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This study examines effects of mixing municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI-BA) with reddish laterite clay (RLC), evaluating factors such as vertical stress, mixing ratio, curing period, and the addition of lime. A total of 153 direct shear tests were conducted to thoroughly assess the mixture's strength characteristics. Vertical stress levels of 85.5 kPa, 172.4 kPa, and 259.3 kPa were used to simulate varying stress conditions, while mixing ratios of 40 %, 80 %, 100 %, and 120 % were applied to explore potential applications of recycled MSWI-BA with clayey soils. A fast-curing approach was employed, with curing periods of 24, 48, and 72 h, to investigate the time-dependent strength development under controlled conditions. A three-way ANOVA analysis confirmed that mixing ratio, curing period, and vertical stress significantly impacted both peak and residual shear strength. The 100 % MSWI-BA mixture, with or without 1 % lime, exhibited optimal performance, providing the pronounced shear strengths and dilative behavior. The study found that MSWI-BA significantly improved shear strength ratios compared to the RLC, with improvement ratios ranging from 1.439 to 2.460 across stress levels. Additionally, upper and lower bound equations for peak and residual strength ratios were developed, providing predictive tools for mixture design. Cohesion values in the range of 8.3–128.9 kPa and friction angles from 40.6° to 44.1° were achieved, surpassing or matching those reported in similar research. The study employed Bolton's (1986) dilatancy model, finding α values between 0.61 and 0.71, comparable to those in studies of granular materials. These results highlight the effectiveness of adding MSWI-BA and lime in enhancing reddish laterite soil stabilization through both chemical and mechanical means, making it a sustainable and cost-effective approach for civil engineering projects by improving material strength, reusing local soils, recycling waste, and reducing carbon footprints.

Abstract Expansion microscopy, whereby the relative positions of biomolecules are physically increased via hydrogel expansion, can be used to reveal ultrafine structures of cells under a conventional microscope. Despite its utility for achieving super-resolution imaging, expansion microscopy suffers a major drawback, namely reduced fluorescence signals caused by excessive proteolysis and swelling effects. This caveat results in a lower photon budget and disfavors fluorescence imaging over a large field of view that can cover an entire expanded cell, especially in 3D. In addition, the complex procedures and specialized reagents of expansion microscopy hinder its popularization. Here, we modify expansion microscopy by deploying trypsin digestion to reduce protein loss and tyramide signal amplification to enhance fluorescence signal for point-scanning-based imaging. We name our new methodology TT-ExM to indicate dual trypsin and tyramide treatments. TT-ExM may be applied for both antibody and lipid staining. TT-ExM displayed enhanced protein retention for endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial markers in COS-7 cell cultures. Importantly, TT-ExM-based lipid staining clearly revealed the complex 3D membrane structures in entire expanded cells. Through combined lipid and DNA staining, our TT-ExM methodology highlighted mitochondria by revealing their DNA and membrane structures in cytoplasm, as well as the lipid-rich structures formed via phase separation in nuclei at interphase. We also observed lipid-rich chromosome matrices in the mitotic cells. These high-quality 3D images demonstrate the practicality of TT-ExM. Thus, readily available reagents can be deployed in TT-ExM to significantly enhance fluorescence signals and generate high-quality and ultrafine-resolution images under confocal microscopy.

Serine(S)/threonine(T)-glutamine(Q) cluster domains (SCDs), polyglutamine (polyQ) tracts and polyglutamine/asparagine (polyQ/N) tracts are Q-rich motifs found in many proteins. SCDs often are intrinsically disordered regions that mediate protein phosphorylation and protein-protein interactions. PolyQ and polyQ/N tracts are structurally flexible sequences that trigger protein aggregation. We report that due to their high percentages of STQ or STQN amino acid content, four SCDs and three prion-causing Q/N-rich motifs of yeast proteins possess autonomous protein expression-enhancing activities. Since these Q-rich motifs can endow proteins with structural and functional plasticity, we suggest that they represent useful toolkits for evolutionary novelty. Comparative Gene Ontology (GO) analyses of the near-complete proteomes of 26 representative model eukaryotes reveal that Q-rich motifs prevail in proteins involved in specialized biological processes, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA-mediated transposition and pseudohyphal growth, Candida albicans filamentous growth, ciliate peptidyl-glutamic acid modification and microtubule-based movement, Tetrahymena thermophila xylan catabolism and meiosis, Dictyostelium discoideum development and sexual cycles, Plasmodium falciparum infection, and the nervous systems of Drosophila melanogaster, Mus musculus and Homo sapiens. We also show that Q-rich-motif proteins are expanded massively in 10 ciliates with reassigned TAAQ and TAGQ codons. Notably, the usage frequency of CAGQ is much lower in ciliates with reassigned TAAQ and TAGQ codons than in organisms with expanded and unstable Q runs (e.g. D. melanogaster and H. sapiens), indicating that the use of noncanonical stop codons in ciliates may have coevolved with codon usage biases to avoid triplet repeat disorders mediated by CAG/GTC replication slippage.

Autism impacts synapses. This study reports that autism-linked mutations of CTTNBP2 regulate phase separation to control synaptic enrichment of that protein. A zinc-induced liquid-to-gel transition improves synaptic retention of CTTNBP2 and SHANK3.

Biological control is a promising approach to enhance pathogen and pest control to ensure high productivity in cash crop production. Therefore, PGPR biofertilizers are very suitable for application in the cultivation of tea plants (Camellia sinensis) and tobacco, but it is rarely reported so far. In this study, production of a consortium of three strains of PGPR were applied to tobacco and tea plants. The results demonstrated that plants treated with PGPR exhibited enhanced resistance against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae (PstDC3000). The significant effect in improving the plant's ability to resist pathogen invasion was verified through measurements of oxygen activity, bacterial colony counts, and expression levels of resistance-related genes (NPR1, PR1, JAZ1, POD etc.). Moreover, the application of PGPR in the tea plantation showed significantly reduced population occurrences of tea green leafhoppers (Empoasca onukii Matsuda), tea thrips (Thysanoptera:Thripidae), Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintanca) and alleviated anthracnose disease in tea seedlings. Therefore, PGPR biofertilizers may serve as a viable biological control method to improve tobacco and tea plant yield and quality. Our findings revealed part of the mechanism by which PGPR helped improve plant biostresses resistance, enabling better application in agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteosarcoma is a malignant tumor abundant in vascular tissue, and its rich blood supply may have a significant impact on its metabolic characteristics. PDGFR[beta] is a membrane receptor highly expressed in osteosarcoma cells and vascular wall cells, and its effect on osteosarcoma metabolism needs to be further studied. In this study, we discussed the effect and mechanism of action of PDGFR[beta] on glucose metabolism in human osteosarcoma (HOS) cells. GSEA, Pearson's correlation test, and PPI correlation analysis indicated positive regulation of PDGFR[beta] on aerobic glycolysis in osteosarcoma. The results of qPCR and western blot further confirmed the prediction of bioinformatics. Glucose metabolism experiments proved that PDGF/PDGFR[beta] could effectively promote aerobic glycolysis in osteosarcoma cells. In addition, the mitochondrial membrane potential ([DELTA][PSI]m) experiment proved that the metabolic change triggered by PDGFR[beta] was not caused by mitochondrial damage. The PI3K pathway inhibitor LY294002, MEK pathway inhibitor U0126, or Warburg effect inhibitor DCA was used to perform western blot and glucose metabolism experiments, and the results showed that PDGFBB/PDGFR[beta] mainly activated the PI3K/AKT/mTOR/c-Myc pathway to promote aerobic glycolysis in osteosarcoma HOS cells. The newly elucidated role of PDGFR[beta] provides a novel metabolic therapeutic target for osteosarcoma. Key words: PDGFR[beta], metabolic reprogramming, aerobic glycolysis, osteosarcoma, c-Myc. L'osteosarcome est une tumeur maligne riche en tissu vasculaire, et son approvisionnement eleve en sang peut avoir un impact significatif sur ses caracteristiques metaboliques. Le PDGFR[beta] est un recepteur membranaire fortement exprime dans les cellules d'osteosarcome et les cellules de la paroi vasculaire, et son effet sur le metabolisme de l'osteosarcome doit etre etudie plus en detail. Dans cette etude, les auteurs ont discute de l'effet et du mecanisme du PDGFR[beta] sur le metabolisme du glucose des cellules d'osteosarcome HOS. Tout d'abord, l'analyse d'enrichissement genique GSEA, le test de correlation de Pearson et l'analyse de correlation des interactions proteine-proteine ont indique une regulation positive du PDGFR[beta] sur la glycolyse aerobie dans l'osteosarcome. Les resultats de la qPCR et du transfert de Western ont egalement confirme la prediction de la bio-informatique. Les experiences sur le metabolisme du glucose ont prouve que le PDGF/PDGFR[beta] pouvait efficacement promouvoir la glycolyse aerobie dans les cellules d'osteosarcome. En outre, l'experience realisee sur le potentiel de la mem-brane mitochondriale a demontre que le changement metabolique declenche par le PDGFR[beta] n'etait pas provoque par des dom-mages mitochondriaux. Le LY294002, un inhibiteur de la voie PI3K, le U0126, un inhibiteur de la voie MEK, ou le DCA, un inhibiteur de l'effet Warburg, ont ete utilises pour realiser des experiences en transfert de Western et sur le metabolisme du glucose, et les resultats ont montre que le PDGFBB/PDGFR[beta] activait principalement la voie PI3K/AKT/mTOR/c-Myc pour promouvoir la glycolyse aerobie dans les cellules d'osteosarcome HOS. Le role nouvellement elucide du PDGFR[beta] fournit une nouvelle cible therapeutique metabolique pour l'osteosarcome. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles: PDGFR[beta], reprogrammation metabolique, glycolyse aerobie, osteosarcome, c-Myc., 1. Introduction Osteosarcoma is a malignant bone tumor with abundant blood vessels, and the instability of its neovascularization may lead to a change in the oxygenation state of the tumor [...]

Solids in nature can be generally classified into crystalline and non-crystalline states.sup.1-7, depending on whether long-range lattice periodicity is present in the material. The differentiation of the two states, however, could face fundamental challenges if the degree of long-range order in crystals is significantly reduced. Here we report a paracrystalline state of diamond that is distinct from either crystalline or amorphous diamond.sup.8-10. The paracrystalline diamond reported in this work, consisting of sub-nanometre-sized paracrystallites that possess a well-defined crystalline medium-range order up to a few atomic shells.sup.4,5,11-13, was synthesized in high-pressure high-temperature conditions (for example, 30 GPa and 1,600 K) employing face-centred cubic C.sub.60 as a precursor. The structural characteristics of the paracrystalline diamond were identified through a combination of X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission microscopy and advanced molecular dynamics simulation. The formation of paracrystalline diamond is a result of densely distributed nucleation sites developed in compressed C.sub.60 as well as pronounced second-nearest-neighbour short-range order in amorphous diamond due to strong sp.sup.3 bonding. The discovery of paracrystalline diamond adds an unusual diamond form to the enriched carbon family.sup.14-16, which exhibits distinguishing physical properties and can be furthered exploited to develop new materials. Furthermore, this work reveals the missing link in the length scale between amorphous and crystalline states across the structural landscape, having profound implications for recognizing complex structures arising from amorphous materials. A study describes the synthesis, structural characterization and formation mechanism of a paracrystalline state of diamond, adding an unusual form of diamond to the family of carbon-based materials., Author(s): Hu Tang [sup.1] , Xiaohong Yuan [sup.1] , Yong Cheng [sup.2] , Hongzhan Fei [sup.3] , Fuyang Liu [sup.1] , Tao Liang [sup.1] , Zhidan Zeng [sup.1] , Takayuki [...]

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter is a gene superfamily in plants. ATP-binding cassette subfamily C (ABCC) protein is a multidrug resistance-associated (MRP) transporter. They play various roles in plant growth, development, and secondary metabolite transport. However, there are few studies on ABCC transporters in tea plants. In this study, genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) content in 108 strains of Kingbird revealed that CsABCCs may be involved in EGCG transport. We identified 25 CsABCC genes at the genomic level of the tea plant, their phylogenetic tree, gene structure, targeted miRNA and other bioinformatics were analyzed. The expression patterns of CsABCCs in eight different tissues and abiotic stress indicate that they have potential roles in regulating the growth, development, and defense of tea plants. The correlation analysis revealed that the expression of the CsABCC11 gene was closely related to the EGCG content in tea buds of 108 strains of the Kingbird, and the subcellular localization experiments in tobacco showed that CsABCC11 protein was localized on the plasma membrane. The virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) strategy in tea plants further verified that CsABCC11 was involved in EGCG accumulation. Our study laid a foundation for studying the biological function of CsABCC and provided a new candidate molecular marker gene for further EGCG-related variety breeding, which will be of great interest to breeders. Supplementary Material Supplementary Material File [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium-ion batteries, as the main energy storage component of electric vehicles (EVs), play a crucial role in ensuring the safe and reliable operation of the battery systems through monitoring their state of health (SOH). However, temperature variations and battery aging have significant impacts on the internal parameters of lithium-ion batteries, and these changes directly correlate with the accuracy of battery SOH estimation. To address these issues, this paper proposes an estimation method for lithium-ion battery SOH that considers the impact of temperature. The method begins with reconstructing a second-order hybrid equivalent circuit model for lithium-ion batteries, through which an adaptive update rate for battery model parameters is designed. On this basis, a nonlinear observer for battery states is introduced by integrating filters to estimate SOH. The proposed method considers the impact of capacity in the design of the parameter adaptive update rate, enabling the capacity to be dynamically adjusted based on the actual state of the batteries. This reduces the cumulative error in the SOC observer and improves the modeling accuracy of battery models. Experimental results demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper exhibits exceptional performance in SOH estimation under different temperature conditions. The mean absolute error for SOH estimation does not exceed 0.5%, and the root mean square error does not exceed 0.2%. This method can significantly improve the estimation accuracy of SOH, providing a more efficient and accurate solution for battery management systems in EVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of La content on the microstructure and properties of 0.15nanoSiCp/Zn-36.5Al-2.5Cu-0.8 Mg composites were studied. Results show that La not only effectively eliminated the shrinkage defects during the solidification process, but also refined the as-cast microstructure and promoted the dispersion of nano-reinforced particles. The improvement in mechanical properties of the composites gradually slowed down with the addition of La, but the wear resistance significantly increased with the increased La content. Thermal mismatch strengthening mechanism was identified in nano-SiCp on Zn-36.5Al-2.5Cu-0.8 Mg matrix induced by La addition. In addition, the rare earth compounds formed by excessive La were easy to aggregate on the grain or grain boundary, which resulted in brittle fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]