated levels of PIVKA-II and CA12-5. Case summary An 84-year-old Chinese woman was admitted with gradual abdominal distension. Her symptoms started 1 year ago, and she had poor appetite and a weight loss of 5 kg within the past 2 wk. She denied any symptoms associated with abdominal pain, fever and chills, nausea and vomiting, etc. The abdomen was enlarged, more in the right upper quadrant, without tenderness. Laboratory examination showed significantly increased serum levels of PIVKA-II, CA12-5, and CA19-9. A computed tomography scan revealed multiple round cysts in the liver with clear boundaries. The largest cyst was 20.1 cm × 12.2 cm × 19.6 cm in size, located in the right lobe of the liver with mild dilatation of the intrahepatic bile duct, but there was no contrast enhancement. Percutaneous drainage on the largest hepatic cyst and polycinnamol sclerosing agent injection into the cyst cavity were performed. After treatment, the patient's symptoms relieved and the elevated serum tumor makers reduced to the normal levels dramatically. Conclusion The present report identifies an unusual case of a giant hepatic cyst with marked elevation of serum tumor marker levels of PIVKA-II, CA12-5, and CA19-9. After treatment, these three serum markers dramatically decreased to normal levels. The mechanisms for the elevation of these tumor markers may be as follows: (1) A giant hepatic cyst compresses the liver, causing injury to the hepatocytes, which may lead to secretion of a large amount of PIVKA-II; and (2) Some tumor-associated antigens, such as carcinoembryonic antigen, CA19-9, CA12-5, and CA15-3, are expressed on inflammatory cells.

Nowadays, ferroelectric polymer composites are desirable for novel electrocaloric cooling technology. Ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) thin films with the different electronegativity (EN) rare earth fillers Erbium (Er) and Dysprosium (Dy) have been studied in this work. Solution casting method was used to fabricate the thin films. The electroactive β phase on both crystalline and amorphous regions of PVDF-HFP was intensified by this filler. However, the stronger EN filler Er induced the β phase on crystalline region more strongly than Dy, resulting in total crystalline region reduction along with dielectric constant. On increasing the filler loading, the Curie temperature decreased dramatically by 40 °C with decreasing maximum negative temperature change (∆Tmax). The best performance in the Curie temperature reduction was found with 1 wt% Er filler. This reduced the Curie temperature and increased the dielectric constant related with micro-phase structure and interfacial charge mobility that will be discussed for future electrocaloric cooling applications.

As a clean and renewable energy, solar energy has drawn people’s attention to mitigate the energy crisis around the world. A solar photovoltaic (PV) system is a reliable way to collect solar energy...

Contentment is an emotion that arises from the perception of completeness in life. Through a series of validation studies, the purpose of this work was to develop a scale of dispositional contentment, The Positive Emotion Assessment of Contentment Experience (PEACE) Scale. The PEACE Scale demonstrated favorable psychometric properties, including single factor structure, high internal consistency (α = .93), temporal reliability (r = .86), and construct and predictive validity. Scores on the PEACE Scale were positively correlated with all Big Five personality traits except for neuroticism. Scores also correlated positively with unconditional self-acceptance, and negatively with depression, anxiety, and stress. In addition, high levels of contentment were predictive of lower materialism and greed. Potential uses of the scale are discussed.

This work investigates the effect of graphene filler in epoxy resin with the purpose of developing an improved thermally conductive epoxy encapsulation material for electronic devices. The findings in this work show that the thermal conductivity increases by a factor of about 1.6 times with 0.1 wt% loading of graphene in epoxy resin. The increase in the rate of surface charge verifies an improved anti-static property. On examining the phase resolved partial discharge patterns, it is observed that the inception voltage and the number of partial discharge pulses is lower for the filled epoxy compared to that of the neat epoxy. The increase in the rate of surface charge decay indicates an improved anti-static property. The findings in this paper provide a reference in the development of materials with improved thermal conductivity and anti-static properties for graphene/epoxy materials for use in the packaging of electronic devices.

When one estimates the importance of alternatives under rational choice, it is natural to avoid self-contradiction from the viewpoint of psychology. Due to the vagueness encountered in a manner analogous to human thought, decision makers always exhibit limited rationality. The judgements could be expressed as interval-valued comparison matrices within the framework of analytic hierarchy process. In this study, for additive reciprocal matrices (ARMs), three axiomatic properties are proposed to characterize the additive consistency and the multiplicative consistency under fully rational behavior. For interval additive reciprocal matrices (IARMs), the concept of weak consistency is used to capture the limited rationality. By weakening some axiomatic properties of consistent ARMs, the reasonable properties of IARMs with weak consistency are presented. Two kinds of IARMs satisfying the properties of weak consistency are analyzed and some comparisons are offered. It is observed that the consistency of ARMs can be defined exactly and characterized by using the axiomatic properties. The properties of characterizing the consistency degree of IARMs should be captured by weakening the axiomatic ones of consistent ARMs. The proposed approach visualizes the development process starting from cardinal consistency of numeric-valued preference relations to weak consistency of interval-valued comparison matrices.

The merging behavior in urban expressway weaving section affects the operation efficiency of the weaving area and reduce the efficiency of expressway traffic. This article obtains the video data, selects the merging position and speed of the merging vehicle for analysis. Clustering analysis method is used to evaluate the vehicle's merging position. The contour coefficient is used for evaluate the results. Speed analysis result shows that the optimal cluster number is 3. 89.04% of the vehicle speeds are within the ±2.5mꞏs-1 interval of the main line speed, 42.5% of vehicles merged at a speed lower than the main line speed, and 57.5% of vehicles had a speed higher than the main line traffic speed. According to the above analysis, the merging behavior of expressway interweaving area is classified. And choose the support vector machine algorithm to predict it. The results show that the accuracy of the SVM model is above 78%, indicating that the SVM model can better predict the merging behavior of vehicles in the interweaving area on the ramp.

In two-phase intersections, there is serious conflict between straight-going vehicles and left-turning vehicles. It is particularly important to set up a dedicated left-turn lane reasonably. In order to provide the conditions for setting the dedicated left-turn lane, this article is based on the theory of dispersible gaps to determine the arrival rate and turn left. The vehicle ratio is a variable, and the delay of the two-phase left turn is obtained. Respectively established the rotation organization mode in the case of Erlang distribution arrival. And take the geometric design and signal control of a certain intersection in Xi'an as an example for delay analysis. The calculation results show that: the total delay increases with the increase in the arrival rate and the proportion of left-turning vehicles; the straight-left shared lane is suitable for smaller traffic demand, and the left-turn dedicated lane is suitable for larger traffic demand. When the arrival rate is not greater than 0.12pcu/s or arrival rate is 0.12~0.24pcu/s and the ratio of left-turning vehicles is not greater than 0.2, it is recommended to set up a straight-left shared lane; or the arrival rate is 0.24~0.37pcu/s and the ratio of left-turning vehicles does not exceed 0.1, it is recommended to set up a straight-left shared lane too. When the arrival rate is When it is 0.12~0.24 and the ratio of left-turning vehicles is greater than 0.2 or the arrival rate is greater than 0.37pcu/s, it is recommended to set up a dedicated left-turn lane.

We investigate the properties of the equation of state (EOS), the quark fraction, and the isospin asymmetry for strange quark matter (SQM) under constant magnetic field within the quasiparticle model. Our results indicate that the effect of the magnetic field is important for the properties of strange quark matter, and the recently discovered heavy compact stars PSR $\mathrm{J}0348+0432$, MSR $\text{J0740}+6620$, PSR $\text{J2215}+5135$, and especially the GW190814s secondary component ${m}_{2}$ can be well described as quark stars within the quasiparticle model under magnetic fields by approximately using spherically symmetric Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov (TOV) equations.

Driven by the development of internet technology, higher requirements on information materials and data storage devices were demanded. To improve the work efficiency and performance of the new generation of information materials and data storage devices, the magnetoelectric (ME) coupling and storage mechanism of magnetoelectric composites deserve more attention. Here, we explored the influence of applied magnetic fields on the output voltage on a metal–insulation–metal (MIM) sandwich composite for realizing the magnetoelectric memory by experiments and modeling. It is found that the DC magnetic field (Hdc) and the output voltage of the polyvinylidene fluoride film are linearly correlated. At a frequency of 1 kHz, the magnetoelectric voltage coefficient is 60.71 mV cm–1 Oe–1, which is evidently larger than that of other film materials. From this work, we can conclude that the MIM sandwich composite could generate higher magnetoelectric voltage under the AC magnetic field (Hac) with higher frequency, which could be used as the magnetoelectric memory device, and provides significant support for improving the performance of magnetoelectric memory devices and the whole internet system.