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Modular multilevel converter (MMC) is widely used in high-power motor drive, energy storage, and flexible dc power transmission and distribution system, and the parameter identification for submodule (SM) is essentially important for reliable operation of MMC. This article proposes a digital twin (DT)-based method for model construction and parameter identification of the MMC half-bridge SM (HBSM). First, the DT model of the HBSM is built, which consists of a simplified MMC SM equivalent model and an arm current simulator-based mission profile emulator (MPE). Second, a modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) algorithm is proposed to achieve the online identification of internal parameters in the HBSM, further achieving the real–virtual interaction feedback for real-time sensing of the operation state of the HBSM. Finally, a nonintrusive DT MPE for the HBSM is constructed in MATLAB. The simulation and experimental results show that the average errors of the actual and model-calculated capacitor voltage values are within 0.1%, and the parameter identification results combined error is less than 1%. The DT model established by the proposed method can effectively identify the parameters of MMC SMs under different operating conditions.

Two deep ultraviolet (DUV) hydroxylated-alkali-metal borates, NaRbB10O14(OH)4(I) and Na3CsB10O16(OH)2(II), have been successfully synthesized by a high-temperature solution and solvothermal method. Both of them feature [B5Om(OH)n] units, which form chains for (I) and bilayers with nine-membered boron rings for (II). It is worth noting that both compounds exhibit very wide theoretical band gaps of 7.33 and 6.55 eV for (I) and (II), respectively, which denotes that they should have desirable DUV transmittance ability. Moreover, the title compounds have moderate birefringence owing to the p-conjugated [BO3], [BO2(OH)] groups, corresponding to 0.070 for (I) and 0.054 for (II) at 1064 nm. The structure characteristics and optical properties were also investigated and discussed. The results make it beneficial for exploring novel DUV hydroxylated borate optical crystals.

About one-third of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have a risk of occurrence and chemoresistance, making survival rates abysmal. We aim to evaluate the role of F-box/WD repeat-containing protein 7 (FBXW7) to further develop efficient treatment of chemoresistant OSCC.

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is an attractive thermal-control material exhibiting low thermal hysteresis and excellent temperature cycling performance. However, the deficiencies including weak spectral shift and narrow-band absorption during insulating-metallic transitions hinder its application in optoelectronics. The transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can provide a promising solution with their high dielectric properties and robust optical coupling. Here, we report a MoS2/VO2/Au/Si metasurface and investigate the dynamic tunability of its optical absorbance and structural color upon heating via spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements and numerical simulations. The first-principles calculations reveal that the dielectric absorptions of metallic and insulating VO2oppositely response to temperature, closely related to the difference in the transitions of O-2p states. Finite-element simulations reveal that the introduction of MoS2nanostructure induces more absorption peaks by 2∼3 and achieves strong absorption in the full wavelength range of visible light. The Fabry–Perot (F–P) resonance is the critical factor for the optimized optical absorption. The structural color is sensitive to environmental perturbations at high-εstate of VO2, lower oblique incidence angles, and heights of MoS2. This work seeks to facilitate the spectral modulation of phase change metamaterials and can be extended to photoelectric detection and temperature sensing applications.

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) has been shown to play an important role in the immune system. This study aimed to investigate the changes in the level of IL-21 in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies against myeloperoxidase (MPO-ANCA)-associated vasculitis (MPO-AAV), as well as explore its influence on disease activity and the potential mechanism. Flow cytometry was performed to detect the percentage of follicular helper T cells (Tfh) among CD4+T cells (Tfh%); the percentage of Tfh-expressing inducible costimulator (ICOS) among Tfh cells (ICOS+Tfh%); the percentage of Tfh-expressing programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) among Tfh cells (PD-1+Tfh%); and mean fluorescence intensity of Tfh-expressing ICOS or PD-1 in the peripheral blood. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the levels of serum IL-21 and MPO-ANCA. The Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score was used to evaluate disease activity. Our results revealed that the level of IL-21 in the patient group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group (1324.0 ± 812.4 pg/mL vs. 704.2 ± 266.3 pg/mL, P< 0.001), and it was an independent factor affecting the disease activity (P= 0.022). Thus, blocking the activity of IL-21 may represent a potential novel target for the future treatment of MPO-AAV.

Nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has been a fatal and refractory disease worldwide. Novel therapeutic developments based on fundamental investigations of anticancer mechanisms underlie substantial foundations to win the fight against cancer diseases. In this study, we isolated a natural product fusaricide (FCD) from an endophytic fungus of Lycium barbarum, identified as Epicoccum sp. For the first time, we discovered that FCD potently inhibited proliferation in a variety of human NSCLC cell lines, with relatively less toxicity to normal cells. Our study exhibited that FCD induced apoptosis, caused DNA damage and cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, and activated caspase-3 as well as other apoptosis-related factors in human NSCLC NCI-H460 cells. FCD was proven to be an iron chelator that actively decreased levels of cellular labile iron pool in NCI-H460 cells in our study. FeCl3supplement reversed FCD-induced apoptosis. The upregulation of transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) and downregulation of ferritin heavy chain (FTH) expression were observed after FCD treatment. In summary, our study highlighted the potential anticancer effects of FCD against human NSCLCs and demonstrated that the FCD-mediated apoptosis depended on binding to intracellular iron.

This study examined whether patients' negative metastereotypes undermine their perception of doctor–patient relations through raising their intergroup anxiety and decreasing their trust level. One hundred twenty‐four outpatients from a Chinese hospital participated in this study; they were randomly assigned to either the negative metastereotype activation (NMSA) or the non‐NMSA condition according to different instructions. Then, they were asked to complete the Intergroup Anxiety, Patient Trust, and Doctor–Patient Relations Scale. Patients' negative metastereotypes undermined doctor–patient relations through the mediation of intergroup anxiety and patient trust (i.e., the independent mediation effect of intergroup anxiety and patient trust) and the serial mediation effect of intergroup anxiety and patient trust. These findings suggest that future research consider intergroup anxiety and patient trust in developing interventions to improve doctor–patient relations.

Fast, robust, and high-throughput mass spectrometry-based serum proteomic pipelines have great potential to yield information for biomarker discovery and daily clinical practice. Here, we developed a simple and rapid sample preparation (RSP) workflow by reducing the classical pretreatment time from overnight to less than 1.5 h in an ordinary system. In HeLa cell lysates and serum samples, the number of proteins and tryptic peptides generated using the RSP was comparable to that generated using conventional methods. For fast scanning of the serum proteome, the RSP-supported pipeline could complete a test in less than 2 h with 30 min of LC–MS/MS analysis. Nearly 390 proteins spanning 8 magnitudes of abundance range were identified with high reproducibility, containing over 90 cancer-associated proteins and over 50 FDA-approved biomarkers. For fast assay development, eight candidate biomarker peptides for cardiovascular disease (CVD) were quantified by MRM with high accuracy (CV% <10). After a simple highly abundant protein removal, a deep serum proteome of over 1400 proteins was reached. By analyzing the depleted serum in DIA acquisition mode, over 700 proteins were quantified. The differentially expressed proteins could help us unambiguously distinguish the serum samples from healthy people and patients with pancreatic cancer (PC). Potential biomarkers for PC were also found. The new RSP method, which is rapid and simple, meets the demands of both deep mining and fast analysis of serum proteins. We believe that it will be widely used in serum protein studies and accelerate the transformation from biomarker discovery to clinical application.

Precise and automated analysis of site-specific O-glycosylation on single proteins is crucial for comprehensive characterization of some important glycoproteins, such as tumor biomarkers and recombinant drug proteins. Mass spectrometry has been proven to be a powerful technique for protein sequencing and N-glycosylation analysis. However, challenges remain in developing computational tools for intact O-glycopeptide analysis, which has greatly hindered the development of mass-spectrometry-based O-glycosylation analysis. Herein, an integrated strategy together with a dedicated automated computational tool termed AOGP was developed for intact O-glycopeptide analysis on single proteins. AOGP utilized de novosequencing for O-glycans and a database search strategy for peptide backbones. The false discovery rate (FDR) of the identification results was controlled and validated by a mixed Gaussian distribution estimation method. AOGP exhibited superior performance in identifying intact O-glycopeptides of the human erythropoietin with a total of 188 O-glycopeptide spectra reported under 1% FDR. AOGP is developed in Python, is fully open-sourced, and is equipped with a user-friendly interface. Such an easy-operating and robust tool would greatly facilitate O-glycosylation analysis on single proteins in tumor biomarker and recombinant drug protein development.

To improve electro-catalytic degradation of phenol in wastewater and enhance the mass transfer, self-made high-gravity electro-catalytic reactor with Ti/RuO2-IrO2-SnO2anodes was developed for the degradation of phenol in the high-gravity field. Under the optimal operating conditions, the phenol removal efficiency reached 100% after 100 min electro-catalytic degradation, and reached 96.32% in the high-gravity field which increased by 10.93% compared with that in the normal gravity field after 60 min electro-catalytic degradation. For about the same phenol removal efficiency, the electro- catalytic time was 33.33% shorter in the high-gravity field than that in the normal gravity field. Results showed that the reason for increasing phenol removal efficiency and reducing electro-catalytic time is the fast generation rate of hydroxyl radicals, and the enhanced electro-catalytic degradation and kinetics of phenol by the high-gravity field. The study provides an efficient and environment friendly way for elimination of phenol from wastewater.

Background: RNA methylation is a widely known post-transcriptional regulation which exists in many cancer and immune system diseases. However, the potential role and crosstalk of five types RNA methylation regulators in diabetic nephropathy (DN) and immune microenvironment remain unclear. Methods: The mRNA expression of 37 RNA modification regulators and RNA modification regulators related genes were identified in 112 samples from 5 Gene Expression Omnibus datasets. Nonnegative Matrix Factorization clustering method was performed to determine RNA modification patterns. The ssGSEA algorithms and the expression of human leukocyte antigen were employed to assess the immune microenvironment characteristics. Risk model based on differentially expression genes responsible for the modification regulators was constructed to evaluate its predictive capability in DN patients. Furthermore, the results were validated by using immunofluorescence co-localizations and protein experiments in vitro. Results: We found 24 RNA methylation regulators were significant differently expressed in glomeruli in DN group compared with control group. Four methylation-related genes and six RNA regulators were introduced into riskScore model using univariate Logistic regression and integrated LASSO regression, which could precisely distinguish the DN and healthy individuals. Group with high-risk score was associated with high immune infiltration. Three distinct RNA modification patterns were identified, which has significant differences in immune microenvironment, biological pathway and eGFR. Validation analyses showed the METTL3, ADAR1, DNMT1 were upregulated whereas YTHDC1 was downregulated in DN podocyte cell lines comparing with cells cultured by the normal glucose. Conclusion: Our study reveals that RNA methylation regulators and immune infiltration regulation play critical roles in the pathogenesis of DN. The bioinformatic analyses combine with verification in vitro could provide robust evidence for identification of predictive RNA methylation regulators in DN.

In this work, magnetite (Fe3O4) nanomaterial was efficiently separated from the complex matrix of coal fly ash by a novel cyclic magnetic extraction device. Separated magnetite nanomaterial was selectively purified by a simple pretreatment method. The purified magnetite nanomaterial with particle size distribution of 40–400 nm was prepared for catalyzing mesotrione degradation in the bio-electro Fenton process. Under the optimal conditions, mesotrione was rapidly degraded at the rate of 1.6 mg/L/h for cathodic Fenton oxidation, which was 3.2 and 5.3 times higher than that of microbial electrochemical degradation in the microbial fuel cell anode (0.5 mg/L/h) and traditional microbial fermentation (0.3 mg/L/h), respectively. With the unique crystal structure, CFA-recycled magnetite nanomaterial exhibited stronger catalysis performance in mesotrione degradation than the commercial magnetite nanomaterial. Meanwhile, the loss rate of CFA-recycled magnetite nanomaterial was only 2.1 ± 0.4% compared with that of 20.8 ± 1.4% for commercial magnetite nanomaterial after three cycles, indicating CFA-recycled magnetite nanomaterial shows significant chemical stability and reusability. This work demonstrated the feasibility of CFA-recycled magnetite nanomaterial as an efficient, low-cost, and environmentally friendly catalyst for develop green and sustainable bio-electro Fenton process.

Protein sialylation is ubiquitous and essential in a wide range of biological processes. Herein, a mass defect-based chemical-directed proteomics method (MdCDPM) was presented for targeted analysis of intact sialylglycopeptides (SGPs). The process starts by specific oxidation of dihydroxy in sialic acid to aldehyde, which was then chemically labeled by two arginine isotopologues (Arg-15N4and Arg-D4, differs by 36 mDa). The equally mixed precursor partners, spacing tens of mDa apart, enable the direct recognition of SGPs in MS1 level and benefit the subsequent targeted MS2 characterization. The mass envelope of two labeled forms falling into a narrow m/zwindow strengthens recognition uniqueness greatly, and the proposed 1:1 intensity ratio of doublets will not be readily distorted. More important, such subtle mass differences permit multiple sialic acids labeling without additional complexity of precursor patterns. Also, the partner m/zshifts detail the number of sialic acids contained in the precursor species. By applying MdCDPM, femtomole quantities of SGPs could be detected from total cell lysates, even at a signal-to-noise ratio of as low as 3:1. In addition, assays were performed to estimate the false positive rate and demonstrated high confidence of MdCDPM. Furthermore, it was designed and successfully exploited to analyze SGPs in human serum, which highlighted the feasibility of this strategy for biological applications.

The proper response to various abiotic stresses is essential for plants' survival to overcome their sessile nature, especially for perennial trees with very long-life cycles. However, in conifers, the molecular mechanisms that coordinate multiple abiotic stress responses remain elusive. Here, the transcriptome response to various abiotic stresses like salt, cold, drought, heat shock and osmotic were systematically detected in Pinus tabuliformis(P. tabuliformis) seedlings. We found that four transcription factors were commonly induced by all tested stress treatments, while PtNAC3and PtZFP30were highly up-regulated and co-expressed. Unexpectedly, the exogenous hormone treatment assays and the content of the endogenous hormone indicates that the upregulation of PtNAC3and PtZFP30are mediated by ethylene. Time-course assay showed that the treatment by ethylene immediate precursor, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), activated the expression of PtNAC3and PtZFP30within 8 hours. We further confirm that the PtNAC3 can directly bind to the PtZFP30promoter region and form a cascade. Overexpression of PtNAC3enhanced unified abiotic stress tolerance without growth penalty in transgenicArabidopsisand promoted reproductive success under abiotic stress by shortening the lifespan, suggesting it has great potential as a biological tool applied to plant breeding for abiotic stress tolerance. This study provides novel insights into the hub nodes of the abiotic stresses response network as well as the environmental adaptation mechanism in conifers, and provides a potential biofortification tool to enhance plant unified abiotic stress tolerance.

PCR is a vital tool in modern biology; however, it can be costly owing to the price of commercial DNA purification kits. DNA purification is time consuming and rare material used for DNA template purification during transgenic mutant screening can be risky. There is, therefore, an urgent need to develop alternative approaches. Here, we describe a convenient and efficient method for direct PCR amplification of plant tissues. In this method, plant tissue samples are obtained using micropipettes and, after incubation with a casein alkaline solution, are used directly as DNA templates for PCR. In addition, 20 mM ammonium sulfate and a high-fidelity DNA polymerase fused to sso7d (a small DNA-binding protein) are essential components of this system. We applied this method to tartary buckwheat, which is rich in secondary metabolites, and we found this method to be effective in maize, wheat, Arabidopsis, and tobacco. All the steps of the protocol can be carried out on a thermal cycler. Moreover, the minor injuries to the plants when collecting samples have no effect on their growth and survival. Our new protocol offers a considerable simplification of present direct PCR approaches and it will be particularly useful for screening transgenic mutants and trace amounts of precious materials.

Plastid-to-nucleus retrograde signaling coordinates nuclear gene expression with chloroplast developmental status and is essential for the photoautotrophic lifestyle of plants. Previous studies have established that tetrapyrrole biosynthesis (TPB) and plastid gene expression (PGE) play essential roles in plastid retrograde signaling during early chloroplast biogenesis; however, their functional relationship remains unknown. In this study, we generated a series of rice TPB-related gun(genome uncoupled) mutants and systematically analyzed their effects on nuclear and plastid gene expression under normal conditions or when subjected to treatments with norflurazon (NF; a noncompetitive inhibitor of carotenoid biosynthesis) and/or lincomycin (Lin; a specific inhibitor of plastid translation). We show that under NF treatment, expression of plastid-encoded polymerase (PEP)-transcribed genes is significantly reduced in the wild type but is derepressed in the TPB-related gunmutants. We further demonstrate that the derepressed expression of PEP-transcribed genes may be caused by increased expression of the PEP core subunit and nuclear-encoded sigma factors and by elevated copy numbers of plastid genome per haploid genome. In addition, we show that expression of photosynthesis-associated nuclear genes (PhANGs) and PEP-transcribed genes is correlated in the rice TPB-related gunmutants, with or without NF or Lin treatment. A similar correlation between PhANGsand PGE is also observed in the Arabidopsis gun4and gun5mutants. Moreover, we show that increased expression of PEP-transcribed plastid genes is necessary for the gunphenotype in NF-treated TPB-related gunmutants. Further, we provide evidence that these TPB-related GUNgenes act upstream of GUN1in the regulation of retrograde signaling. Taken together, our results suggest that the TPB-related GUNgenes control retrograde plastid signaling by regulating the PGE-dependent retrograde signaling pathway.

The objective of the study was to compare the effects of orthodontic micro-implant anchorage (MIA) and conventional extraoral arch anchorage (EAA) on tooth structure and oral inflammatory response in patients with Class II Division I malocclusion.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common and fatal forms of hematopoietic malignancies. Here, we describe a mouse MLL-AF9_AML model to investigate AML. We have optimized the protocols for retrovirus infection, bone marrow transplantation (BMT), and leukemia monitoring to create a stable mouse model. In particular, we have used two rounds of BMT to enhance stability and efficiency. This model can be used to conduct drug administration and/or other interventions easily.

A rapid, sensitive and selective method for determining phthalanilic acid residue in bean, fruits and vegetables based on a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) extraction procedure was developed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The samples were extracted by acidified acetonitrile (0.4% (v/v) formic acid) and simultaneous liquid–liquid partitioning formed by adding anhydrous magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) and sodium chloride (NaCl). The extract was then cleaned up by dispersive-SPE using florisil and graphitized carbon black (GCB) as selective sorbent. Parameters including the matrix effect, linearity, precision, accuracy and stability were undertaken. The method showed good linearity in the concentration range of 10–1000 μg L−1, with correlation coefficients ≥0.997. Recovery studies were performed at three fortification levels of 10, 100 and 1000 μg kg−1in soybean, apple, grape, cucumber, tomato and pepper. Further optimization of sample preparation and determination achieved recoveries ranging between 70.1% and 105.3% for the analyte with 0.7–14.9% intra-day relative standard deviations (RSD) and 0.2–8% inter-day RSD at three spiked levels (10, 100 and 1000 μg kg−1). The limits of detection (LOD) were below 1 μg kg−1, and the limits of quantification (LOQ) did not exceed 3 μg kg−1. The effects of two columns on the separation were also investigated. The method is demonstrated to be convenient and reliable for determination of phthalanilic acid in bean, fruits and vegetables. With the developed method, 60 samples of commercial fruit products (grape, apple), soybean and vegetables (pepper, tomato, cucumber) were analyzed. Phthalanilic acid was not detected in all samples.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a genetically heterogeneous and frequently fatal malignancy. The ten-eleven translocation (TET)-mediated DNA demethylation is known to be critically associated with AML pathogenesis. Through chemical compound screening, we find that the opioid receptor agonist, loperamide hydrochloride (OPA1), significantly suppresses AML cell viability. The potential therapeutic effects of opioid receptor agonists, especially OPA1, are verified in AML cells in vitroand mouse and human AML models in vivo. OPA1-induced activation of OPRM1 signaling enhances the transcription of TET2and thus activates both catalytic-dependent and -independent functions of TET2. Notably, AMLs with TET2mutations or chemotherapy resistance are sensitive to OPA1 as well. Our results reveal the OPRM1-TET2regulatory axis in AML and suggest that opioid agonists, particularly OPA1, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved antidiarrheal drug, have therapeutic potential in AML, especially in TET2-mutated and chemotherapy-resistant AMLs, which have a poor prognosis.

Pollution primarily caused by NO has a severe impact on environment and health, and researchers are now actively investigating the removal of NO using CO as a reducing agent. Catalytic removal of NO using CO usually occurs between 200°C and 400°C, and methods for preparing catalysts with good catalytic activity that can scavenge NO at low temperatures and their reaction mechanism remain challenging. In this study, we derived a catalyst based on two-dimensional hydrotalcite and attained 96.6% conversion of NO at only 150°C. The CuCoAl-LDO catalyst exhibited a high specific surface area of 125.5 m2/g, and its mechanism was studied extensively via material characterization, in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. Results showed that Al doping could effectively augment the specific surface area of the Cu-based catalyst to expose more active sites. Furthermore, Cu+-□-Co3+surface synergistic oxygen vacancies are formed on the surface of the catalyst owing to the synergistic effect between copper and cobalt, which can promote the redox cycle of copper and cobalt species. The presence of Cu+–CO species is essential for improving the activity of the CuCoAl-LDO catalyst at low temperatures. The proposed reaction mechanism of scavenging NO using CO on the surface of the CuCoAl-LDO catalyst offers new ideas for developing highly efficient CO-selective catalytic reduction denitrification catalysts at low temperatures.

DNA-wrapped single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) conjugates have distinct optical properties leading to their use in biosensing and imaging applications. A critical limitation in the development of DNA–SWNT sensors is the current inability to predict unique DNA sequences that confer a strong analyte-specific optical response to these sensors. Here, near-infrared (nIR) fluorescence response data sets for ∼100 DNA–SWNT conjugates, narrowed down by a selective evolution protocol starting from a pool of ∼1010unique DNA–SWNT candidates, are used to train machine learning (ML) models to predict DNA sequences with strong optical response to neurotransmitter serotonin. First, classifier models based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) are trained on sequence features to classify DNA ligands as either high response or low response to serotonin. Second, support vector machine (SVM) regression models are trained to predict relative optical response values for DNA sequences. Finally, we demonstrate with validation experiments that integrating the predictions of ensembles of the highest quality neural network classifiers (convolutional or artificial) and SVM regression models leads to the best predictions of both high and low response sequences. With our ML approaches, we discovered five DNA–SWNT sensors with higher fluorescence intensity response to serotonin than obtained previously. Overall, the explored ML approaches, shown to predict useful DNA sequences, can be used for discovery of DNA-based sensors and nanobiotechnologies.

Metabolic reprogramming is critical for tumorigenesis. Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) is overexpressed in lung carcinoma cells and plays a critical role in the Warburg effect, making the enzyme a research hotspot for anticancer drug development. Cynaropicrin (CYN), a natural sesquiterpene lactone compound from artichoke, has received increasing consideration due to its consumable esteem and pharmacological properties. Our data reveal that CYN not only inhibited the purified PKM2 activity but also decreased the cellular PKM2 expression in A549 cells. The inhibition of PKM2 leads to the upregulation of p53 and the downregulation of the DNA repair enzyme poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and subsequently causes the cell cycle arrest. Additionally, CYN inhibits the interaction of PKM2 and Nrf2, resulting in the impairment of cellular antioxidant capacity, induction of oxidative stress, and mitochondrial damages. Overexpression of PKM2 attenuates the CYN-induced DNA damage, mitochondrial fission, and cell viability. Thus, targeting PKM2 provides an original mechanism for understanding the pharmacological impact of CYN and assists in the further development of CYN as an anticancer agent.

The heterogeneity and low abundance of protein glycosylation present challenging barriers to the analysis of intact glycopeptides, which is key to comprehensively understanding the role of glycosylation in an organism. Efficient and specific enrichment of intact glycopeptides could help greatly with this problem. Here, we propose a new enrichment strategy using a boronic acid (BA)-functionalized mesoporous graphene–silica composite (denoted as GO@mSiO2–GLYMO–APB) for isolating intact glycopeptides from complex biological samples. The merits of this composite, including high surface area and synergistic effect from size exclusion functionality of mesoporous material, hydrophilic interaction of silica, and the reversible covalent binding with BA, enable the effective and specific enrichment of both intact N- and O-glycopeptides. The results from the enrichment performance of the strategy evaluated by standard glycoproteins and the application to global N- and O-glycosylation analyses in human serum indicate the robustness and potential of the strategy for intact glycopeptide analysis.

Insecticidal toxicity of extracts from leaves, stems, and bark of Torricellia tiliifolia de Candolle against adult Musca domestica L. and larval Aedes albopictus (Skuse) was evaluated in this study. Bark extract proved to be the most toxic to these two species with the chloroform fraction the most active with LC50 values of 306.15 µg/g and 23.05 µg/ml for the house fly and mosquito, respectively. At the same time, water fractions against M. domestica and petroleum ether against Ae. albopictus were comparatively less toxic. Two compounds from T. tiliifolia extracts, torrilliolide and torricelline, were highly toxic to both species. The LC50 values of torrilliolide and torricelline in adult M. domestica 48 h after topical application were 0.40 and 0.33 µg per adult, respectively, and equal to the commercially available, plant-derived insecticide, rotenone. These results showed that T. tiliifolia possess compounds with considerable bioactivity and worthy of further research.