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Pure ZnS and Ni2+-doped ZnS nanorods (Zn1-xNixS, x=0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07, mole fraction, %) were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The effects of Ni2+ doping on the phase-structure, morphology, elemental composition and optical properties of the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), respectively. The photocatalytic activity of Zn1-xNixS nanorods was evaluated by the photodegradation of organic dyes Rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution under UV light irradiation. The results show that all samples exhibit wurtzite structure with good crystallization. The morphologies are one-dimensional nanorods with good dispersion, and the distortion of the lattice constant occurs. The band gap of Zn1-xNixS samples is smaller than that of pure ZnS, thus red shift occurs. Ni2+-doped ZnS nanocrystals can enhance photocatalytic activities for the photodegradation of RhB. Especially, Zn0.97Ni0.03S sample exhibits better photocatalytic performance and photocatalytic stability for the decomposition of RhB.

Background T cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (Tim-3) has been reported to participate in the regulation of immune response and the induction of allograft tolerance. However, the association between Tim-3 and renal allograft dysfunction is unclear. We studied the expression of cellular and soluble Tim-3 (sTim-3), soluble galectin-9 (sGal-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule-1 (sCEACAM-1) in kidney transplantation recipients (KTRs) to explore their roles in allograft dysfunction. Methods 96 KTRs (53 with stable graft and 43 with graft dysfunction) and 30 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. Among the KTRs, 55 used Tacrolimus (TAC) and 41 used Sirolimus (SRL). In the dysfunction group, 29 recipients have undergone graft biopsy and 14 were classified as biopsy-proven rejection (BPR). Cellular Tim-3 was determined by flow cytometry. sTim-3 was determined by ELISA. sGal-9 and sCEACAM-1 were determined by Bio-Plex® suspension array system. Results KTRs with renal dysfunction showed significantly higher levels of sTim-3 and sGal-9 but similar levels of cellular Tim-3 and sCEACAM-1 compared with stable recipients. Correlation analysis revealed that estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was negatively associated with sTim-3 and sGal-9. Both BPR and non-BPR groups showed comparable levels of Tim-3, Gal-9 and CEACAM-1. Moreover, SRL group showed significantly higher levels of sCEACAM-1 than TAC and HC groups. Conclusions sTim-3 and sGal-9 were promising biomarkers for allograft dysfunction, but unable to differentiate allograft rejection from other causes of renal dysfunction in KTRs. Moreover, long-term administration of sirolimus would up-regulate sCEACAM-1 level, while exert similar regulatory effects on Tim-3 and Gal-9 compared to tacrolimus.

As noble metal nanoclusters (NCs) are widely employed in nanotechnology, their potential threats to human and environment are relatively less understood. Herein, the biological effects of ultra-small silver NCs coated by bovine serum albumin (BSA) (Ag-BSA NCs) on isolated rat liver mitochondria were investigated by testing mitochondrial swelling, membrane permeability, ROS generation, lipid peroxidation and respiration. It was found that Ag-BSA NCs induced mitochondrial dysfunction via synergistic effects of two different ways: (1) inducing mitochondrial membrane permeability transition (MPT) by interacting with the phospholipid bilayer of the mitochondrial membrane (not with specific MPT pore proteins); (2) damaging mitochondrial respiration by the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). As far as we know, this is the first report on the biological effects of ultra-small size nanoparticles (∼2 nm) at the sub-cellular level, which provides significant insights into the potential risks brought by the applications of NCs. It would inspire us to evaluate the potential threats of nanomaterials more comprehensively, even though they showed no obvious toxicity to cells or in vivo animal models. Noteworthy, a distinct toxic mechanism to mitochondria caused by Ag-BSA NCs was proposed and elucidated.

Infection remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality after kidney transplantation (KT). Reliable biomarkers to predict post-transplant infection are lacking. We investigated the predictive performance of pre- and post-transplant levels of T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-3 (Tim-3) and Galectin-9 (Gal-9), two pleiotropic immunomodulatory molecules, in early identification of infection. Serum Tim-3 and Gal-9 were paired measured before and 30 days after transplantation (PTD 30) in 95 KT recipients (KTRs). The decline rates of Tim-3 and Gal-9 were calculated relative to pre-transplant levels. KTRs with infection history had significantly higher levels of PTD 30 Tim-3 and Gal-9, and slower decrease rates of Gal-9 compared to non-infected recipients, while no difference was observed between two groups regarding pre-transplant levels. The AUCs for predicting 1-year post-transplant infection were 0.653 and 0.711 for post-transplant Tim-3 and Gal-9, 0.664 and 0.670 for relative Tim-3 and Gal-9, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounders, PTD 30 Tim-3, Gal-9 and relative Gal-9 remained as independent risk factors for post-transplant infection. Our results suggested that PTD 30 Tim-3 and Gal-9 and relative decrease of Gal-9 were promising predictors for identifying KTRs with high risk of infection, while pre-transplant Tim-3 and Gal-9 showed no predictive power to infection.

Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) is probably the most widely used intravenous hypnotic agent in daily practice. However, its anti-inflammatory properties have seldom been addressed. In this study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity and mechanisms of propofol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in vivo and in vitro and found that propofol markedly inhibited LPS-induced production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6, and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). At the same time, the expression of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1α (HNF-1α) and apolipoprotein M (APOM) was inhibited by treatment with LPS and LPS-induced down-regulation of HNF-1α expression and APOM expression could be compensated by propofol treatment. However, propofol could not compensate LPS-induced down-regulation of APOM expression by treatment with HNF-1α siRNA and the suppressive effect on LPS-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines production by propofol was significantly compensated by treatment with APOM siRNA. These results provide evidence that propofol may first up-regulate APOM expression by enhancing HNF-1α expression and then inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokine production in LPS-stimulated cells. Therefore, our study may be useful in understanding the critical effect of propofol in patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

To investigate whether ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) is reliable for early diagnosing symptomatic lacunar infarction (SLI) in type 2 diabetics.Ninety-seven consecutive diabetic patients, 47 with SLI, and 45 healthy controls were enrolled. Serum IMA and plasma total homocysteine (tHcy) were measured on an autoanalyzer and evaluated in distinguishing SLI.Serum IMA levels were 97.35 ± 5.25 U/L in the healthy control group, 103.26 ± 7.43 U/L in the non-SLI group, and 139.84 ± 20.00 U/L in the SLI group. Plasma tHcy levels were 8.08 ± 1.82 μmol/L, 11.31 ± 3.03 μmol/L, and 13.10 ± 3.67 μmol/L, respectively. The differences in IMA and tHcy levels were statistically significant for all groups (p0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses revealed the areas under curve were 0.866 for IMA and 0.352 for tHcy.This study indicates that IMA was significantly elevated in the acute phase of SLI and more sensitive than tHcy in distinguishing SLI.

Two new acetylated kaempferol glycosides were isolated from the seeds of Camellia semiserrata Chi, their structures were elucidated as kaempferol 3- O -[(3- O -acetyl)-α- l -rhamnopyranosyl(1 → 3)(4- O -acetyl)- α - l -rhamnopyranosyl(1 → 6)- β - d -gluco-pyranoside] ( 1 ) and kaempferol 3- O -[(2- O -acetyl)- α - l -rhamnopyranosyl (1 → 3)(4- O -acetyl)- α - l -rhamnopyranosyl(1 → 6)- β - d -gluco-pyranoside] ( 2 ) by spectral experiments (including ESI-MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR).

In this study, a novel series of chiral 1,2-propanediol derivatives with different terminal alkyl chain length were synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and DSC. After doped into a nematic liquid crystal host, all the chiral dopants induced chiral nematic liquid crystals exhibiting a helix inversion with temperature variation. The results indicate that terminal alkyl chain length has a prominent influence on helical twisting property of the chiral dopants. With increasing the terminal alkyl chain length, the molecular twisting power increases, the helix inversion temperatures varies slightly while the phase transition temperature decreases. An odd–even effect may exist in the molecular twisting power of the chiral dopants.

Transients in a load have a significant impact on the performance and durability of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system. One of the main reasons is that the fuel utilization changes drastically due to the load change. Therefore, in order to guarantee the fuel utilization to operate within a safe range, a nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) method is proposed to control the stack terminal voltage as a proper constant in this paper. The nonlinear predictive controller is based on an improved radial basis function (RBF) neural network identification model. During the process of modeling, the genetic algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the parameters of RBF neural networks. And then a nonlinear predictive control algorithm is applied to track the voltage of the SOFC. Compared with the constant fuel utilization control method, the simulation results show that the nonlinear predictive control algorithm based on the GA-RBF model performs much better.

An adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model is developed to study different flows effect on the performance of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). During the process of modeling, a hybrid learning algorithm combining backpropagation (BP) and least squares estimate (LSE) is adopted to identify linear and nonlinear parameters in the ANFIS. The validity and accuracy of modeling are tested by simulations and the simulation results reveal that the obtained ANFIS model can efficiently approximate the dynamic behavior of the SOFC stack. Thus it is feasible to establish the model of SOFC stack by ANFIS.

In this paper, a nonlinear offline model of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is built by using a radial basis function (RBF) neural network based on a genetic algorithm (GA). During the process of modeling, the GA aims to optimize the parameters of RBF neural networks and the optimum values are regarded as the initial values of the RBF neural network parameters. Furthermore, we utilize the gradient descent learning algorithm to adjust the parameters. The validity and accuracy of modeling are tested by simulations. Besides, compared with the BP neural network approach, the simulation results show that the GA-RBF approach is superior to the conventional BP neural network in predicting the stack voltage with different temperature. So it is feasible to establish the model of SOFC stack by using RBF neural networks identification based on the GA.

Sir,Sinonasal neuroendocrine carcinoma is a rare tumour that occurs in the nasal passages and paranasal sinuses. It is probably related to sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma. We report a case tha...

Aims To investigate the potential of quantum dot (Qdot) nano-crystals for use as universal immunocytochemical markers that can be visualised by both light and electron microscopy in living and fixed cells. Methods We have used Qdot probes for immunocytochemical detection of somatostatin hormone in fixed human somatostatinoma tumour tissue. Results Qdots applied to etched resin-embedded sections produced highly specific immunolabelling that was able to be detected by widefield fluorescence, super-resolution light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The use of adjacent sections allowed correlation between microscopy modalities. The stability of these probes allowed super-resolution light microscopy imaging that correlated well with immunoelectron microscopy. Discussion Streptavidin-conjugated Qdot probes used with a biotinylated secondary antibody labelling protocol produced increased sensitivity and amplification of the labelling signal. The correlation provided by this approach is valuable for assisting with interpretation of antigen localisation.