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The drug efflux by P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is the primary contributor of multidrug resistance (MDR), which eventually generates insufficient nuclear drug accumulation and chemotherapy failure. In this paper, reversible covalent nanoassemblies on the basis of catechol-functionalized methoxy poly (ethylene glycol) (mPEG-dop) and phenylboronic acid-modified cholesterol (Chol-PBA) are successfully synthesized for delivery of both doxorubicin (DOX, anti-cancer drug) and tariquidar (TQR, P-glycoprotein inhibitor), which shows efficient nuclear DOX accumulation for overcoming tumor MDR. Through naturally forming phenylboronate linkage in physiological circumstances, Chol-PBA is able to bond with mPEG-dop. The resulting conjugates (PC) could self-assemble into reversible covalent nanoassemblies by dialysis method, and transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals the PC distributes in nano-scaled spherical particles before and after drug encapsulation. Under the assistance of Chol, PC can enter into lysosome of tumor cells via low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-mediated endocytosis. Then the loaded TQR and DOX are released in acidic lysosomal compartments, which inhibit P-gp mediated efflux and elevate nuclear accumulation of DOX, respectively. At last, this drug loaded PC nanoassemblies show significant tumor suppression efficacy in multidrug-resistant tumor models, which suggests great potential for addressing MDR in cancer therapy.

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) induced competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) play crucial roles in various biological process by regulating target gene expression. However, the studies of ceRNA networks in the regulation of ovarian ovulation processing of chicken remains deficient compared to that in mammals. Our present study revealed that circEML1 was differential expressed in hen's ovarian tissues at different ages (15 W/20 W/30 W/68 W) and identified as a loop structure from EML1 pre-mRNA, which promoted the expressions of CYP19A1/StAR and E2/P4 secretion in follicular granulosa cells (GCs). Furthermore, circEML1 could serve as a sponge of gga-miR-449a and also found that IGF2BP3 was targeted by gga-miR-449a to co-participate in the steroidogenesis, which possibly act the regulatory role via mTOR/p38MAPK pathways. Meanwhile, in the rescue experiment, gga-miR-449a could reverse the promoting role of circEML1 to IGF2BP3 and steroidogenesis. Eventually, this study suggested that circEML1/gga-miR-449a/IGF2BP3 axis exerted an important role in the steroidogenesis in GCs of chicken.

Objective Invasive pulmonary Aspergillus infection has the characteristics of high morbidity, difficult to be treated, poor prognosis and high mortality. This study aims to investigate the effects of cinnamaldehyde on 1,3-β- D -glucans in the pulmonary Aspergillus fumigatus cell wall to provide a basis for developing novel antifungal drugs. Methods Immunosuppressed ICR mice were intranasally inoculated with 50 µL of A. fumigatus suspension (1 × 107 CFU/mL) and then separated into two groups, for the experimental group cinnamaldehyde was orally administered at 240 mg/kg/d consecutively for 14 d. While for the control group, voriconazole was used to treat the fungus infection. Pulmonary tissues were then extracted for 1,3-β- D -glucans assay and electron microscopy. Results The concentration of 1,3-β- D -glucans was significantly different between the cinnamaldehyde and voriconazole groups, which was (1160.89 ± 364.96) pg/mL and (3885.94 ± 845.45) pg/mL, respectively (P D -glucan layer) of A. fumigatus cell wall were damaged and fell off, resulting in serious defect of the cell wall, but the cell membrane was clear and intact. Conclusion Cinnamaldehyde has a significant influence on the integrity of 1,3-β- D -glucans in the pulmonary A. fumigatus cell wall, but the cell membrane is unaffected, suggesting that cinnamaldehyde has unique antifungal properties depending on its action against the 1,3-β- D -glucans on the pulmonary A. fumigatus cell wall.

Power network refers to a complex system that relies on the interactions between generators and consumers. This paper mainly studies the influence of consumers and generators arrangement on the synchronization of a ring-coupled power network. It is shown by numerical results that node arrangement strategies play a key role in the collective behavior of ring power network. Furthermore, it can be discovered that different arrangements of the consumer and generator nodes on a ring leads to different threshold of coupling strength for frequency synchronization. More specifically, the closer the nodes, which are more heterogeneous on a ring, are to each other, the stronger the synchronizability of power network is. On the contrary, the closer the nodes, which are less heterogeneous, are to each other, the weaker the synchronizability of power network is. The results show that the strategies of generator and consumer nodes arrangement have influence on the synchronization stability and highlight the importance of structural organization of network in synchronization dynamics.

In this paper, we investigate the synchronization dynamics of clustered network with positive and negative connections and report a counterintuitive phenomenon: the removal of a heterogeneous (generator to consumer nodes and vice versa) positive link in oscillatory power network suppress synchronization. However, a heterogeneous negative link removal of power network can enhance synchronizability. Moreover, our results establish that a homogeneous (generators to generators or consumers to consumers) positive link deletion has a small effect on the synchronizability of the power network. But the removal of a homogeneous negative link plays a positive role on collective behavior of oscillatory power network.

An UV-light-induced S-methylation of quinoline-2-thione was completed by using dimethyl sulfoxide as methyl reagent. A series of quinoline methyl sulfides were prepared in moderate to good yields under environmentally friendly and mild conditions.

TiO2 in anatase crystal phase is a very effective catalyst in the photocatalytic oxidation of organic compounds in water. To improve its photocatalytic activity, the Ti-coating MgAl hydrotalcite (Ti-MgAl-LDH) was prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Response surface method (RSM) was employed to evaluate the effect of Ti species coating parameters on the photocatalytic activity, which was found to be affected by the furnace temperature, N2 flow rate and influx time of precursor gas. Application of RSM successfully increased the photocatalytic efficiency of the Ti-MgAl-LDH in methylene blue photodegradation under UV irradiation, leading to improved economy of the process. According to the results from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Brunner-Emmet-Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Hallender, thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra analyses, the Ti species (TiO2 or/and Ti4+) were successfully coated on the MgAl-LDH matrix. The Ti species on the surface of the Ti-MgAl-LDH lead to a higher photocatalytic performance than commercial TiO2-P25. The results suggested that CVD method provided a new approach for the industrial preparation of Ti-coating MgAl-LDH material with good photocatalytic performances.

The reaction diffusion between Fe and Al during spark plasma sintering (SPS) was studied. Microstructural evolution was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the sintering kinetics was disclosed. The main interphase of the SPS sample was Fe 2 Al 5 at 773–873 K. Ball-milling enabled a large number of lattice defects and grain boundaries thus the reaction kinetics was accelerated, although the direct current can also promote those defects. After milling, the phase transformation kinetics was improved from 0.207 before mill to 4.56×10 −3 . Besides, this work provided more details for the generation of Joule heating. The resistance offered to the electric path was considered to be the source of Joule heating, and particularly the resistance offered by the different contact interfaces of die, punch, graphite foil and the sample played a leading role for the generation of Joule heating during spark plasma sintering.

In this work, a small core, Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG)-based smart contact lens for intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement has been demonstrated. Further, an integral temperature compensation mechanism has been developed and included in the sensor design, allowing it to offer good long-term measurement capability while allowing for any local temperature fluctuations. The sensitivity of the device has been shown to be 12.9 p.m./mmHg, yielding good repeatability in tests carried out. Such a small core fibre, FBG-based smart contact lens shows significant potential for improving the management and therapy of glaucoma, the second most common cause of preventable blindness in the world.

The electrical power grid is a fundamental infrastructure in the modern society. Theoretically, the Kuramoto-type model with inertia can be modeled with the generators and consumers working for a power network. The purpose of this work is to investigate the emergence of synchronous patterns of power network with the general coupling strategy, which is the most general setting for an oscillatory network. Here, we analyze the dynamics of the simplest non-trivial network that exhibits synchronous state. Furthermore, we find a counterintuitive range of coupling strength values where the synchronization stability suddenly decreases as the coupling strength increases, based on a number of simple topology structures. Furthermore, it is found that nontrivial behaviors of the coupling scheme in the small-size oscillatory power network potentially vary with the synchronous patterns. Therefore, our simulation results suggest that adjusting coupling scheme is vital to prevent the unexpected catastrophic instability in building blocks of power network.

The composite (LDH/C) of MgAl hydrotalcite and carbon was synthesized in the presence of glucose, which was used as the precursor of the corresponding MgAl mixed oxide (MgAlO C). The as-synthesized hydrotalcites and their corresponding mixed oxides were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, BET/BJH and TG/DTA. The results showed that carbon in the LDH/C could act as a mesoporous template, and the MgAlO C had higher surface areas and more mesopores as well as higher Cr(VI) adsorption performance than the MgAl mixed oxide (MgAlO) prepared in the absence of glucose. The experimental data in the Cr(VI) adsorption by the MgAlO C was analyzed using various adsorption kinetic and thermodynamic models. The pesudo-second order and Elovich models fitted the experimental data. And the intraparticle diffusions model fitted the experimental data well at the second stage of adsorption (>30 min), indicating that the intraparticle diffusion in the Cr(VI) adsorption process was rate-limiting step. Combined with thermodynamic analysis, the activation energy (21.38 kJ·mol−1) suggested that the adsorption process was chemisorption nature. The results demonstrated that the intercalation of CrO42− into the interlyer spaces of the MgAlO C occurred by the reconstruction, and followed by the anion-exchange of interlayer –OH and CrO42− anions companying with diffusion in the entire adsorption process.

Cu-loaded MgAl hydrotalcite catalysts were synthesized by impregnation method and further used for catalytic wet peroxidation (CWPO) of methyl orange (MO) using hydrogen peroxide as oxidant. The synthesized catalysts have been characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM/EDS, TG/DTA, XPS, H 2 -TPR and BET. The characterizations showed that a good dispersion of Cu species inside the MgAl hydrotalcite supports, where Cu 2+ and Cu + species were coexistence, mainly existed as Cu 2+ ↔ Cu + pairs. The CuMgAlO catalyst showed the highest catalytic activity due to the high content of Cu 2+ ↔ Cu + pairs, stable performance during reuse for five cycles with fewer copper leaching. The degradation mechanism of MO was determined by UV-vis, ATR-FTIR and GC–MS. The hydroxyl radicals (HO ) induced strong oxidizing effect, where the azo groups ( N N−) double bonds would be first attacked by the hydroxyl radical and other free radicals. With the continuous oxidization, these intermediates could be oxidized to the final oxidation products, such as water and carbon dioxide.

A general model of community network with hybrid coupling is proposed in this paper. In the community network model with hybrid coupling, the inner connections are in the same type of coupling within the same community and in different types of coupling in different communities. The connections between different pair of communities are also nonidentical. Cluster synchronization of community network with hybrid coupling is investigated via adaptive couplings control scheme. Effective controllers are designed for constructing an effective control scheme and adjusting automatically the adaptive external coupling strength by taking external coupling strength as adaptive variables on a small fraction of network edges. Moreover, the impact of the topology on the synchronizability of community network is investigated. The numerical results reveal that the number of links between communities and the degree of the connector nodes have significant effects on the synchronization performance.

The modification of hydrotalcite (LDH) by (NH4)2SO4 was investigated in order to apply the modified LDH (MLDH) as an adsorbent in the removal of Pb(II). During the SO42– modification, the exchange process between SO42– and CO32– in interlayer spaces took place along with Mg2+ partial dissolution from edges of the brucite sheets, which provided active sites for Pb(II) bonding to the adsorbent particles. The modification could reduce the permanent positive charge density from 2.31 and 1.20 C/m2 and increased the surface area from 98.7 to 104.5 m2/g, which enhanced the Pb(II) sorption performance of the adsorbent due to more lead salts precipitates by binding Pb(II) with SO42− in the interlayer space, or probably including with SO42– attached on the surface of the particles. It could be concluded that the sorption process was chemisorption and diffusion mixed type sorption process, but chemisorption was dominant compared with diffusion.

The LDO, calcined product of the Mg/Al-CO3 hydrotalcite, was used as a dual-functional adsorbent/catalyst material for the removal of binary heavy metal ions and the catalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO). The adsorption properties for Cu2+ cations and Cr(VI) anions were investigated in depth in single and co-adsorption systems. The results showed that the LDO demonstrated 0.80 and 2.90 mmol/g adsorption capacities in single Cu2+ (1.6 mmol/L) and Cr(VI) (4.0 mmol/L) systems, respectively. In co-adsorption system, Cu2(OH)3Cl precipitation, isomorphic substitution of Mg2+ sites by Cu2+ and intercalation of CrO42– into the interlayers played important roles. On the LDO, Cu2+ and Cr(VI) presented synergetic effect, resulting in an increase in both Cu2+ and Cr(VI) adsorption capacities. In addition, the spent adsorbents were employed as a catalyst for methyl orange (MO) degradation. The Cr-Cu-RLDO, a calcined product of the spent adsorbent in the co-adsorption system, indicated the high activity with 86.5% degradation rate of MO in the presence of H2O2. The existence of Cu and Cr elements in the catalyst was one of the causes of the enhanced degradation of MO.

In this paper, the synchronization of a fractional-order colored complex dynamical network model is studied for the first time. In this network model, color edges imply that both the outer coupling topology and the inner interactions between any pair of nodes may be different, and color nodes mean that local dynamics may be different. Based on the stability theory of fractional-order systems, the scheme of synchronization for fractional-order colored complex dynamical networks is presented. To achieve the synchronization of a complex fractional-order edge-colored network, the open-plus-closed-loop (OPCL) strategy is adopted and effective controllers for synchronization are designed. The open-plus-closed-loop (OPCL) strategy avoids the need for computation of eigenvalues of a very large matrix. Then, a synchronization method for a class of fractional-order colored complex network, containing both colored edges and colored nodes, is developed and some effective synchronization conditions via close-loop control are presented. Two examples of numerical simulations are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.

We investigated heterothiometallic W(Mo)/S/Cu clusters [NH 4 ] 2 [MS 4 Cu n X n ] (M = W, Mo; X = Br, I; n = 2, 4, 6) as novel copper(I) catalysts for Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions. The experiments indicate that the thiometallic ligands can stabilize copper(I) ions and improve their solubility. Interestingly, these cluster compounds have very different catalytic performances in copper(I)-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloadditions (CuAACs), which may correlate to their different redox potentials. Cluster [NH 4 ] 2 [MS 4 Cu 4 I 4 ] was found to be a very robust and efficient catalyst of CuAACs, and was utilized to synthesize a variety of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles in excellent yields at room temperature under polar solvent or solvent-free conditions.

The dissolution behavior of Mg–Al–CO32– hydrotalcite (AHT) in aqueous solution was studied. The AHT dissolution strongly depended on pH and temperature, and the dissolution of AHT fitted the surface chemical reaction model well. The apparent activation energy during the dissolution process was 34.11 kJ/mol, which further confirmed that the dissolution was controlled by the surface chemical reaction. During the SO42– modification, the exchange process between SO42– and CO32– in interlayer spaces of the AHT took place along with Mg2+ partial dissolution from edges of the brucite sheets. On the other hand, the modification mechanism of the AHT was discussed based on the dissolution–reprecipitation (D–R) mechanism. The modification process was suggested to occur on the solid/water interface, i.e., dissolution of Al-ions and Mg2+, adsorption and reprecipitation of the Al aqua ions on the surface of the solids.

Magnetic Mg–Fe–CO 3 hydrotalcites (LDHs) with different Mg/Fe molar ratios were prepared and their microstructure and surface chemical properties were characterized. The particles were used to hydrolyze cellulose with β -1,4-glycosidic bonds. The catalytic activity relating to the electron–hole pairs, basicity, crystallinity and specific surface area depended on the Mg/Fe molar ratio. The LDH with Mg/Fe molar ratio of 3.0 (LDH-3) possessed the best crystallinity, the strongest ability to trap electrons, the highest basicity and specific surface area, exhibiting the highest catalytic activity in the cellulose hydrolysis. It could be because of the high crystallinity and basicity, especially plentiful strong basic sites, made the LDH-3 a strong ability to trap electrons leading to great affinity for β -1,4-glycosidic bonds of cellulose. The LDH-3 showed a maximum yield (46.5%) of soluble reducing sugars with high glucose selectivity (84.4%) at 150 °C for 24 h. Moreover, the solid catalyst could be easily separated and possibly reused.

Objective to examine childbirth fear and identify its predictors among pregnant Chinese women. Design and Setting a cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire survey was conducted in a regional teaching hospital in Guangzhou, China, between October and November 2013. Participants 353 pregnant Chinese women who were at least 18 years old, with a singleton fetus, in the third trimester of pregnancy, not at high risk for complications of pregnancy, and not having had a previous caesarean section. Measurements a social-demographic data sheet; the Chinese version of the Childbirth Attitude Questionnaire and the Spielberger׳s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; and the short form of 32-item Chinese Childbirth Self-Efficacy Inventory. Findings the pregnant Chinese women reported moderate levels of childbirth fear. The pregnant Chinese women who were younger, with lower educational level, not satisfied with their husbands׳ support, and with previous experience of miscarriage reported higher level of childbirth fear. Pregnant women׳s childbirth self-efficacy, state anxiety and trait anxiety were correlated with childbirth fear. The best-fit regression analysis revealed four variables that explained 28% of variance in childbirth fear: trait anxiety, state anxiety, age and previous experience of miscarriage. Conclusion this study highlighted the connection between childbirth fear, state and trait anxiety, childbirth self-efficacy, age, education and previous miscarriage among pregnant Chinese women. Implications for practice the CAQ was an appropriate method to measure childbirth fear in pregnant Chinese women. The health-care professionals should be sensitive toward issues that could affect levels of childbirth fear in pregnant Chinese women, including age, education and previous miscarriage.

A rapid and simple approach to prepare the dielectric buffer layers is of crucial importance for the development of long-range surface plasmon resonance (LRSPR) sensors. In this regard, we describe for the first time the use of plasma polymerized fluorocarbon thin films as the dielectric buffer layers for the construction of LRSPR sensors. The fluorocarbon films were achieved by radio frequency plasma polymerization of perfluorooctyl ethylene (PFOE) at continuous wave mode with an input power of 60 Watts. The resulting ppPFOE exhibited good adhesion with both the glass substrate and the gold superstrate, and also remained relatively stable in aqueous solutions as seen by optical waveguide spectroscopy (OWS). The obtained LRSPR sensor consisting of a SF11-ppPFOE-Au structure was employed for the detection of both the bulk refractive index variation and the protein adsorption.

Ultrafine Mg/Al hydrotalcite particles (RMAH) were synthesized by co-precipitation in high-gravity environment generated by a rotating packed bed reactor with (NH 4 ) 2 CO 3 as precipitant. Sodium tripolyphosphate modified RMAH (S-RMAH) was investigated as potential flame retardant for polypropylene (PP) material. The RMAH and S-RMAH materials were characterized using XRD, SEM/EDS, TG–DTG, FT-IR, BET, particle size distribution, pH point of zero charge and so on. The S-RMAH particles which were coated by P 3 O 10 5 − possessed smaller particle sizes and narrower sizes range, and their surface property was modified from hydrophilic to hydrophobic nature. As novel functional fire-retarding nanofillers, the RMAH and S-RMAH were used to prepare PP/RMAH and PP/S-RMAH composites, aiming to investigate the effect of the nanofillers on the flammability, compatibility and mechanical properties of PP material. The thermal stability, morphological and flame retardant properties of the two composites were determined by SEM, TGA, LOI and UL94 analyses, and their mechanical properties were also characterized. The results showed that the RMAH and S-RMAH could significantly enhance the thermal stability, flammability and mechanical properties of PP material, and the S-RMAH had better performances as a flame retardant for PP than the RMAH. It offered a new approach to preparing ultrafine hydrotalcite nanoparticles with high anti-flaming performances.

In this study, Mg–Al–CO3 hydrotalcite (Mg–Al LDH) as a promising base catalyst was used for the synthesis of 1-methoxy-2-propanol (MP) from propylene oxide and methanol. Mg–Al LDHs were prepared by urea decomposition and coprecipitation methods. The effect of preparation method on the microstructure, the basic properties and the catalytic performance of Mg–Al LDHs was studied combining XRD, FTIR, TG–DTA, SEM and Hammett titration method. The results indicate that the urea method increased the crystallinity of Mg–Al LDH with well-developing hexagonal plate-shaped particles. Compared to the coprecipitation sample (T-LDH), the urea sample (U-LDH) possessed a higher crystallinity with larger specific surface area and aspect ratio, which also related with a higher catalytic activity. High crystallinity and large specific surface area were associated with more acid–base hydroxyl pairs (basic sites). The metal oxide obtained by calcining the U-LDH at 500 °C had the highest catalytic performance due to the highest basicity.

Temperature plays a major role in Cr(VI) adsorption although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship among the temperature, adsorption properties and microstructure characteristics. In this work, the calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcites (MMO) as adsorbents were investigated for the Cr(VI) removal in aqueous solution. The effect of calcination and adsorption temperatures on the Cr(VI) removal of the MMO was studied based on the aspects of the microstructure characteristics and adsorption properties. The results showed that the sample calcined at 500 °C (MMO500) had the largest adsorption capacity of 94.64 mg·g − 1 for Cr(VI). For MMO500 as an adsorbent, the experiment data were fitted well into Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Combined with thermodynamic analysis, the activation energy (22.42 kJ·mol − 1 ) suggested that the adsorption process was chemisorption nature and diffusion was the rate limiting step. The further research showed that the film diffusion was more dominant than the intra-particle diffusion. The results demonstrated that the MMO500 was a promising adsorbent in the Cr(VI) pollution control.

Background and object Apoptosis is a major form of cell death in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) pathogenesis and may represent a target for treatment. Diosmin (DM), a micronized purified flavonoid drug, possesses an anti-apoptotic effect in the treatment of varicose veins and renal injury. However, the effect of DM in the acute phase of cerebral I/R is not clear. This study investigated DM’s role in cerebral I/R and its potential mechanism. Methods Male CD-1 mice were subjected to transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO). Experiment 1 was used to evaluate the time course expression of Janus tyrosine kinase-2 (JAK2), signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), phosphorylated JAK2 (pJAK2) and phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) after cerebral I/R, and six time points were included. In experiment 2, DM was given orally at doses of 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg for 6 consecutive days before receiving tMCAO. At 24 h after reperfusion, neurological deficit, Nissl staining, brain water content and infarct volume were examined. Bcl-2, Bax, pJAK2, and pSTAT3 were detected by immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR and Western blot. Confocal microscope was used to observe the location of pSTAT3 in the cerebral cortex. Results Compared with Vehicle group, the high dose of DM significantly alleviated neurological deficit, brain water content, infarct volume, increased the Nissl-positive cells, upregulated the expression of pJAK2, pSTAT3 and Bcl-2 and downregulated Bax ( P Conclusion These results showed that DM protected against cerebral I/R injury through activating JAK2/STAT3 signal pathway.

Usually the functioning of a transcription factor to regulate a target gene requires a modifying enzyme. The triplet of transcription factor, mediating enzyme and target gene, MFG triplet for short, is like a switchboard that transmits signals from signaling network to gene regulatory network. Using PTM-Switchboard database, we systematically studied the MFG triplets in yeast and constructed a predictor to identify MFG triplets based on functional profiles of each element in the triplet. The sensitivity (Sn) and specificity (Sp) of Nearest Neighbor Algorithm (NNA) were 75.106% and 99.585%, respectively. Our method had higher sensitivity than Bayesian network (NaiveBayes), decision tree (J48), Random Forest (RandomForest) and k-nearest neighbor (KNN, K=3). The established predictor may be used to identify MFG triplet, which can link up cellular signaling transduction with transcriptional regulation, two major subjects in biological research.

The aim of this study was to evaluate if re-biopsy with 10-gauge vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) could get definitive diagnosis for breast lesions with ultrasound (US) imaging-histologic discordance at 16-gauge core needle biopsy (CNB). From January 2007 to June 2008, a consecutive biopsy was performed on 1069 lesions with US-guided 16-gauge CNB. A total of 28 lesions were considered to be US imaging-histologic discordant and all of them underwent subsequent 10-gauge VAB. All malignant lesions located at VAB were treated with subsequent surgery and all benign lesions at VAB were followed up for at least 1 year. Six of the 28 lesions (21.4%) had pathologic upgrade after VAB. In them, one case upgraded from adenosis to ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS); one case upgraded from adenosis to infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC); one case upgraded from atypical ductal hyperplasia to IDC; two cases upgraded from intraductal papilloma to DCIS; and one case upgraded from sclerosing adenosis to invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). The subsequent surgery further demonstrated the diagnosis of VAB for all the lesions with histologic upgrade. Re-biopsy could improve diagnostic accuracy in patients with breast lesions showing imaging-histologic discordance during CNB, and 10-gauge VAB was a valuable method to deal with re-biopsy.

This paper addresses a unified mathematical expression describing a class of chaotic systems, for which the problem of adaptive synchronization between two nearly identical chaotic and hyper-chaotic systems with uncertain parameters is studied. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, a novel adaptive synchronization controller is designed, and the analytic expression of the controller and the adaptive laws of parameters are developed. The controller is simple and systemic, no parameters of the slave system are included in the controller, and, for some specific error systems, the controller can be simplified ulteriorly. New chaotic and a new hyper-chaotic systems with uncertain parameters are taken as the examples to show the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive synchronization method.

Titania nanoparticles were obtained by an ultrasonic assistant sol–gel method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermal analysis. The optical absorption of the samples has been measured by photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy, which is powerful for detecting small amount of strongly scattering materials. The structural variations of the sample during the phase transitions were firstly studied using Nd 3+ as an absorption spectral probe. The PA results show that the TiO 2 gel heated at 50 °C is basically amorphous and still contains abundant trapped water and ethanol, which makes the environment around Nd 3+ similar with that of its aqueous ion. For the sample calcined at higher temperature, the f–f transitions of Nd 3+ exhibit a continuous red shift along with the gel-to-anatase transformation, indicating an increase of the “degree of covalency” for Nd 3+ bonding. For the sample calcined at 1100 °C, however, the f–f transitions of Nd 3+ show blue shifts and the hypersensitive transition intensities of Nd 3+ decrease, indicating an increase of ionicity for Nd 3+ bonding. This can be attributed to the segregation of Nd 3+ ions to the external surface, forming Nd 4 Ti 9 O 24 during the anatase-to-rutile transition.

Nanocrystalline titania as photocatalyst has attracted considerable attention for its potential use in environmental cleaning. Recently, lanthanide ions doped titania samples have been shown to increase the photocatalytic efficiency of selected reactions. In this work, TiO2 nanoparticles doped with Er3+ were prepared via an ultrasonic assisted sol-gel method. The optical properties of the samples were determined by photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy. It was found that the absorption edge shifted to lower wavelength when the particle size fell into nanometer range, which is the evidence of a quantum size effect. The nature of ligand bonding to Er3+ and the structural properties were investigated with the PA absorptions of the f-f transitions of Er3+, which are sensitive to the local environment. The results showed that TiO2 gel heated at 70 °C still contained abundant trapped water and ethanol, and the environment around Er3+ was similar to the one in the aqueous ion. The “degree of covalency” for Er3+ bonding increased continuously during the gel-to-anatase transition. For the sample calcined at 1100 °C, however, the f-f transitions of Er3+ showed blue shifts and the intensity of the hypersensitive transition decreased, indicating an increase of ionicity in the Er3+ bonding. This can be attributed to the segregation of Er3+ ions to the external surface, forming Er2Ti2O7 during the anatase-to-rutile transition, which was confirmed with XRD and TEM measurements.

Lanthanide-containing liquid crystals exhibiting smectic A phase close to room temperature were obtained. Photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy was used to study the spectral properties and phase transitions of liquid crystalline metal complexes. It was found that PA intensity of the ligand had a relationship with the probability of nonradiative transitions, which increased in the order of Eu(tta)3L2

In this paper, we apply a new machine learning method which is called support vector machine to approach the prediction of protein structural class. The support vector machine method is performed based on the database derived from SCOP which is based upon domains of known structure and the evolutionary relationships and the principles that govern their 3D structure. As a result, high rates of both self-consistency and jackknife test are obtained. This indicates that the structural class of a protein inconsiderably correlated with its amino acid composition, and the support vector machine can be referred as a powerful computational tool for predicting the structural classes of proteins.

Support Vector Machine (SVM), which is one kind of learning machines, was applied to predict the subcellular location of proteins from their amino acid composition. In this research, the proteins are classified into the following 12 groups: (1) chloroplast, (2) cytoplasm, (3) cytoskeleton, (4) endoplasmic reticulum, (5) extracall, (6) Golgi apparatus, (7) lysosome, (8) mitochondria, (9) nucleus, (10) peroxisome, (11) plasma membrane, and (12) vacuole, which have covered almost all the organelles and subcellular compartments in an animal or plant cell. The examination for the self-consistency and the jackknife test of the SVMs method was tested for the three sets: 2022 proteins, 2161 proteins, and 2319 proteins. As a result, the correct rate of self-consistency and jackknife test reaches 91 and 82% for 2022 proteins, 89 and 75% for 2161 proteins, and 85 and 73% for 2319 proteins, respectively. Furthermore, the predicting rate was tested by the three independent testing datasets containing 2240 proteins, 2513 proteins, and 2591 proteins. The correct prediction rates reach 82, 75, and 73% for 2240 proteins, 2513 proteins, and 2591 proteins, respectively.

A method is proposed to predict the liquid thermal conductivity of HCFC and HFC refrigerant mixtures, using the thermal conductivities, the molecular weights, the mass and mole fractions, the critical temperatures and the dipole moments of the components. The method can also be extended to mixtures of n-paraffin hydrocarbons. The method was checked against experimental data in the literature and compared with other prediction methods. The results showed that the present method is more accurate than other methods, though its form is very simple. The relative deviations of the predicted thermal conductivities from the experimental data are

We aim to track mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after magnetically labeling and test the ability of these cells differentiate into cardiomyocytes in vivo. Therefore, 20 swines were divided into four groups, sham-operated group (n=3); acute myocardial infarction (AMI) transplanted with PBS (n=3); labeled MSCs (n=7) and unlabeled MSCs (n=7) group. 10(7) labeled or unlabeled cells were intracoronary delivered after MI (4.8+/-1.3 days), and serial cardiac MR (3.0T) imaging studies were performed at 0, 4 and 8 weeks after transplantation, then the results were confirmed by histological and western blot analysis. We demonstrated that labeled MSCs can be reliably detected and tracked in vivo using MR imaging. In particular, we provided the evidence of regeneration of labeled MSCs in vivo by histological examination and western blot analysis.

This article deals with the three-dimensional analysis of internal flaws occurring in the welded seams of pressure vessels so as to determine the real location of the defects. For this purpose stereoscopic twin radiographs were used. Owing to the fact that radiographs are taken with films in circular form whereas the films have to be assessed in the flat condition, it is necessary to establish the relevant analytic relation between the circular and the flat film. To this end some equations were first established for the image points of the assumed flat film and that of the circular film, leading to the relevant formulae for ascertaining the spacial point location of the defect in the welded seam. Defects of different locations bring about different photocouple-points. The real location of the defect can be determined through its coordinates, ZA, XA and YA obtained through film observation and calculation.