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Diseases of grass carps often occur in juveniles but not in adults that may have established disease resistance during development. We performed both DNA bisulfite and transcriptome sequencing on liver libraries of 1- and 3-year-old grass carps. Differential DNA-methylation analysis exhibited a declined methylation level through development. Functional annotation revealed that identified differentially methylated genes (DMGs) and differentially expressed genes were enriched in immune-related pathways such as PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and its related pathways. Both differentially methylated and differentially expressed genes were clustered into the growth- and immune-related function networks. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that the DMGs localized on cell membrane were significantly enriched in calcium signaling pathway and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway, implying the importance of G protein-coupled receptors to development. These findings will broaden our understanding of the key genes and pathways that affect the immune system at different development stages and the developing protective strategies in grass carp.

In present work, we successfully fabricated a novel Co-free non-equiatomic Ni46Cr23Fe23Al4Ti4 medium-entropy alloy with dual heterogeneous structures, i.e. three-levels grain structures and heterogeneous L12 precipitates. Experimental results revealed the dual heterogeneous structures lead to remarkable strength-ductility synergy properties in this Co-free medium-entropy alloy, showing high yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of ~1203 MPa and ~1633 MPa, respectively, remaining an excellent ductility of ~28.7%. Further analyses about strengthening and deformation mechanisms indicated precipitation hardening and hetero-deformation induced hardening contribute the majority strength enhancement, meanwhile deformation-induced hierarchical stacking-faults networks, high density Lomer-Cottrell locks and microstructure features of heterogeneous grains and precipitates substantially facilitate the high work-hardening capacity and excellent tensile ductility. This work not only offers fundamental understanding of the strength and deformation mechanisms of the dual heterogeneous structural material, but also provides useful strength design strategy for low-price high performance high/medium-entropy alloys

Most existing recommendation methods focus on the improvement of recommender accuracy while ignoring the influence of recommended explanation. Recommender explainability is an efficient way to help consumers make much more suitable decisions and enhance their acceptance and trustfulness in recommender systems (RSs). Incorporating a knowledge graph (KG) into RS is a promising way to improve recommender results while enhancing the strength of explanation. In this paper, an interactive rules-guided recommender (IR-Rec) framework based on KG is proposed. First, an existing KG is enriched by introducing it to facts about e-commerce. Then, a number of paths are extracted from the enhanced KG for user-item interactions that are able to ascertain the underlying reason for recommendations according to the semantic strength of the KG. These paths are summarized into some common behavior rules that have the ability to explain the underlying motivations of users. According to the characteristics of users, items, and rules, different neural networks are designed, such as a graph convolutional network , to learn more accurate embeddings. Furthermore, recommendations that meet users’ personalized interests are made by combining the public behavior rules and their individual features. Extensive experiments are carried out on four Amazon datasets for top- K recommendation. All the results show that the proposed method performs better than other respective baselines and demonstrate the effectiveness of rule extraction for making recommendations.

Microstructural evolution and deformation mechanism of a metastable β alloy (Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al) processed by rotationally accelerated shot peening (RASP) were systematically investigated with optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Different gradient hierarchical microstructures (gradients in α″ martensite and β phase, and hierarchical twins range from the nanoscale to microscale) can be fabricated by RASP via changing the shot peening time. The hardening behavior and tensile mechanical properties of gradient hierarchical microstructure were systematically explored. Novel deformation twinning systems of {112}α″ and {130} α″ in the kinked α″ martensite were revealed during the tensile deformation. It was found that stress-induced martensitic transformation, twinned α″ martensite and the related dynamic grain refinement contribute to hardness and work hardening ability. Simultaneous improvement of strength and ductility of the metastable β titanium alloy can be achieved by introducing a gradient hierarchical microstructure.

nutrients are closely related to consumer health. In this study, the contents of 22 amino acids in four glutinous rice varieties were quantified by LC-MS-targeted metabolomics, and the relationships between nutritional components and metabolites were analysed. The results demonstrated that gingerglycolipid B and pantothenic acid were significantly negatively correlated with Ala. The Lys and Cys-Cys contents of ZN18 and YZN were significantly higher than those of YCN and ZN20. Citric acid was significantly positively correlated with Lys and Cys-Cys. The ascorbic acid content of YZN and ZN18 was significantly higher than that of YCN and ZN20. YZN had the highest Mn, Zn, Ca, and crude fat contents. Gingerglycolipid B and pantothenic acid were significantly negatively correlated with Mn and Zn. Gingerglycolipid B and pantothenic acid are closely related to other nutritional components, and they are important metabolites formed by the nutrient components of purple glutinous rice.

A novel enteric positioning osmotic pump capsule of sinomenine hydrochloride (SH) was developed to promote the efficacy of the drug by enteric positioning and zero-order release. The capsule shell was prepared by dipping method using cellulose acetate (CA) as a semipermeable membrane, containing hydroxypropyl methylcellulose phthalate HP50 (HPMCP-HP50) for enteric positioning, polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 for flexibility and permeability, then filled with SH, osmotic agents and permeation promoting polymer. In vitro effects of different formulation factors on the drug release was evaluated. The optimal formulation showed complete drug release with a zero-order kinetics. The dyeing test and osmotic pressure test demonstrated that drug release mechanism was regulated mainly by osmotic pressure. The in vivo test was performed in beagle dogs. Compared with commercially formulation, the developed formulation provided a prolonged Tmax and MRT and the plasma concentration was more stable. The results indicated that the novel enteric osmotic pump capsule successfully controlled the release of SH thereby drug plasma concentration. Consequently, the novel controlled delivery system with combination of enteric positioning and osmotic pump system is a promising strategy to avoid medication for stomach irritation and an effective way to reduce dosing frequency, minimize the drug fluctuation in plasma.

Background A drug-coated balloon (DCB) has been designed as a new device for the treatment of coronary artery disease. The data regarding DCB-treated lesions in large coronary artery are limited. The purpose of our study was to explore the effectiveness and safety of DCB in large coronary artery. Methods We prospectively analyzed all patients treated with DCB in de novo lesions consistent with inclusion criteria between May 2015 and April 2017. The observed outcomes included target lesion revascularization (TLR), myocardial infarction, cardiac death and non-cardiac death, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Results There were 92 patients including 94 coronary de novo lesions treated in all. The most often utilized DCB diameters were 3.0 mm (41.5%) and 3.5 mm (39.4%). Two acute closures occurred in hospital. Six bailout drug-eluting stents were used in the percutaneous coronary interventions (6.4%). Quantitative coronary angiography measurement at follow-up showed late lumen loss was -0.02 ± 0.49 mm. The TLR rate and overall MACE rates were 4.3% and 4.3% during the follow-up period in the whole patient population, respectively. Conclusions Our study showed that the “DCB only” strategy is safe and efficient in large vessel lesions of patients whose predilation achieved an acceptable result.

Nowadays, materials with a core-shell structure have been widely explored for applications in advanced batteries owing to their superb properties. Core-shell structures based on the electrode type, including anodes and cathodes, and the material compositions of the cores and shells have been summarized. In this review, we focus on core-shell materials for applications in advanced batteries such as LIBs, LSBs and SIBs. Firstly, a novel concept of aggregates of spherical core-shell architectures and their aggregates, linear core-shell architectures and their aggregates, sheet-like core-shell architectures and their aggregates and special core-shell architectures and their aggregates are involved. Secondly, the main material compositions of carbon/Si-based, carbon/metal-based, metal-based materials and organic-based composites are introduced along with the synthesis and electrochemical performances of core-shell nanostructured materials. Finally, the emerging challenges and prospects of core-shell materials are briefly discussed.

As a new type of grain refiner, rare earth element Sc has a strong grain refining effect on the microstructure of cast aluminum alloys. During the solidification process, the precipitation of Al3Sc primary particles in the molten metal act as heterogeneous nucleation cores, promoting Al nucleation, and greatly increasing the nucleation rate. In this paper, single Al3Sc particle and multiple Al3Sc particles cluster are extracted by the focused ion beam, and the whole and internal structure of the particles are systematically studied using scanning electron microscope and high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The study found that under the influence of strong anisotropy, the primaryAl3Sc particles have different growth rates in different crystal planes, and finally form a special morphological feature -a cubic shape as a whole and a "funnel-shaped" structure in part. The (111) and (110) planes of Al3Sc particles form a coarse dendrite structure, and a large number of fine rod-shaped structures appear on the (100) plane, the Al matrix is interposed between the rod-shaped structures. At the interface between Al3Sc and Al matrix, two crystallographic orientation relationships were observed. At the same time, a special pseudomorphic solid layer was observed at the interface between Al and Al3Sc particles. In addition to individual Al3Sc particles, it was also found that some Al3Sc particles grow in a nucleus at the same time and have the symmetrical morphology of rotating twins.

Manganese monoxide (MnO) with high theoretical capacity, low operation potential, natural abundance, and low environmental impact has recently been researched. However, MnO as a transition metal oxides (TMOs), Mn2+ ions with tetrahedral and octahedral coordination own six coordination number, with medium conductivity shows a poor rate capability and cycle life. Furthermore, MnO composites combined pure MnO with carbon and metal-based materials have demonstrated improved electrochemical performances for applications in electrochemical energy storage due to the short transport length of Li ions and the enhancement of the conductivity. This review focuses upon the applications of MnO and its composites in advanced batteries such as lithium-ion batteries, Li - S batteries and sodium-ion batteries. Finally, challenges and perspectives for the development of the advanced batteries are also given.

Genetic improvement of woody bioenergy crops is essential to maximize the genetic gain of industrially useful products. Conventional selective breeding to improve complex traits is laborious and time-consuming. A molecular marker-assisted selection approach based on multi-omics genetic dissection and pyramiding gene module utilization has not been developed for woody industrial crops. We initially identified 80 correlated genes enriched in co-expression modules that sustainably participate in lignocellulosic biosynthesis during various developmental periods in Populus. Using an adult germplasm population (15 years old, 435 accessions) of Populus tomentosa, we integrated association mapping, expression quantitative trait loci, and epistasis analyses to reveal the pleiotropy of causative genes within the core co-expression modules, such as ALG14, GSL8, SMT1, and IRX15-L.2, that drive natural variations in gene expression and harvested wood traits. We further pyramided two superior haplotypes and one desirable epistatic allele (Hap_01PtoSMT1+Hap_01PtoALG14+SNP2PtoIRX15-L.2) to alleviate linkage drag in multi-trait selection and improve industrial pulpwood products. Early-period selection study and genetic interpretation of the allelic differences of candidate elite trees in a juvenile germplasm population (5 years old, 435 accessions) demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of our haplotype-based selection method relative to phenotype-based selection. This study provides novel insights into the improvement of industrial wood traits and also facilitates the rational breeding of perennial trees.

Butyrate is a typical short chain fatty acid produced by gut microbiota of which the dysmetabolism has been consistently associated with colorectal diseases. However, whether butyrate affects metastatic colorectal cancer is not clear. In this study we investigated in vitro the effect of butyrate on motility, a significant metastatic factor of colorectal cancer cells and explored the potential mechanism. By using wound healing and transwell-based invasion models, we demonstrated that pretreatment of butyrate significantly inhibited motility of HCT116, HT29, LOVO and HCT8 cells, this activity was further attributed to deactivation of Akt1 and ERK1/2. Suberanilohydroxamic acid (SAHA), another HDAC inhibitor, mimicked the inhibitory effect of butyrate on cell motility and deactivation of Akt/ERK. Furthermore, by silencing of HDAC3 with siRNA, we confirmed dependence of butyrate's effect on HDAC3, the similar reduced cell motility observed under HDAC3 silencing also indicates the significance of HDAC itself in cell motility. In conclusion, we confirmed the HDAC3-relied activity of butyrate on inhibiting motility of colorectal cancer cells via deactivating Akt/ERK signaling. Our data indicate that modulating butyrate metabolism is an effective therapeutic strategy of metastatic colorectal cancer; and HDAC3 might be a novel target for management of colorectal cancer metastasis.

Reseeding yellow-flowered alfalfa (YFA) in degraded grasslands may require a vegetation-free microsite for germination and subsequent establishment. This study aimed to examine the role of microclimates of different-sized vegetation gaps on seedling performance and adult plant production of YFA. Field microsites were established in the meadow steppe of Hulunber, Inner Mongolia, China. Seedling performance, plant production, the microclimate within vegetation gaps, and soil nutrients (plant-available N, P, and K, total N concentration) were assessed at the end of each growing season from 2013 to 2015. Our results indicate light availability, and topsoil temperature of each gap were significantly increased as gap size increased, while topsoil moisture and air relative moisture were decreased in larger gaps. Small gaps (diameter ≤10 cm) improved seedling emergence, survival, biomass, and root nodulation, as compared with seedling performance associated with the larger gaps, presumably in response to increased shade and moisture. Additionally, large gaps (>20 or >40 cm) were characterized by significantly lower plant-available P, total N concentrations, plant-available K, and soil pH. However, root exclusion treatments did not improve overall seedling performance, plant production, or soil properties, as compared to corresponding microsites with root presence, regardless of gap size. Our results suggest that reseeding YFA into grasslands where disturbance, such as light grazing, has resulted in small gaps will be more effective than in highly degraded grasslands.

The nucleation and growth process of Al3Sc precipitates in Al-0.55 wt% Sc alloy during isothermal aging was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It is found at the early aging stage that the solute Sc atoms are enriched on the stacking fault in the matrix then rapidly converted to L12-ordered Al3Sc precipitates without the formation of other transition phases. The matrix and precipitates form a sharp interface at the beginning of phase transition and maintain a completely coherent crystallographic orientation relationship. Due to the influence of the anisotropy of interface energy, the equilibrium shape of the precipitated phase is similar to the spherical polyhedron. In the coarsening stage of precipitates, the interface of α-Al/Al3Sc gradually changes from coherent to semi-coherent, resulting in the gradual loss of symmetry of the non-contrast line, and finally the stress field contrast on the surface of particles and interface dislocations gradually appear.

In-situ tension test in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to study the fracture process of aluminium, as well as the real-time crack formation process and atomic-scale results of crack tip propagation were captured. The experimental results show that multiple Frank-Read dislocation sources are formed in the crystal thinning area at the front of the crack, and the nanocrack nucleates on the dislocation loops emitted by the dislocation source. The perfect dislocations that were continuously emitted from the crack tip slip and decompose in the crystal, resulting in the relative rotation of the crystal to form a twin boundary. After the perfect dislocation decomposition, a part of the residual dislocation formed a dislocation wall at the twin boundary to form a subgrain boundary, and the other part formed a stacking fault, and then the residual dislocation dragged the stacking fault to slip at the twin boundary.

Flavonoids are widely distributed secondary metabolites as well as a major class of chemical defenses in response to light intensity, temperature, and other external factors. However, systematic investigation on the genetic basis of flavonoids in perennial trees is poorly documented. In this study, we married metabolite-based genome wide association analysis (mGWAS), expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping and weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis to systematically construct the regulatory network underlying flavonoids decoration in Populus. We firstly characterized 172 flavonoids features in 300 natural accessions of Populus tomentosa collected in three widespread geographical regions. Then, we conducted systematical genetic strategy to identify casual candidate genes, and constructed the regulatory network of flavonoids biosynthesis of Populus. Selection signature revealed 83 metabolites exhibited significant divergence among three geographical regions of Populus, we thus determined candidate genes contributing to flavonoids divergence based on the selection sweep analysis. Furthermore, we focused on PtoLDOX, a key gene responsible for the levels of anthocyanin and dihydrokaempferol, and dissected it through allelic frequency and haplotype analysis. Collectively, our study provides new insights into the genetic basis of flavonoids biosynthesis, and sheds light on the adaptive selection to different geographical regions that potentially dominated by the flavonoids of Populus, facilitating marker-based breeding in poplar varieties.

Litter decomposition has been highlighted as one of the crucial biochemical carbon sequestration processes in grassland ecosystems. Vegetation changes of grasslands are associated with an alteration of litter quality and decomposer communities. How they affect litter decomposition and associated carbon flows at the plant-soil interface, is not well understood. We designed a reciprocal transplant litter experiment by incubating 13 C-labeled litter in selected patches. The primary aim of this study was to (1) determine the relative effects of litter quality and soil microbial community on litter decomposition rates; (2) estimate the associated carbon incorporated into different groups of the soil microbial community; and (3) verify if the dominant litter decomposed faster at “home” sites, i.e. home-field advantage (HFA) effect. Our data indicated that the interaction between litter type and decomposition site significantly affected litter decomposition. Cellulose contributed the most C during decomposition, and fungal phospholipid fatty acids incorporated the highest level of 13 C from labeled litter. There was a higher decomposition rate of cellulose and more 13 C incorporation in fungi, when each type of litter was incubated in its dominated sites. HFA index presented positive values that illustrates that the dominant litter had advantage in mediating decomposition processes. Gram positive (GP) bacteria and actinomycetes, they were found to be closely associated with the C priming of native-SOM. From this perspective of HFA, our results help understanding mechanisms of leaf litter–soil feedbacks in grassland, including the return of carbon (C) to the soil through litter decomposition and fraction in functional microbial groups. Practically, the results also imply that a higher biodiversity of grassland will affect the carbon cycle and formation of soil organic matter in ecosystem. Once such litter-soil feedbacks process is considered, vegetation management in grassland will contribute to carbon cycle, formation of soil organic matter in ecosystem.

Most existing recommender methods have insufficient power to capture or recover fine-grained features of products and user preferences. Knowledge graphs contain considerable information about products and mutual relationships in the world. To analyze the fine-grained features during the process of recommendation, we propose a knowledge-aware collaborative learning framework (KACL), which is the first work to combine users’ historical reviews with knowledge graphs. First, we use a named-entity recognition (NER) system to recognize the named entities that correspond to item features in the unstructured reviews. After that, we use an entity-linking (EL) system to map entities which identified in the first step to the corresponding entity in Wikipedia. Next, we constructed a sub-graph that depends on the extracted entity and the related ones and embedded the sub-graph into a low latent vector space as pretrain item embedding through the knowledge graph embedding model TransR. In the next step, we will fine-tune item embedding through deep learning built by 4 levels of relu and combine collaborative information with pretrain item embedding. And in accordance with the user review behavior, the item embedding will be averagely poled to express the user embedding, we will put the item embedding and the user embedding into the classification model. Finally, we use the KACL to integrate collaborative filtering with entity representation and make recommendations. Experiments are performed on real-world datasets to evaluate the effectiveness of our new method. The results show that the analysis of fine-grained features based on a knowledge graph helps our KACL improve recommender accuracy compared with the selected state-of-the-art models.

In this study, a β solution treated Ti–10 V–2Fe–3Al (Ti-1023) alloy was compressed at room temperature to analyze the compressive deformation behavior. Microstructure evaluation induced by compressive deformation was investigated systematically using XRD, EBSD and TEM techniques. The results showed that stress-induced martensitic transformation was dominant at all the compressive deformation with a strain rate ranging from 10−4 s−1 to 10−1 s−1, leading to the three stages in work hardening behavior. With increasing strain rate, the increment of work hardening rate at stage II showed a downward trend. Compared with tensile deformation, stress-induced martensitic transformation during compressive deformation showed an asymmetry and lower triggering stress. In addition, {111}α″ twinning and kinking structure were found in the interior of α″ martensite at a low strain. As the strain increased, the primary α″ martensite was sheared into a smaller and parallel distributed α″ blocks, and the kinked α″ martensite was mechanically twinned on {110}α″ twinning, both of which were novel deformation mechanisms of α″ martensite.

A novel gradient nanostructured structure fabricated by rotationally accelerated shot peening (RASP) has been proven useful in the enhancement of strength and ductility. In this study, a series of nanoindentation tests using continuous multi-cycle (CMC) mode are first used to characterize the nanoindentation behavior of the RASP-processed metastable β titanium alloy with a gradient nanostructured structure. The experimental results indicate that indentation depth and grain size paly a dominant role in the nanoindentation behavior. Inverse indentation size effect (ISE) on the hardness occurs at shallow indentation depth ( 225 nm), which is dominated by the known strain gradient mechanism. The hardness, reduced module and back stress decrease from the treated surface with a nanostructured grain size of 20 nm to the center zone with a coarse grain size of 216 μm. For the RASP-processed sample, the fine grain zone exhibits a more pronounced inverse and normal ISEs than these of the coarse grain zone. In addition, the Bauschinger effect and back stress strengthening mechanism are also firstly used to explain the variation of gradient micro-mechanical properties.

This paper demonstrated that a novel enteric osmotic pump capsule (EOPC) could effectively deliver metformin hydrochloride (MH) into the small intestine and keep releasing in a sustained manner consistently. The MH EOPC was composed of enteric semipermeable capsule shell and the core prescription fillers. Using a single factor tests, formulation and process factors were investigated and optimized based on the in vitro drug dissolution results. The optimized results were MH (250 mg), fructose (60 mg), mannitol (30 mg), polyethylene oxide-N60K (9 mg), ludipress® (49.5 mg), magnesium stearate (1.5 mg), and an orifice diameter of 0.8 mm. And, in vitro release studies showed sustained and stable drug release from the optimal MH EOPC, which was in line with the zero-order model. A higher bioavailability of MH was achieved from EOPC in comparison with commercial enteric capsules and sustained release tablets. Finally, using the technology of multislice computed tomography, as a visual means, further confirmed that EOPC achieved MH release specifically in the small intestine. In summary, the current study showed that the MH EOPC could potentially reduce MH adverse reactions and improve patient compliance which serves as an additional option for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Deep learning has been successfully applied to visual tracking due to its powerful feature learning characteristic. However, existing deep learning trackers rely on single observation model and focus on the holistic representation of the tracking object. When occlusion occurs, the trackers suffer from the contaminated features obtained in occluded areas. In this paper, we propose a regional deep learning tracker that observes the target by multiple sub-regions and each region is observed by a deep learning model. In particular, we devise a stable factor, modeled as a hidden variable of the Factorial Hidden Markov Model, to characterize the stability of these sub-models. The stability indicator not only provides a confidence degree for the response score of each model during inference stage, but also determines the online training criteria for each deep learning model. This online training strategy enables the tracker to achieve more accurate local features compared with those fixed training trackers. In addition, to improve the computational efficiency, we exploit the structurized response property of the customized deep learning model to approximate the final tracking results by the weighted Gaussian Mixture Model under the particle filter framework. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations on the recent public benchmark dataset show that our approach outperforms most state-of-the-art trackers.

Accurate and highly sensitive detection of glycan expression on cell surface is extremely important for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Herein, a carbohydrate derivative-functionalized biosensor was developed for electrochemical detection of the expression level of cell surface glycan (mannose used as model). Thiomannosyl dimer was synthesized to design the thiomannosyl-functionalized biosensor by direct and rapid one-step protocols. The biosensing surface-confined mannose could effectively mimic the presentation of cell surface mannose and was responsible for competing with mannose on cancer cells in incubation solution. Greatly enhanced sensitivity was achieved by exploiting the excellent conductivity of multiwalled carbon nanotube/Au nanoparticle (MWNT/AuNP), the amplification effect of MWNTs, and the favorable catalytic ability of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Using competitive strategy, the developed biosensor exhibits attractive performances for the analysis of mannose expression with rapid response, high sensitivity and accuracy, and possesses great promise for evaluation of cell surface glycan expression by using a greater variety of lectins.

Compressive deformation of a metastable β titanium alloy (Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al) with different β grain sizes ranging from 109 μm to 494 μm was systematically investigated by using X-ray diffraction, electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy techniques. As β grain size increases, the triggering stress of stress-induced martensitic transformation (β→α″) in Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloys gradually increases, while the amount of α″ martensite decreases, along with the gradual disappearance of double yield behavior in compressive stress-strain curves and three-stage behavior of work hardening rate and exponent. Deformation mechanisms of Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloy with different β grain sizes change from stress-induced martensitic transformation at small strains to stress-induced martensitic transformation, together with widening and merging of α″ martensite at large strains. Besides, {111}α″ type I internal twinning and {112}α″ type I deformation twinning are observed at Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloy with an average β grain size of 494 μm. During the compressive deformation, β matrix was repeatedly consumed and cut by α″ laths, leading to the formation of nano-sized α″ blocks and β blocks. This dynamic grain refinement contributes to a higher work hardening rate and enhanced compressive mechanical properties in the metastable β titanium alloy.

In this work, a novel non-equiamotic Ni46Cr23Co23Al4Ti4 medium-entropy alloy (MEA) strengthened by nanoscale coherent γ′ particles with L12 superlattice was successfully synthesized, then its microstructure, mechanical properties, strengthening and deformation mechanism were systemically investigated. Our experimental results demonstrated that this precipitation strengthened MEA exhibited outstanding strength-ductility synergy, combination a high yield strength of ~920 MPa, an ultimate tensile strength of ~1320 MPa and an excellent ductility of ~36%. The nanosized γ′ particles bought out effective precipitation strengthening in this non-equiamotic MEA, contributing a majority yield strength enhancement of ~600 MPa. For this γ′-strengthened MEA, the dominant deformation model was the stacking-faults controlled mode rather than the mechanical twin dominated mode in single-phase face-centered-cubic structure Ni50Cr25Co25 MEA. Our work provides a further understanding of precipitate strengthening in non-equiamotic high-entropy alloys (HEAs)/MEAs.

Effective assay of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) as indicator bacteria is critical for evaluating the recycling of urban sludge. In this work, we utilized multiwalled carbon nanotube/gold nanoparticle (CNT/AuNP) hybrid nanostructures as sensing electrode to design a novel electrochemical immunosensor for E. coli analysis. Herein, the hybrid nanostructures were fabricated by electrodepositing AuNPs on CNTs surface via multi-potential step technique. The CNT/AuNP hybrids were proved to facilitate the improvement of electrochemical performance for signal amplification, as well as the immobilization of E. coli capture antibody ( c Ab). The sandwich-type system was formed by specific recognition of the immobilized c Ab on CNT/AuNP hybrids to E. coli , followed by the attachment of horseradish peroxidase-conjugated E. coli detection antibody ( d Ab-HRP) to produce the electrochemical immunosensor. On the basis of the dual signal amplification of CNT/AuNP hybrid nanostructures and enzymatic catalysis, the electrochemical immunosensor exhibits an excellent performance for E. coli assay ranging from 2.0 × 10 2 to 2.0 × 10 6 cfu mL −1 . The electrochemical method was also successfully used to evaluate E. coli in urban sludge. The proposed strategy provides a convenient and effective method for E. coli detection, and could become a promising technique for estimating the feasibility of sludge recycling.

The stubborn chemoresistance of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is simultaneously influenced by tumor parenchymal and stromal factors, and the ctritical role of Notch ligand Delta-like 4 (DLL4) in the regulation of tumor malignancies has been observed. DLL4 positive expression ratio between duct cells from clinical tumor and adjacent tissues was statistically significant, and the overactivation of DLL4/Notch pathway enhanced the phenotype of EMT and cancer stem cell, even can induce multi-chemoresistance in vitro. Notably, the accompanied defective angiogenesis directly induced inefficient chemo-drug delivery in vivo. Collectively, overexpressed DLL4 on neoplastic cells can enhance chemoresistance through angiogenesis-dependent/independent mechanisms in PDA.

Methamphetamine (METH), a commonly abused psychostimulant, has been shown to induce neuronal damage by causing reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, apoptosis and autophagy. Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is involved in several physiological actions in the brain, including neuroprotection, osmoregulation and neurotransmission. In this study, we investigate the protective effect of taurine against METH-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells and the underlying mechanism. The results showed that taurine significantly increased the cell viability inhibited by METH. LC3-II expression was elevated by METH treatment, whereas such increase was obviously attenuated by taurine. Co-treatment of taurine strongly reversed the decline of antioxidase activities induced by METH. Moreover, phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR) was significantly inhibited by METH, whereas complementation of taurine markedly increased the expression of p-mTOR in PC12 cells, rather than phosphorylated Erk. Interestingly, taurine-induced decreasing expression of LC3-II was partially blocked by pretreatment of RAD001, an mTOR inhibitor. These results indicated that taurine inhibits METH-induced autophagic process through activating mTOR rather than Erk signaling. Collectively, our study shows that taurine protects METH-induced PC12 cells damage by attenuating ROS production, apoptosis and autophagy, at least in part, via mTOR signaling pathway.

1,2:4,5-Di- O -isopropylidene-3- C -(5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazol-3-yl)-β- d -psicopyranose 14 was synthesized stereoselectively from 1,2:4,5-di- O -isopropylidene-3- C -amidoximino-3- O -benzoyl-β- d -psicopyranose 8 using a novel procedure. Treatment of 8 with acetic anhydride, chloroacetyl chloride, propanic anhydride, or benzoyl chloride causes the 3- O -benzoyl group to undergo an intramolecular replacement reaction with neighboring group participation and transfer resulting in a more stable conjugation system of the 1,2,4-oxadiazol ring. A possible mechanism, as well as structural analysis and bioactivity are described.

1-(β- d - and α- l -Glycopyranosyl)-5-methyl-1 H -1,2,4-triazoles 7 , 13 – 15 were synthesized stereoselectively from the corresponding glycopyranosyl aminoguanidine nitrates 1 – 3 in boiling acetic anhydride or from N 1 -(acetylated β- d - or α- l -glycopyranosylamino)- N 1 , N 2 , N 3 -triacetylguanidines 8 – 10 using catalytic amounts of NaOMe. Structures were confirmed by elemental analyses, IR, NMR and MS and possible mechanisms are discussed. In vitro antitumor and immuno activities are presented.

In a novel procedure, when 3- O -benzoyl-3- C -( N -hydroxycarbamimidoyl)-1,2:4,5-di- O -isopropylidene-β- d -psicopyranose ( 1 ) is treated with acetic anhydride, chloroacetyl chloride, propanic anhydride and benzoyl chloride, the 3- O -benzoyl group undergoes an intramolecular replacement reaction with neighbouring group participation and transfer resulting in a more stable conjugated system by the formation of a 1,2,4-oxadiazol ring. A possible mechanism is reported. The structure has been determined by spectroscopic data and X-ray crystallographic analysis.