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The list of standard abbreviations for JDS is available at adsa.org/jds-abbreviations-24. Nonstandard abbreviations are available in the Notes. Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic bacterium contaminating milk and dairy foods causing food poisoning and foodborne pathogens. In this work, a smartphone-enabled enzyme cascade-triggered colorimetric platform was constructed using a cascade bio-nanozyme formed by immobilized glucose oxidase (GOx) on Fe 3 O 4 @Ag for rapid detection of S. aureus. Benefiting from reasonable experimental design, a bio-nanozyme cascade-triggered reaction was achieved through H 2 O 2 produced by GOx oxidation of glucose, followed by in situ catalysis of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by the inherent peroxidase-like activity of Fe 3 O 4 @Ag to produce color signals. Staphylococcus aureus detection could be performed through naked-eye observation and smartphone measurement, and the developed assay can achieve quantitative and qualitative detection of S. aureus. The on-site nanoplatform had satisfactory specificity and sensitivity with a low detection limit of 6.9 cfu·mL−1 in 50 min. Moreover, the nanoplatform has good practicality in the detection of S. aureus in milk samples. Therefore, the assay has potential application prospects in food safety inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health care use and costs have undergone an increase in public scrutiny. Other specialties have evaluated practice patterns of their most highly reimbursed surgeons and found unique billing and procedure overuse. In this study, we evaluate Medicare payments to general thoracic surgeons and evaluate those with the highest reimbursements. The 2018 Medicare Provider Utilization Data were queried to identify thoracic surgeons. Services were grouped into common categories: Evaluation and Management, Lung/Pleura, Foregut, Chest Wall, Airway, Diaphragm, Mediastinum, Endoscopy, and Transplant. Payment data were analyzed for surgeons receiving the top 1% of Medicare payments and the remainder of the workforce. In 2018, 2000 unique self-identified thoracic surgeons received a total of $54,734,736 in payments from Medicare for thoracic-related services. The top 1% of thoracic surgeons (n = 20) received $4,607,561, or 8.4% of total payments. Inpatient Evaluation and Management was the leading payment category for the top 1% (48.5% of payments), whereas Outpatient Evaluation and Management led for the remaining workforce (43.5% of payments). Whereas the surgical procedure code with overall highest reimbursement for both groups was Current Procedural Terminology (American Medical Association) 32663 (video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy), there was a difference with an increased use of high relative value unit unbundled Current Procedural Terminology codes in the highest earners. A disproportionate amount of Medicare reimbursement went to top 1%. The highest earners appeared to earn the most from inpatient treatment codes and also used unbundled codes more often. Because billing code use is not regulated and often subjective, a deeper evaluation by the major surgical societies may be warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, we study the distribution of the roots of a kind of exponential polynomial equation which is the characteristic equation of second order neutral differential equations. The results can be regarding as a complementary of the works of Freedman and Kuang Funkcial. Ekvac. 34 (1991) 187. Meanwhile, the stability and existence of Hopf bifurcation of a Liénard neutral delay equation are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of powerful, simple and cost-effective signal amplifiers has significant implications for biological research and analysis. Hybridization chain reaction (HCR) has attracted increasing attention because of its enzyme-free, simple, and efficient amplification. In the HCR process, an initiator probe triggered a pair of metastable hairpins through a cross-opening process to propagate a chain reaction of hybridization events, yielding a long-nicked double-stranded nucleic acid structure. To achieve more noticeable signal amplification, nanomaterials, including graphene oxide, quantum dots, gold, silver, magnetic, and other nanoparticles, were integrated with HCR. Various types of colorimetric, fluorescence, plasmonic analyses or chemiluminescence optical sensing strategies incorporating nanomaterials have been developed to analyze various targets, such as nucleic acids, small biomolecules, proteins, and metal ions. This review summarized the recent advances of HCR technology pairing diverse nanomaterials in optical detection and discussed their challenges. [Display omitted] • This review summarizes HCR developments pairing diverse nanomaterials in optical detection. • This review introduces applications of HCR for nucleic acid and other analytes detection in recent years. • This review provides perspectives of HCR technology for future innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The roles of the plasma-membrane (PM) NADPH oxidase in nickel-induced oxidative stress were investigated in roots of wheat (Triticum durum D.) seedlings. Treatment with nickel resulted in significant increase in level of membrane lipid peroxidation, content of H2O2, the production rate of O2 − and the activity of the PM NADPH oxidase in wheat roots. The effects caused by nickel were inhibited pronouncedly by pretreatments with three widely used NADPH oxidase inhibitors (diphenylene idonium, imidazole and pyridine). Moreover, the change patterns of the Ni-induced increase and inhibitor-caused decrease in these parameters were quite similar. These data suggest that the Ni-induced enhancements in levels of H2O2 and O2 −, which appear to cause membrane lipid peroxidation, originate mainly from PM NADPH oxidase. A native in-gel assay also confirmed that PM NADPH oxidase participates in the Ni-induced production of reactive oxygen species in wheat. In addition, pharmacological experiments suggest that Ca2+ may be involved in the oxidative stress induced by nickel in wheat roots. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To examine the treatment recommendation patterns among urologists and radiation oncologists, the level of concordance or discordance between physician recommendations, and the association between physician recommendations and the treatment that patients received.Method: The study was a secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial conducted November 2010 to April 2014 (NCT02053389). Eligible participants were patients from the trial who saw both specialists. The primary outcome was physician recommendations that were scored using an adapted version of the validated PhyReCS coding system. Secondary outcomes included concordance between physician recommendations and the treatment patients received.Results: Participants were 108 patients (Mean age 61.9 years; range 43-82; 87% non-Hispanic White). Urologists were more likely to recommend surgery (79% of recommendations) and radiation oncologists were more likely to recommend radiation (68% of recommendations). Recommendations from the urologists and radiation oncologists were concordant for only 33 patients (30.6%). Most patients received a treatment that both physicians recommended (59%); however, 35% received a treatment that only one of their physicians recommended. When discordant, urologists more often recommended surgery and radiation oncologists recommended radiation and surgery as equally appropriate options.Conclusion: Urologists and radiation oncologists are more likely to differ than agree in their treatment recommendations for the same patients with clinically localized prostate cancer and more likely to favor treatment aligned with their specialty. Additional studies are needed to better understand how patients make decisions after meeting with two different specialists to inform the development of best practices within oncology clinics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Vacuolar H + -translocating inorganic pyrophosphatase (V-PPase, EC 3.6.1.1) is an electrogenic proton pump and has been studied in many plants. Here we report characterization of the OVP1 gene from rice (Oryza sativa L.). Quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis (RT-qPCR) showed that OVP1 was induced by cold stress. OVP1 overexpression resulted in enhanced cold tolerance in transgenic rice, which was related to an increased integrity of cell membrane, decreased MDA content and accumulation of proline to higher level as compared with wild type rice seedlings. These results indicated that V-PPase was an important element in the survival strategies of plants under cold stress. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cytoplasmic free calcium concentration ([Ca[sup2+]][subc]) in pollen cells of Lilium daviddi is measured with confocal laser scanning microscopy to investigate the effect of heterotrimeric G protein (G protein) on [Ca[sup2+]][subc] and the possible signal transduction pathway of G protein triggering cellular calcium signal. After application, cholera toxin (CTX), an agonist of G protein, triggers a transient increase of [Ca[sup2+]][subc] in pollen cells, and evokes a spatial-temporal characteristic calcium dynamics; while pertussis toxin (PTX), a G protein antagonist, leads to the decrease of [Ca[sup2+]][subc]. Both L-type Ca[sup2+] channel blocker verapamil and inhibitor of IP[sub3] receptor heparin inhibit CTX-induced [Ca[sup2+]][subc] increase. The results show that G protein may play a role in the modulation of [Ca[sup2+]][subc] through enhancing the extracellular Ca[sup2+] influx and releasing of Ca[sup2+] from intracellular stores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triose phosphate/phosphate translocator (TPT) is located in the inner envelope membrane of plant chloroplast. It catalyzes the counter exchange of triose phosphate/3-phosphoglycerate for phosphate. To reveal the relationship between the TPT structure and its function, a cDNA encoding the complete precursor of TPT has been isolated from rice by using RT-PCR and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) strategies. The rice tpt was identified as a single copy gene by using Southern blotting. And it was mapped to chromosome 1. The rice TPT mRNA encodes a precursor protein of 417 amino acids with a deduced molecular weight of 44 kDa. A putative processing site between Ala-95 and Ala-96 of the precursor protein was suggested by comparison with the TPTs from spinach and maize. Therefore, the mature part of rice TPT consists of 322 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 35 kDa. It shares 89% homology with maize and 93% with wheat. But the transit peptide and about 20 amino acids at N-end of the mature part showed a much lower homology to other plant TPTs. The mature protein exhibits high hydrophobicity and consists of seven transmembrane regions. High expression level of the TPT mRNA was detected in tissues such as leaf and coleoptile, while no apparent expression was detected in root and seed. These indicated the expression of rice TPT might be restricted to green tissues. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

NIPAm (N-isopropylacrylamide), a thermosensitive monomer, was introduced into a system for synthesis of MicroPCMs (microencapsulated phase change materials) through free radical emulsion polymerization with n-oct (n-octadecane) as the core and cross-linked PMMA (poly (methyl methacrylate)) as the shell. The effect of NIPAm on the formation mechanism, surface morphologies, crystallization properties, and thermal stabilities of the MicroPCMs were studied using FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), and TGA (thermogravimetric analysis), respectively. The results indicate that addition of NIPAm causes a significant increase in the enthalpy of the heterogeneous nucleation (approximately 2–4 times more than without NIPAm). The diameter distribution of microcapsules becomes narrower (the PDI (polydispersity index) has a minimum of 0.073) and the encapsulation ratio and encapsulation efficiency increase. On the contrary, the microcapsules that have some irregular holes were obtained by adding NIPAm prepolymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfurized poly(acrylonitrile) (SPAN) is an attractive cathode material for lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries with demonstrated stable cycling, reduced polysulfide shuttle, and low self-discharge rates. However, the sluggish reaction kinetics of SPAN cathodes greatly limit their capacity output and rate performance. Here, we report novel Se 0.03 SPAN/CNT-3 nanofibers as sulfur cathode materials, aiming to promote the redox kinetics of sulfur conversion by imparting both electronic conductivity and catalytic activity to SPAN. Specifically, selenium is uniformly distributed in the Se 0.03 SPAN/CNT-3 composite through Se–S bonds and facilitates the fast transport of Li-ions. While the CNTs embedded in nanofibers enable high electronic conductivity and provide extra contact between electrode and electrolyte, offering smooth transport channels for both electrons and ions. As a result, the Se 0.03 SPAN/CNT-3 cathode presents a high reversible capacity (791 mAh g−1 composite at 0.2 C), superior rate performance (638 mAh g−1 composite at 4 C), and extremely stable cycle life over 800 cycles. In particular, when tested in practical conditions of high areal loading (Se 0.03 S: 5.2 mg cm−2) and lean electrolyte (E/Se 0.03 S: 10 μL mg−1), this cathode delivers high reversible capacities of 733 mAh g−1 composite (0.1 C) and 672 mAh g−1 composite (0.2 C), demonstrating its great potential for future application. • A novel Se 0.03 SPAN/CNT-3 nanofibers material was prepared and studied as the cathode for Li-S batteries. • The electrode reaction kinetics was greatly enhanced by the catalytic and conductive regulation. • A remarkable active materials utilization of 94.8 % was achieved by the Se 0.03 SPAN/CNT-3 cathode at 0.2 C. • High reversible capacity and good cycle stability were maintained under high areal loading and lean electrolyte conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: MDM2 is a phosphoprotein that interacts with P53 and inhibits its activity. Recently, a T/G substitution (SNP309) in the promoter of MDM2 was identified and has been demonstrated to be associated with an increased MDM2 expression and a significantly earlier age of onset of several tumors, including breast cancer. To test the hypothesis that this functional variant in the MDM2 promoter is associated with risk of breast cancer, we conducted a molecular epidemiological study of 366 breast cancer cases (BC), 263 patients with benign breast diseases (BBD) and 605 cancer-free controls in China, in which we genotyped this T/G variant and another common insertion/deletion polymorphism (Del1518) in the MDM2 promoter and evaluated the associations between these two polymorphisms and breast cancer risk. We found that the variant allele frequencies of these two polymorphisms were not statistically different between the cases and controls (SNP309G: 0.500, 0.542, and 0.506 in BC, BBD, and controls, respectively, and Del1518−: 0.296, 0.308, and 0.297 in BC, BBD, and controls, respectively). Logistic regression analyses revealed that the variant genotypes of both MDM2 SNP309 and Del1518 polymorphisms were not significantly associated with risk of breast cancer (adjusted OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.74–1.42 for SNP309 TG and GG; and adjusted OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.83–1.43 for Del1518 +/− and −/−). These findings suggest that these two MDM2 promoter variants may not play a major role in the etiology of breast cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To explore the effects of aquaporins on stomatal movement, we isolated a full length cDNA of aquaporin-like gene Vf- PIP1 (Vicia faba plasma membrane intrinsic protein gene, GenBank accession number: AY667436), which encodes for a 290-amino-acid polypeptide, from Vicia faba leaf epidermis by 5'/3' RACE (Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends). The analyses of VfPIP1 transmembrane regions and amino acid sequence show that VfPIP1 owns six membrane-spanning domains and the special plasma membrane signature sequences GGGANXXXXGY and TGI/TNPARSL/FGAAI/VI/VF/YN, and it should be a member of PIP1 subfamily. The results of in situ hybridization and Northern blot indicate that VfPIP1 is strongly expressed in guard cells and induced by ABA. Hereby, VfPIP1 may be involved in the water-transmembrane movement of guard cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mn-SOD is a critical enzyme eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plant cells under environmental stresses, but the roles of Mn-SOD in plant cells under salt stress remains elusive. This study focuses on the effects of Mn-SOD overexpressed in transgenic Arabidopsis on salt tolerance. We have constructed the transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing Mn-SOD, the activity of which was more than two-fold over that of wild type. When treated with 150 mM NaCl, the transgenic plants grew well, while the wild type plants withered gradually, this indicated the transgenic Arabidopsis enhanced salt-tolerance. Further analyses showed that not only the activities of Mn-SOD but also the activities of other antioxidative enzymes such as Cu/Zn-SOD, Fe-SOD, catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) of transgenic plants treated by 150 mM NaCl were markedly higher than those of wild type plants, and the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) were lower than those of wild type under 150 mmol/L NaCl treatment, indicating the ability of eliminating ROS in transgenic Arabidopsis increased significantly. These results suggested that the Mn-SOD overexpressed in Arabidopsis played a pivotal role in preventing the over accumulation of ROS and protecting the cells against ROS caused by salt stress, as a result, enhanced salt-tolerance of the transgenic plants. This study will help explain the essential roles of Mn-SOD in adaptive responses of plant cells under environmental stresses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Silicon (Si) materials are promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their high theoretical capacity and low discharge potential. Nevertheless, their actual use is seriously restricted by their low conductivity and huge volumetric change. Developing a Si/C composite with a yolk-shell structure is an effective method to overcome the issues including the low electrical conductivity and poor cycling stability caused by Si. In this work, a facile one-pot sol-gel approach is developed to synthesize a Si/C yolk-shell composite in the presence of cost-effective resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as precursors. In this structure, Si nanoparticles (NPs, ∼80–100 nm) are well encapsulated in a ∼12 nm thick hollow carbon shell (HC). There is a 60 nm-thick void space between the silicon core and outer carbon layer. The as-prepared Si@HC sample showed a high charge capacity of 1807.4 mA h g−1 and retained 999.5 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 beyond 100 cycles. Furthermore, this material exhibited a reversible capacity of 500 mA h g−1 after 2000 cycles at 1 A g−1. • The Si@SiO 2 @RF core-shell precursor can be synthesized by a one-step sol-gel approach. • The size of the thickness of the carbon shell can be adjusted conveniently. • Si@HC anodes exhibit high reversible capacities as well as excellent cycle stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of the environmental regulations affecting carbon emissions is complex, and for many years it has been a hot research topic for researchers. However, few of the previous studies have focused on whether or not environmental regulations can potentially influence carbon emissions through technical efficiency. Therefore, the present study chose to investigate the mediation effects of the technical efficiencies between environmental regulations and carbon emissions using the provincial panel data of energy-intensive industries for the period ranging from 2005 to 2015. The results were as follows: (i) In regard to the entire group of energy-intensive industries, it was found that environmental regulations could not only potentially directly reduce carbon emissions, but also indirectly reduce carbon emissions through technical efficiency. In other words, technical efficiency had played a partial mediation role between the environmental regulations and the carbon emissions; (ii) It was observed that for the different subdivided energy-intensive industries, the different levels of technical efficiency had shown various mediation effects. For example, the mediation effects of technical efficiency in the petroleum processing and coking (PPC) industry; papermaking and paper products (PPP) industry, and raw chemical materials and chemical products (RCMCP) industry, were found to be similar to those of the whole energy-intensive industries. Furthermore, the "Porter Hypothesis" had been verified in the nonmetal mineral products (NMP) industry. However, there were no mediation effects observed in the smelting and pressing of ferrous metals (SPFM) and smelting and pressing of nonferrous metals (SPNM) industries; (iii) In this study, in accordance with the regression results of the double-threshold models, it was found that for the energy-intensive industries as a whole, the carbon emission reduction effects of environmental regulations had become stronger with the increases in technical efficiency. For the PPP and RCMCP industries, there was an inverted U-shaped relationship observed between environmental regulations and carbon emissions when the technical efficiency was taken as the threshold variable. Therefore, based on the research conclusions achieved in this study, some policy recommendations were put forward. • Environmental regulation reduces carbon emission of the energy intensive industries of China. • Technical efficiency plays a partial mediation effect between environmental regulation and carbon emission. • The mediation effects of technical efficiency differ in the subdivided energy-intensive industries. • The "Porter hypothesis" is verified in Nonmetal Mineral Products (NMP) industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]