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The star fruit is a perennial woody fruit tree, which can blossom and bear fruit many times a year. The time and quantity of flowering are the key indicators of its economic value. However, the flowering molecular mechanism of star fruit is still unknown. This study provides a genome-wide analysis of the key flowering genes of star fruit. Based on a previous morphological study of flower bud differentiation, the reproductive buds, vegetative buds and mature leaves of star fruit were sampled for transcriptome analysis. The results showed that the expression of GI, COL4, COL5, FT, FCA, FVE, PIF4, LFY, SVP-like, AP1 and FUL was correlated with floral induction and transition. The expression of TFL1, SVP-like genes (Yangtao2015203 and Yangtao2021074) was correlated with the inhibition of floral transition. Thus, we proposed a putative network of flower blooming in star fruit. This study provides useful information for investigating the genetic mechanism of flowering in star fruit and other perennial woody fruit trees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Acute lung injury (ALI)/ acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was increasingly recognized as one of the most severe acute hyperimmune response of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Clofazimine (CFZ) has attracted attention due to its anti-inflammatory property in immune diseases as well as infectious diseases. However, the role and potential molecular mechanism of CFZ in anti-inflammatory responses remain unclear. Methods: We analyze the protein expression profiles of CFZ and LPS from Raw264.7 macrophages using quantitative proteomics. Next, the protective effect of CFZ on LPS-induced inflammatory model is assessed, and its underlying mechanism is validated by molecular biology analysis. Results: LC–MS/MS-based shotgun proteomics analysis identified 4746 (LPS) and 4766 (CFZ) proteins with quantitative information. The key proteins and their critical signal transduction pathways including TLR4/NF-κB/HIF-1α signaling was highlighted, which was involved in multiple inflammatory processes. A further analysis of molecular biology revealed that CFZ could significantly inhibit the proliferation of Raw264.7 macrophages, decrease the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β, alleviate lung histological changes and pulmonary edema, improve the survival rate, and down-regulate TLR4/NF-κB/HIF-1α signaling in LPS model. Conclusion: This study can provide significant insight into the proteomics-guided pharmacological mechanism study of CFZ and suggest potential therapeutic strategies for infectious disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most common methods of predicting a gas/water two-phase relative permeability include experimental measurement, theoretical simulation, and numerical calculation. The experimental method is relatively accurate but time-consuming and laborious. The method of theoretical modeling involves a complicated solving process, and the range of application of the numerical calculation method is comparatively narrow. In this work, based on the least square support vector machine (LSSVM) combined with the gray optimization algorithm (GWO), the prediction model (GWO-LSSVM) of the gas/water phase permeability is established. The model was validated by the gas-water two-phase relative permeability data obtained by a non-steady-state method from a gas reservoir under high pressure/high temperature (133–152.5°C, 50.3–55 MPa) conditions. The irreducible water saturation (Swc), absolute permeability (K), porosity (j), and gas saturation (Sg) have been set as the input parameters. The water phase relative permeability (Krw) and the gas phase relative permeability (Krg) have been set as output variables. The training data of water phase and gas phase relative permeability were 147 and 141, respectively. The prediction data were 32 and 58, respectively. The results show that the absolute relative deviation (AARD) of Krw for the presented GWO-LSSVM model is 3.69%, while that of Krg is 2.92%, showing that the model can accurately predict the gas-water relative permeability at high temperature and high pressure. The method provides a new and effective instrument for estimating the gaswater two-phase relative permeability parameters in the development of gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of trace amounts of organic amines is significantly important for public security and environment protection. One luminescence functional Cu(I)-I coordination compound, Cu2I2(3-pc)4 (1) (3-pc = 3-picoline) was selected for detecting of organic amines by electron transfer between 1 and organic amine molecules. Detailed investigation of the luminescence properties of 1 revealed that it can sense a family of organic amines both in liquid and vapor phase at room temperature. The fluorescent experiments show that 1 can detect a family of organic amines solution by fluorescent quenching with different degree. Meanwhile, the visual colors of 1 changed when exposed to different amines vapors. The detection limits of all organic amines could reach about 10−5 mol L−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumption of constant reservoir permeability is not strictly applicable to reservoirs where rock properties undergo changes, such as stress-sensitive porous media. Most researches on the permeability stress sensitivity mainly concentrated on experimental approach, physical modeling or pressure transient analysis, whereas rate transient analysis does not attract much attention. Based on source/sink function method, this paper develops a seepage model of multi-fractured horizontal well incorporating stress-sensitive permeability. The model is semi-analytically solved by fracture discretization, Pedrosa's transformation, perturbation theory, and integration transformation method. Not only pressure transient analysis, but also rate transient analysis is separately performed with relevant parameters. The model presented here can provide some insights into well dynamic forecasting during exploiting such reservoirs, and contribute to establish the theoretical basic for transient analysis efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The solubility data for ternary systems Na2SO4–Na2B4O7–H2O and Li2B4O7–Na2B4O7–H2O at 273 K were obtained experimentally by the isothermal solution equilibrium method, and the solid phases were analyzed by X-ray diffraction. On the base of the experimental results, the stable phase equilibrium diagrams for these two systems were constructed at 273 K. The stable phase equilibrium diagrams indicate that both phase diagrams show an invariant point, two univariant solubility curves and two solid phase crystalline regions. The two solid phases corresponding to the invariant point of ternary system Na2SO4–Na2B4O7–H2O are Na2B4O7 · 10H2O and Na2SO4 · 10H2O, and the two crystallization regions of the ternary system Li2B4O7–Na2B4O7–H2O are Na2B4O7 · 10H2O and Li2B4O7 · 3H2O, respectively. Thus, the two ternary systems belong to simple co-saturated type without complex salt or solid solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new stochastic nonlocal denoising method based on adaptive patch-size is presented. The quality of restored image is improved by choosing the optimal nonlocal similar patch-size for each site of image individually. The method contains two phase. The first phase is to search the similar patches base on adaptive patch-size. The second phase is to design the denoising algorithm by making use of similar image patches obtained in the first step. The multiple clusters of similar patches for each pixel point are searched by using Markov-chain Monte Carlo sampling many times. Following, we adjust the patch-size according to the consistency of multiple clusters. This processing is repeated until we obtain the optimal patch-size and corresponding optimal patch cluster. We get the estimation of noise-free patch cluster by employing modified two-directional non-local method. Furthermore, the denoised image is obtained by using the method of superposition approach. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the method is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-liquid equilibria in the quaternary systems KCl-MgCl2-SrCl2-H2O and NaCl-KCl-SrCl2-H2O at 348 K were measured by the isothermal solution saturation method. The composition of the equilibrium solid phase, solubilities of salts, and densities of saturated solution in the two systems were determined. Phase diagrams, water content diagrams and solution density diagrams of quaternary systems were plotted according to experimental data. The phase diagram of the quaternary system NaCl-KCl-SrCl2-H2O has one invariant point, three univariant curves as the boundary of NaCl, KCl and SrCl2 · 2H2O. This phase diagrams were simple co-saturation type without complex salt and solid solution. For the quaternary system KCl-MgCl2-SrCl2-H2O, one complex salt KCl · MgCl2 · 6H2O (Car) had been found in this system, consisted of five univariant curves, two invariant points and four crystallization regions of MgCl2 · 6H2O (Bis), KCl, SrCl2 · 2H2O and KCl · MgCl2 · 6H2O. And the densities transformation rules were simply discussed. Simultaneously, the solubilities and densities data in invariant point of the quaternary system NaCl-KCl-SrCl2-H2O had been compared with the experimental data of previous researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most researches of the threshold pressure gradient in tight gas reservoirs are experimental and mainly focus on the transient pressure response, without paying much attention to the transient rate decline. This paper establishes a dual-porosity rate transient decline model for the horizontal well with consideration of the threshold pressure gradient, which represents the non-Darcy flow in a fracture system. The solution is obtained by employing the Laplace transform and the orthogonal transform. The bi-logarithmic type curves of the dimensionless production rate and derivative are plotted by the Stehfest numerical inversion method. Seven different flow regimes are identified and the effects of the influence factors such as the threshold pressure gradient, the elastic storativity ratio, and the cross flow coefficient are discussed. The presented research could interpret the production behavior more accurately and effectively for tight gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The point defect concentrations of L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er) were systematically investigated using the first-principle calculations with thermodynamics approach. The results show that the constitutional point defects of off-stoichiometric L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er) prefer to occur in X sublattice, that is X anti-site in X-rich alloy and X vacancy in Al-rich alloy, respectively. And Al anti-site also has a high density in Al-rich L12-Al3X(Sc, Er). It is found that the point defect concentrations of stoichiometric L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr) follow in the sequence as: Al vacancies (VAl) > X vacancies (VX) > X anti-sites (XAl) > Al anti-sites (AlX). The point defect concentration of stoichiometric Al3Er is similar to that of L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr). The result suggests that the Al vacancy (VAl) is a dominant point defect in L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er). A simple parameter HVX-HVAl can be used for a rough estimation of the point defect concentrations in L12-Al3X structure. Some rules of point defect concentrations for L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er) are also revealed.Graphical Abstract: The composition dependence of point defect concentrations is observed to show a similar trend for L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er), which is obviously different from that of Al3Li. The constitutional point defects of off-stoichiometric L12-Al3X(Sc, Zr, Er) prefer to occur in X sublattice, that is X anti-site in X-rich alloy and X vacancy in Al-rich alloy, respectively. Al anti-site also has a high density in Al-rich L12-Al3X(Sc, Er). Some physical parameters are important factors in understanding the rules of point defect concentrations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine how fracture-vuggy structure, pressure, and injection-production mode influence displacement efficiency in the water flooding process in fracture-vuggy reservoirs, two types of models were built based on the characteristic of such reservoir: two fracture models with different fracture apertures and two fracture-vuggy models with different sizes of vugs. A series of two-phase fluid flow experiments was conducted to study oil and water distribution as well as flow pattern in the water flooding process. Results show that displacement efficiency is significantly influenced by injection-production mode and injection pressure. By contrast, its relationship with the size of vugs is insignificant. Under the same injection-production mode, high-to-low recovery that corresponds to model type includes the small fracture, large fracture, small vug, and large vug models. Under the same pore volume multiple, high-to-low recovery that corresponds to model includes the small fracture, small vug, large fracture, and large vug models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new biphenanthrene glucoside, named 2′,7-dihydroxy-4,4′-dimethoxy-1,1′-biphenanthrene-2,7′-di-O- β-D-glucoside, together with four known compounds were isolated from the tubers of Cremastra appendiculata (D. Don) Makino. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data. The cytotoxic activitiy of the new compound and four known compounds was tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isorhamnetin has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-proliferative effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of isorhamnetin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice by inhibiting the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). The effects of isorhamnetin on LPS-induced lung pathological damage, wet/dry ratios and the total protein level in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), inflammatory cytokine release, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, and malondialdehyde (MDA) level were examined. In addition, the COX-2 activation in lung tissues was detected by Western blot. Isorhamnetin pretreatment improved the mice survival rates. Moreover, isorhamnetin pretreatment significantly attenuated edema and the pathological changes in the lung and inhibited protein extravasation in BALF. Isorhamnetin also significantly decreased the levels of inflammatory cytokines in BALF. In addition, isorhamnetin markedly prevented LPS-induced oxidative stress. Furthermore, isorhamnetin pretreatment significantly suppressed LPS-induced activation of COX-2. Isorhamnetin has been demonstrated to protect mice from LPS-induced ALI by inhibiting the expression of COX-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Period estimation of X-ray pulsars plays an important role in X-ray pulsar based navigation (XPNAV). The fast Lomb periodogram is suitable for period estimation of X-ray pulsars, but its performance in terms of frequency resolution is limited by data length and observation time. Longer observation time or oversampling can be employed to improve frequency analysis results, but with greatly increased computational complexity and large amounts of sampling data. This greatly restricts real-time autonomous navigation based on X-ray pulsars. To resolve this issue, a new method based on frequency subdivision and the continuous Lomb periodogram (CLP) is proposed to improve precision of period estimation using short-time observation data. In the proposed method, an initial frequency is first calculated using fast Lomb periodogram. Then frequency subdivision is performed near the initial frequency to obtain frequencies with higher precision. Finally, a refined period is achieved by calculating the CLP in the obtained frequencies. Real data experiments show that when observation time is shorter than 135 s, the proposed method improves period estimation precision by 1-3 orders of magnitude compared with the fast Lomb periodogram and fast Fourier transform (FFT) methods, with only a slight increase in computational complexity. Furthermore, the proposed method performs better than efsearch (a period estimation method of HEAsoft) with lower computational complexity. The proposed method is suitable for estimating periods of X-ray pulsars and obtaining the rotation period of variable stars and other celestial bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transient flow model of tree-shaped fractal reservoirs is built by embedding a fracture network simulated by a tree-shaped fractal network into a matrix system. The model can be solved using the Laplace conversion method. The dimensionless bottom hole pressure can be obtained using the Stehfest numerical inversion method. The bi-logarithmic type curves for the tree-shaped fractal reservoirs are thus obtained. The pressure transient responses under different fractal factors are discussed. The factors with a primary effect on the inter-porosity flow regime include the initial branch number N , the length ratio α, and the branch angle θ. The diameter ratio β has a significant effect on the fracture radial flow, the inter-porosity and the total system radial flow regimes. The total branch level M of the network mainly influences the total system radial flow regime. The model presented in this paper provides a new methodology for analyzing and predicting the pressure dynamic characteristics of naturally fractured reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A2455G is a common polymorphism in CYP1A1, showing differences in its biological functions. Case-control studies have been performed to elucidate the role of A2455G in cancer; however, the results are conflicting and heterogeneous. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between cancer susceptibility and A2455G (64,593 cases and 91,056 controls from 272 studies) polymorphism in different inheritance models. We used odds ratios with 95 % confidence intervals to assess the strength of the association. Overall, significantly increased cancer risk was observed in any genetic model (dominant model, odds ration [OR] = 1.19, 95 % confidence interval [CI] = 1.13-1.25; recessive model: OR = 1.41, 95 % CI = 1.29-1.54; additive model: OR = 1.49, 95 % CI = 1.35-1.65) when all eligible studies were pooled into the meta-analysis. In further stratified and sensitivity analyses, the elevated risk remained for subgroups of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, hepatocellular cancer, head and neck cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, and prostate cancer, but these associations vary in different ethnic populations. In summary, this meta-analysis suggests the participation of A2455G in the susceptibility for some cancers, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and so on. Moreover, ethnicity, histological type of cancer, and smokers seem to contribute to varying expressions of the A2455G on some cancers risk. In additon, our work also points out the importance of new studies for A2455G polymorphism in some cancer types, such as gallbladder cancer, Indians of breast cancer, and Caucasians of ovarians, because these cancer types had high heterogeneity in this meta-analysis ( I > 75 %). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dandelion-like TiO microspheres consisting of numerous rutile single-crystalline nanorods were synthesized for the first time by a hydrothermal method. Their crystal structure, morphology and electrochemical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and galvanostatic charge and discharge tests. The results show that the synthesized TiO microspheres exhibit good rate and cycle performances as anode materials of lithium ion batteries. It can be found that the dandelion-like structure provides a larger specific surface area and the single-crystalline nanorod provides a stable structure and fast pathways for electron and lithium ion transport, which contribute to the rate and cycle performances of the battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels are tetrameric assemblies of transmembrane Kv proteins with cytosolic N- and C-termini. The N-terminal domain of Kv1 proteins binds to β-subunits, but the role of the C-terminus is less clear. Therefore, we studied the role of the C-terminus in regulating Kv1.5 channel and its interactions with Kvβ-subunits. When expressed in COS-7 cells, deletion of the C-terminal domain of Kv1.5 did not affect channel gating or kinetics. Coexpression of Kv1.5 with Kvβ3 increased current inactivation, whereas Kvβ2 caused a hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of current activation. Inclusion of NADPH in the patch pipette solution accelerated the inactivation of Kv1.5-Kvβ3 currents. In contrast, NADP decreased the rate and the extent of Kvβ3-induced inactivation and reversed the hyperpolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of activation induced by Kvβ2. Currents generated by Kv1.5ΔC+Kvβ3 or Kv1.5ΔC+Kvβ2 complexes did not respond to changes in intracellular pyridine nucleotide concentration, indicating that the C-terminus is required for pyridine nucleotide-dependent interactions between Kvβ and Kv1.5. A glutathione- S-transferase (GST) fusion protein containing the C-terminal peptide of Kv1.5 did not bind to apoKvβ2, but displayed higher affinity for Kvβ2:NADPH than Kvβ2:NADP. The GST fusion protein also precipitated Kvβ proteins from mouse brain lysates. Pull-down experiments, structural analysis and electrophysiological data indicated that a specific region of the C-terminus (Arg543-Val583) is required for Kvβ binding. These results suggest that the C-terminal domain of Kv1.5 interacts with β-subunits and that this interaction is essential for the differential regulation of Kv currents by oxidized and reduced nucleotides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the classical nonlinear partial differential equations are used to model the fractal reservoir, based on the assumption of low compressibility fluids, the effects of the quadratic gradient term are ignored, which would be questionable for mixed gas reservoirs and low permeability reservoirs. To consider the influence of the wellbore storage, the nonlinear mathematical flow model of the fractal multilayer reservoir is built in this paper, with three kinds of outer boundaries (infinite boundaries, constant pressure boundaries and closed boundaries). Using the Laplace transform method, the solutions for the dimensionless reservoir pressure and the bottom hole pressure in the Laplace space are obtained. An analysis shows that the solutions involve similar structures even for three different kinds of outer boundaries, and can be unified as a continuous fraction. The unified expression would make it more convenient to analyze the formation parameters, which greatly facilitates the development of the well test analysis software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existed evidences show that airborne transmission of human respiratory droplets may be related with the spread of some infectious disease, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and H1N1 pandemic. Non-pharmaceutical approaches, including ventilation system and personal protection, are believed to have certain positive effects on the reduction of co-occupant's inhalation. This work then aims to numerically study the performances of mouth covering on co-occupant's exposure under mixing ventilation (MV), under-floor air distribution (UFAD) and displacement ventilation (DV) system, using drift-flux model. Desk partition, as one generally employed arrangement in plan office, is also investigated under MV. The dispersion of 1, 5 and 10 μm droplet residuals are numerically calculated and CO is used to represent tracer gas. The results show that using mouth covering by the infected person can reduce the co-occupant's inhalation greatly by interrupting direct spread of the expelled droplets, and best performance can be achieved under DV since the coughed air is mainly confined in the microenvironment of the infected person. The researches under MV show that the two interventions, mouth covering and desk partition, achieve almost the same inhalation for fine droplets while the inhalation of the co-occupant is lower when using mouth covering for large droplets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relativistic problem of spinless particles with position-dependent mass subject to kink-like potentials (~tanh αx) is investigated. By using the basic concepts of the supersymmetric quantum mechanics formalism and the functional analysis method, we solve exactly the position-dependent effective mass Klein-Gordon equation with the vector and scalar kink-like potential coupling, and obtain the bound state solutions in the closed form. It is found that in the presence of position-dependent mass there exists the symmetry that the discrete positive energy spectra and negative energy spectra are symmetric about zero energy for the case of a mixed vector and scalar kink-like potential coupling, and in the presence of constant mass this symmetry only appears for the cases of a pure scalar kink-like potential coupling or massless particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microstructural evolution and element distribution of the Al-4Cu-Mg alloy during semi-solid compression were investigated, and the precipitate behavior and dislocation morphology were discussed. The experimental results show that the microstructure, the number of CuAl2 (θ phase) precipitates, and the dislocation density of the Al-4Cu-Mg alloy depend apparently on the process parameters. More segregation of Cu at the grain boundary happens with an increase of deformation temperature and a decrease of strain rate, leading to an increase in the number of θ phase. With an increase of height reduction, Cu segregation at the grain boundary decreases gradually. Moreover, unique dislocation morphologies including helical dislocations and dislocation loops appear at different process parameters and evolve to reduce the stored energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new phenanthrene glucosides, named 7-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenanthrene-2,8-di-O- β-D-glucoside ( 1), 8-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenanthrene-2,7-di-O- β-D-glucoside ( 2), together with three known compounds, were isolated from the tubers of Cremastra appendiculata (D. Don) Makino. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new biphenanthrene glucoside, named 2′,7′ -dihydroxy-4,4′-dimethoxy-1,1′-biphenanthrene-2,7-di-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, together with four known compounds, was isolated from the tubers of Cremastra appendiculata. This is the first reported occurrence of a biphenanthrene glucoside in the plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the factors favoring a positive prognosis for advanced primary peritoneal carcinoma (PPC). Twenty-four cases meeting the criteria for PPC were analyzed retrospectively for the clinicopathologic profiles. Immunohistochemistry was used to determine the expressions of p53, Top2α, Ki-67 and Her-2/neu. Then all these clinicopathological factors and molecular markers were correlated with the prognosis. There were 15 cases of primary peritoneal serous papillary carcinoma (PPSPC), 6 cases of mixed epithelial carcinoma (MEC) and 3 cases of malignant mixed Mullerian tumor (MMMT). All patients underwent cytoreductive surgery with optimal debulking achieved in 3 cases. Among those receiving first-line chemotherapy, 13 patients received the TP regimen (paclitaxel-cisplatin or carboplatin) and 7 patients received the PAC regimen (cisplatin-doxorubicin-cyclophosphamide). The median overall survival of all patients was 42 months, while the breakdown for survival time for patients with PPSPC, MMT and MEC was 44, 13 and 19 months, respectively. The expressions of p53, Top2α and Ki-67 were all demonstrated in 11 cases respectively. None showed the expression of Her-2/neu. There were significant differences in the median survival between patients with PPSPC and those with MMMT (44 months vs 13 months, P<0.05), also between patients receiving TP combination and those receiving the PAC regimen (75 months vs 28 months, P<0.05). Another significant difference in the median progression-free survival (PFS) was identified between patients with positive p53 immunostaining and those with negative p53 immunostaining (15 months vs 47 months, P<0.05), whereas age, menopausal status, residual tumor size and the other molecular factors did not significantly impact survival. Patients with PPC should be treated with a comprehensive management plan including appropriate cytoreductive surgery and responsive chemotherapy. Overestimating an optimal debulking surgery may not benefit survival. The pathologic subtype, chemotherapy regimen and p53 overexpression were significant prognostic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurement method is a decisive step for any calibration method. This paper studies the practical performance of a 5DOF manipulator based on a 3-RPS parallel mechanism. By comparing the controlling data that resides in parallel part and serial part at different orientations, a calibration method has been put forward and proved to be applicable. The precision of the calibrated model mainly depends on the number of measurements carried out. The distribution of measurement points also affects the precision and the measurement number could be significantly reduced if uniform distribution were ensured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the absorption of light energy exceeds the capacity for its utilization in photosynthesis, regulation of light harvesting is critical in order for photosynthetic organisms to minimize photo-oxidative damage. Thermal dissipation of excess absorbed light energy, measured as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence, is induced rapidly in response to excess light conditions, and it is known that xanthophylls such as zeaxanthin and lutein, the transthylakoid pH gradient, and the PsbS protein are involved in this mechanism. Although mutants affecting NPQ and the biosynthesis of zeaxanthin and lutein were originally isolated and characterized at the physiological level in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the molecular basis of several of these mutants, such as npq1 and lor1, has not been determined previously. The recent sequencing of the C. reinhardtii nuclear genome has facilitated the search for C. reinhardtii homologs of plant genes involved in xanthophyll biosynthesis and regulation of light harvesting. Here we report the identification of C. reinhardtii genes encoding PsbS and lycopene ɛ-cyclase, and we show that the lor1 mutation, which affects lutein synthesis, is located within the lycopene ɛ-cyclase gene. In contrast, no homolog of the plant violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) gene was found. Molecular markers were used to map the npq1 mutation, which affects VDE activity, as a first step toward the map-based cloning of the NPQ1 gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 4.4-kb EcoR1- EcoR1 DNA fragment from the Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris plasmid pDI-21 encoded the tagatose 1,6-bisphosphate (TBP) aldolase gene and the Lac-PTS genes. In vitro transcription-translation using Escherichia coli S30 extract showed the synthesis of 41 000-, 23 000- and 12 000-dalton proteins which correspond to the TBP-aldolase. Lac-PTS enzyme II, and factor III proteins respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ricin toxin A chain (RTA) binds to stalk P-proteins to reach the α-sarcin/ricin loop (SRL) where it cleaves a conserved adenine. Arginine residues at the RTA/RTB interface are involved in this interaction. To investigate the individual contribution of each arginine, we generated single, double and triple arginine mutations in RTA. The R235A mutation reduced toxicity and depurination activity more than any other single arginine mutation in yeast. Further reduction in toxicity, depurination activity and ribosome binding was observed when R235A was combined with a mutation in a nearby arginine. RTA interacts with the ribosome via a two-step process, which involves slow and fast interactions. Single arginine mutations eliminated the fast interactions with the ribosome, indicating that they increase the binding rate of RTA. Arginine residues form a positively charged patch to bind to negatively charged residues at the C-termini of P-proteins. When electrostatic interactions conferred by the arginines are lost, hydrophobic interactions are also abolished, suggesting that the hydrophobic interactions alone are insufficient to allow binding. We propose that Arg235 serves as an anchor residue and cooperates with nearby arginines and the hydrophobic interactions to provide the binding specificity and strength in ribosome targeting of RTA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the effect of Shentekang Capsule (STKC) combined with peritoneal dialysis (PD) in treating chronic renal failure (CRF). Methods: With single-blind, parallel control and random method, 60 cases of CRF patients were equally divided into 2 groups: ( 1) STKC group treated with combined therapy of STKC and PD; (2) control group treated with PD alone. The course of treatment were 1~2 months for both groups. Clinical manifestations, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, total protein and hemoglobin were observed before and after the treatment. Results: Blood urea nitrogen decreased in both groups after treatment as compared with that before treatment significantly ( P < 0.05), but no obvious difference was found between blood urea nitrogen levels of the two groups ( P > 0. 05). However, levels of serum total protein and hemoglobin of the STKC group after treatment were higher than those of the control group ( P < 0.01). Clinical manifestation in STKC group also showed more improvement after treatment than that in the control group. Conclusion: STKC could improve nutritional state and quality of CRF patient's life treated with PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]