Search

the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (SC) is an important traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for treating intestinal diseases. It is also traditionally used as health product and medicine in Russia and other countries. However, the effect of SC ethanol extract on anti-ulcerative colitis (UC) has not been systematically studied yet.We investigated the protective effects and underlying action mechanisms of SC extract (SCE) for UC treatment.An animal model of UC induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) was established. After oral administration of SCE, the Disease Activity Index (DAI) was calculated, the length of colon measured, levels of proinflammatory factors determined, and histopathology carried out to assess the therapeutic efficacy of SCE on UC. The effects of SCE on the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor-kappa B/nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 inflammasome (TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome) signaling pathway were evaluated by western blotting. High-throughput sequencing was done to reveal the effect of SCE on the change of the gut microbiota (GM) in mice with DSS-induced colitis.SCE significantly reduced the DAI score, restored colon-length shortening, and ameliorated colonic histopathologic injury in mice with DSS-induced colitis. SCE inhibited the inflammatory response by regulating the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway in mice with UC. SCE also maintained gut barrier function by increasing the levels of zonula occludens (ZO)-1 and occludin. 16S rRNA sequencing showed that SCE could reverse the GM imbalance caused by UC.SCE can ameliorate DSS-induced colitis, and that its effects might be associated with suppression of the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway and GM regulation, which may provide significant supports for the development of potential candidates for UC treatment.

The interlaminar property is essential to the application of fiber reinforced composites for the overall performance. For the purpose of enhancing the interlaminar properties, the unidirectional Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) laminates were fabricated by adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) buckypaper to the mid-plane layers under different curing pressures (1 MPa, 2 MPa, 3 MPa). In order to study the enhancement mechanism of the CNTs buckypaper, a series of experiments were designed and conducted based on double cantilever beam (DCB), end notch flexure (ENF) and interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) tests followed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination to study the surfaces of the specimens. It was observed that the modes I and II interlaminar fracture toughness of GFRP embedded with CNTs buckypaper were relatively higher than those without CNTs buckypaper. Considerable improvements in interlaminar shear strength of the laminates were obtained with the integration of the CNTs buckypaper between the interlayers . The micro-structure of the enhanced mixed interface of fiber-resin-CNTs responsible for interlaminar strengthening was further studied with the help of SEM. It was found that the higher curing pressure could increase the inter-diffusion of the resin and CNTs offering a stronger interfacial adhesion . The interlaminar characteristics of the specimens cured at 2 MPa pressure were found to be relatively superior with optimal interlaminar fracture toughness and interlaminar shear strength.

The present study presents an experimental investigation into the real-time monitoring of the drilling process of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite with Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) buckypaper sensor. The spray-vacuum filtration method was employed to synthesize CNTs buckypaper sensor and then embedded into the GFRP to serve two purposes namely interlaminar enhancement and sensor monitoring the drilling process of the GFRP. Both modes I and II interlaminar fracture toughness tests were conducted to ascertain the enhancement ability of the buckypaper. Considerable improvements in both modes of fracture toughness were recorded in the specimens with CNTs buckypaper interlayer . For the CNTs buckypaper acting as a sensor, drilling experiments were carried out on the GFRP where real-time information of the drilling process particularly the drilling tool position could be predicted. This can be crucial in cases where drilling parameters like the feed rate have to be changed at a certain drilling depth in order to reduce or eliminate the exit delamination . The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was finally employed to study the enhancement ability of the CNTs buckypaper and the microstructure of the drilled holes. The current work has substantiated the possibility of using CNT buckypaper both as an interlaminar enhancement and as a sensor to monitor the drilling process.

Background Curcumae Rhizoma (CR) has a clinical efficacy in activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis and has been used for the clinical treatment of qi stagnation and blood stasis (QSBS) primary dysmenorrhea for many years. However, its molecular mechanism is unknown. Objective The present study aimed to demonstrate the multicomponent, multitarget and multipathway regulatory molecular mechanisms of CR in the treatment of QSBS primary dysmenorrhea. Methods Observations of pathological changes in uterine tissues and biochemical assays were used to confirm that a rat model was successfully established and that CR was effective in the treatment of QSBS primary dysmenorrhea. The main active components of CR in rat plasma were identified and screened by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q/TOF-MS). The component-target-disease network and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of CR were constructed by a network pharmacology approach. Then, we performed Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Molecular docking was adopted to verify the interactions between the core components and targets of CR to confirm the accuracy of the network pharmacology prediction results. Furthermore, we evaluated the bioactive constituents of CR and molecular mechanism of by which CR promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis via platelet tests in vivo and in vitro and Western blot analysis. Results The results of HE staining and biochemical assays of PGF2α, TXB2 and Ca2+ showed that CR was effective in the treatment of QSBS primary dysmenorrhea. A total of 36 active components were identified in CR, and 329 common targets were obtained and used to construct the networks. Of these, 14 core components and 10 core targets of CR in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea were identified. The GO and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that the common targets were involved in multiple signaling pathways, including the calcium, cAMP, MAPK, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways, as well as platelet activation, which is closely related to platelet aggregation. The molecular docking results showed that the 14 core components and 10 core targets could bind spontaneously. Two core targets (MAPK1 and CCR5) and 7 core components (Isoprocurcumenol, Curcumadione, Epiprocurcumenol, (+)-Curdione, Neocurdione, Procurcumenol, and 13-Hydroxygermacrone) were closely related to CR in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. Furthermore, the in vivo platelet test showed that CR clearly inhibited platelet aggregation. Five core components ((+)-Curdione, Neocurdione, Isoprocurcumenol, Curcumadione and Procurcumenol) obviously inhibited platelet aggregation in vitro. In addition, based on the relationships among the signaling pathways, we confirmed that CR can effectively inhibit the expression of MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway-related proteins and decrease the protein expression levels of ERK, JNK, MAPK, PI3K, AKT and CCR5, thereby inhibiting platelet aggregation. Conclusion This study demonstrated the bioactive constituents and mechanisms of CR in promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis and its multicomponent, multitarget and multipathway treatment characteristics in primary dysmenorrhea. The results provide theoretical evidence for the development and utilization of CR.

The aim of this study was to establish a robust and rapid method for identification of the changes of Curcumae Rhizoma (CR) in its physical properties and the components after processing. Color and odor used as the indexes for physical property evaluation in this study were quantified by non-targeted bionic detectors colorimeter and e-nose according to Chinese pharmacopoeia, and all chemical changes of the samples were observed by NIR. The technique of mid-level data fusion was adopted to simulate the recognition mode of human, and the prediction accuracy was 100%. A modified NIR band extraction method was used for feature selection after removing the redundant data which otherwise may compromise the accuracy of analysis, with a result showing bisdemethoxycurcumin and curcumol as the key factors most correlated with the changes during processing. The fused matrix was analyzed to evaluate the weight of different sensors and precisely describe the external changes of the samples, followed by a pairwise correlation analysis to investigate the role of colorimeter, e-nose and NIR in identifying the changes caused by processing as well as their correlation with each other. The results of data fusion revealed that aromatic derivatives produced during processing were closely associated with the changes in external characteristics, i.e., color and smell of the samples, while the changes in proteins did not cause significant differences. Correlation analysis demonstrated that bionic sensors could be classified into two groups: a*, WW and WS sensors, which were related to NIR band at about 6500-6700 cm-1 formed by NH vibration of amide and protein degradation, were sensitive to the processed CR; while L*, b* and WC sensors were found to be correlated to NIR band around 8000 cm-1 which was caused by first overtone of C-H combination of aromatic derivatives, thus could be employed as the detectors for raw CR.

Experiments from three-phase (natural gas+water+diesel oil) flow systems were performed in a flowloop to study the hydrate formation and plugging mechanisms from data on morphology and flow characteristics. The hydrate plugging mechanism was investigated for a range of water cuts (5–80 vol%) and the injection of chemical additives (glycol and Inhibex 501). The results from the flowloop experiments demonstrated that water and oil formed a disperse system in which water formed a three-dimensional network, separating oil into a mass of oil droplets before hydrate formation; when hydrate began to form, the water network converted into a hydrate network and formed a very sticky oil-in-hydrate network system; With the hydrate formation, some of the oil was squeezed out of the network and the oil-in-hydrate network system shrank, precipitated from the oil phase, and deposited onto the pipe wall, and finally formed hydrate plugging. The presence of glycol or Inhibex 501 did not change the formation mechanism of hydrate plugging, while it decreased the hydrate formation rate.

The viscosities of water-in-oil emulsions containing two kinds of hydrate anti-agglomerants were experimentally measured at three water cuts (10, 20, and 30 vol%) under (275.2–293.2) K and pressures up to 20 MPa. The experimental results indicate that the relative viscosity of the emulsion shows an exponential growth to some extent with the decrease of temperature for a given pressure and water cut, but increases almost linearly with the increase of pressure for all isotherms investigated. It also increases with increasing water volume fraction. The mean droplet sizes of water-in-oil emulsions show an exponential growth with the increase of temperature for a given water cut. An improved viscosity correlation as a function of temperature, pressure, mean droplet size, and water cut was proposed. The average relative deviations of the calculated results from the viscosity correlation were 4.4% and 4.0% for water-in-oil emulsions containing two kinds of anti-agglomerants, respectively.

The flow characteristics and rheological properties of natural gas hydrate slurry, with initial water cuts ranging from 5 to 30 vol%, were investigated in a flow loop. The experimental results indicate that the hydrate slurry can be considered a pseudoplastic fluid and presents more obvious shear-thinning behaviour with the increase in the hydrate volume fraction. The study on the fluid morphology demonstrated that the original structure of the water-in-oil emulsion is destroyed by the formation of gas hydrate, and the hydrate slurry is ultimately transported as a solid dispersion system. An empirical Herschel–Bulkley-type equation that considers the hydrate volume fraction was developed to improve the description of the rheological properties of the hydrate slurry. The apparent viscosities of the hydrate slurry calculated by the new equation were in accordance with the experimental data. Shutting-down/restarting tests using three shutting-down times (2 h, 4 h, and 8 h) were performed. The experimental results indicate that the hydrate slurry can be easily and safely restarted from the static state after a long shutting-down period and exhibits obvious thixotropic behaviour with increasing shutting-down time.

The volumetric properties of two reservoir fluid samples collected from one condensate gas well and one natural gas well were measured under four groups of temperatures, respectively, with pressure up to 116 MPa. For the two samples examined, the experimental results show that the gas compressibility factor increases with the increase of pressure. But the influence of the temperature is related to the range of the experimental pressure. It approximately decreases with the increase of temperature when the pressure is larger than (45 to 50) MPa, while there is the opposite trend when the pressure is lower than (45 to 50) MPa. The dew point pressure was also determined for the condensate gas sample, which decreases with the increase of temperature. The capabilities of four empirical correlations and a thermodynamic model based on equation of state for describing gas compressibility factor of reservoir fluids under high pressure were investigated. The comparison results show that the thermodynamic model recommended is the most suitable for fluids whatever produced from high-pressure reservoirs or conventional mild-pressure reservoirs.

The flow behaviour and flash formation of ring component for 45# steel in continuous drive friction welding (CDFW) process were investigated. A 3D thermo-mechanical coupled finite element method was used to conduct this research. Seven welding schemes with different friction pressures, friction times and rotational velocities were carried out. The influences of friction pressure, friction time and rotational velocity on the material flow behaviour at the friction surface and flash formation were analyzed. Research results show that higher peak temperature, larger region with high temperature and larger axial pressure are all good for the increase of material flow velocity. During the CDFW process, the material near the edge of friction surface flows towards the outside of joint, which makes the appearance of flashes. With the increase of rotational velocity, friction time and friction pressure, the dimensions and the bending degree of flashes increase. The reasonable welding parameters of ring structure for 45# steel, whose inner diameter and outer diameter are 50 mm and 80 mm, respectively, are the friction pressure of 100 MPa, the friction time of 4 s and the rotational velocity of 1600 r/min.

Three new triterpene saponins, named asperosaponin A–C (1–3), together with seven known triterpene saponins (4–10) were isolated from the roots of Dipsacus asper. The structures of compounds 1–3 were elucidated on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analysis and chemical methods. Compounds 1–3, 6–10 had significantly protective effects in PC12 cells against the Aβ25-35 induced cytotoxicity. All the compounds isolated showed no cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines, A-549, Bel-7402 and BGC-823.

Cholinergic deficit is one of the most remarkable symptoms and plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease. In the present study, the protective effects of Akebia saponin D (ASD) on learning and memory impairments induced by excitatory neurotoxin ibotenic acid injection were examined in vivo . Our findings suggest that ASD (90 mg/kg, p.o.) would exert a rescue effect on rats both in behavioral performances in Morris water maze and Y maze and cholinergic functions detected by chemical methods. We further investigated in the hippocampus and found ASD could regulate apoptosis-related proteins expression following ibotenic acid injection. Additionally, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family phosphorylations were inhibited after ASD treatment, implicating that the MAPK signaling pathway could be involved in the mechanism underlying neuroprotection of ASD against ibotenic acid-induced excitotoxicity.

Broken and cracked eggshells cause major economic losses to the egg production industry. An F2 population of 262 hens obtained by crossing a strong egg shell line with a weak egg shell line of the White Leghorn breed was used for detecting the quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting eggshell quality. The 2 lines were developed from the same founder population by two-way selection for egg shell strength with nondestructive deformation. Of the 1 014 microsatellite markers tested, 35 were mapped on 10 autosoma1 linkage groups. There was no informative marker on chromosome Z. The QTLs associated with 7 traits, i.e., body weight, short length of egg, long length of egg, eggshell strength, eggshell thickness (EST), eggshell weight (ESW), and egg weight (EW), were identified. Highly significant (P < 0.01) QTLs associated with EST and ESW and a significant (P < 0.05) QTL associated with EW were mapped to a region flanking ABR0545 and ABR0362 on chromosome 9. These QTLs are good candidates to be employed in the development of strategies for reducing the number of broken and cracked eggs in commercial layer houses by employing marker assisted selection.

A chloride-bridged one-dimensional Cu(II) coordination polymer is prepared by the treatment of N-benzoyl-N′-(2-pyridyl)thiourea with a large excess of Cu(II)Cl2 in ethanol solution via oxidative cyclization and coordinate polymerization.

Photolysis of deoxygenated acetonitrile solution of a ferrocenoyl-functionalized thiourea ligand, N-ferrocenylcarbonyl-N′-(2-pyridyl)thiourea (HFT–py) with visible light leads to the formation of a novel (O, N′, N′′) coordinated iron(II) complex [Fe(FT–py)2], in which two deprotonated ligands (FT–py−) are bound to one iron(II) centre through a carbonyl oxygen O, deprotonated thioamidic (–C(S)–N′H–) nitrogen N′ and pyridyl nitrogen N′′ atoms to form a distorted octahedral complex. In the photolysis process, the photochemical activation plays an important role in the deprotonation of the intramolecular hydrogen bond (O⋯H–N′) to provide both O, N′ donor sites. The molecular structures of the ligand and its photoproduct were determined by X-ray diffraction, which unequivocally confirmed the photochemical behaviour and the coordination feature.

The photo-induced ligand exchange reactions of ferrocenylacetylacetone (FA) in the presence of pyridine (Py) or 4,4′-dipyridyl (Dipy) in deoxygenated acetonitrile under irradiation with visible light have been investigated. The mechanism of the reactions was proposed to involve three steps: the first is the photo-induced charge transfer, resulting in the deligation of FA to yield the free Fe(II) ion, cyclopentadienylacetylacetonate (CAnate) and η°-bonded cyclopentadienyl ring (η°-Cp). The second process is the proton-transfer from FA to CAnate and η°-Cp, forming cyclopentadienylacetylacetone (CA) and 1,3-cyclopentadiene, which were detected by GC–MS analyses. The third process is the complex formation, the photo-liberated Fe(II) ion was coordinated with deprotonated FA(FAnate), generating the mononuclear complex, [Fe(FAnato)2(Py)2], or polynuclear complex, [{Fe(FAnato)2(Dipy)2×1/2}n], which were characterized by elemental analyses, IR and X-ray structure analysis. Crystallographic data for complex, [Fe(FAnato)2(Py)2]: monoclinic, space group P21/c, a=8.212(3), b=9.945(2), c=19.953(3) A, β=98.18(3)°, R=0.0705, WR=0.0803.

The photolysis of 1,1′-diacylferrocenes Fe(COR)2 (FeFerrocenyl, RCH3,Ph) in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) in deoxygenated acetonitrile under irradiation with visible light has been studied. In these photolysis systems the phen has two important roles to play: one is to stabilize the photo-liberated Fe2+ by coordination, and the other is to promote the photolysis through photo-ligand exchange. Under this condition the photoproducts were isolated in definite composition and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, 1H NMR spectroscopy. IR spectroscopy, photolysis-cyclic voltammetry and elemental analysis. The mechanism of the reactions was demonstrated to be charge transfer from metal to acylcyclopentadienyl ring, leading to cleavage of the bond between them. The phen attacks the Fe2+ ion to give the stable tris(1,10-phenanthroline) iron(II) complex cation and the acylcyclopentadienyl ring detaches from the Fe2+ ion, giving the enolate anion in the outer sphere of the complex. Crystallographic data for photoproduct 1, [Fe(phen)3](C5H4COCH3)2-CH3CN-2H2O: triclinic, space group P−1 (No. 2), a = 12.714(4), b = 13.125(3), c = 14.946(5), A, α = 106.45(1), β = 112, γ = 79.60(2)°. V = 2208(1), A3, R = 0.041, Rw = 0.052. Crystallographic data for photoproduct 2, [Fe(phen)3](C5H4COC6H5), 0.3C6H6·H2O: triclinic, space group P−1 (No. 2), a = 12.218(4), b = 12.440(3), c = 16.989(2), A, α = 98.56(2), γ = 100.98(3)°, V = 2431(2), A3, R = 0.049, Rw = 0.057.

A method to demonstrate destruction of quantum integrability is presented. The method is based on the calculation (for systems with two degrees of freedom) of the expectation and uncertainty values of energy and another quantum observable which is conservative when the system is integrable. Two kinds of avoided crossings can be shown clearly with this method.

The Auger electron spectrum associated with decay of a core-hole on the terminal nitrogen and that associated with the central nitrogen of nitrous oxide, N2O, are obtained individually through the use of a coincidence technique. Specifically, each of the two Auger electron spectra is obtained by detection of Auger electrons in coincidence with near zero energy (threshold) photoelectrons at the respective ionization thresholds. These zero energy electrons serve to identify the core-ionization continuum associated with the different Auger electrons. The salient features of the experimental spectra are in good agreement with theoretical calculations. The low counting rate generally associated with coincidence experiments, especially in the gas phase, is not encountered because the low energy electrons are collected over a 4π solid angle. Also, velocity discrimination is accomplished by a spatial filter rather than by time-of-flight to utilize the maximum duty cycle of the synchrotron source. These data are believed to be the first examples of chemical-site-selective molecular Auger spectra.

High-resolution and high-sensitivity instrumentation has been designed and assembled for the study of vibrationally- and rotationally-resolved luminescence from products of core-hole decay in molecules. The luminescence is produced by the interaction of a high-density molecular beam with either high-energy electrons or with monochromatic synchrotron radiation and is detected by a large-aperture 1-m spectrograph equipped with an intensified photodiode array.

A time-of-flight mass spectrometer, optimized for energy-resolved, Auger-electron, multiple-ion coincidence spectrometry suitable for the study of core-hole decay in molecules, is presented. The mass spectrometer collects the entire 4π angular distribution of energetic fragment ions up to 20 eV, while maintaining a low potential gradient in the ionization region to allow Auger-electron energy analysis.

Autoionization spectra have been measured for methyl formate in which a 1s electron on either the carbonyl carbon or the carbonyl oxygen has been excited to the vacant 4a″ (π*) orbital. Also the carbon and oxygen Auger spectra have been measured. Effects of localization of the valence electrons on the atom with the core hole are apparent in the relative energies of the core-excited levels, in the amount of participator decay in the deexcitation spectra, and in the levels of the final ion that are populated in the carbon deexcitation. The results of theoretical calculations are used to interpret these results. The striking similarity that has been observed between the oxygen deexcitation spectra of CO, CO2, and OCS does not extend to methyl formate.

Evaluation of a number of cytotoxic antitumor sesquiterpene lactones and their derivatives has led to the discovery of bis(helenalinyl)glutarate (4) and bis(isoalantodiol-B)glutarate (10) as potent inhibitors of human-derived topoisomerase II. Unlike etoposide, which inhibits by preventing the DNA rejoining process, compounds 4 and 10 inhibit topoisomerase II without causing DNA breakage. The structure-activity relationships of 4, 10, and related compounds are discussed.

It is shown numerically that a change of the uncertainty measure with time or perturbing terms can reflect the destruction of integrability when the perturbation of an integrable system increases. The initial states are chosen as coherent states which minimize the uncertainty measure.

Pseudolarolide J (1), a novel nortriterpene lactone, has been isolated from the seeds of Pseudolarix kaempferi and structurally characterized from spectral data and X-ray crystallographic analysis.

Auger spectra of carbon 1s, oxygen 1s and sul fur 2p core-ionized carbonyl sulfide (OCS) are presented and discussed. In each case the Auger decay involves valence electrons, with de-excitation to final states of +2 charge. Because OCS contains three different atoms and the Auger spectrum of each can be measured it is possible to make a number of level assignments for the final states of the +2 ion. These assignments are based on comparisons of the three spectra with each other and with semi-empirical calculations. An three spectra show significant localization effects. The sulfur spectrum exhibits very narrow peaks and allows unambiguous determination of the energies for the ground and first two excited states that derive from the 3π 2 configuration. The energies and splittings of these and other states are compared with other experimental and theoretical findings.

Two new cytotoxic diterpenes, kansuiphorin-C and -D, have been isolated from Euphorbia kansui . Their structures and stereochemistries have been established from spectral data in conjunction with X-ray crygtallographic analysis of the benzene solvate of kansuiphorin-C.