Search

Plasma therapy offers an exciting and novel way of cancer treatment. Specifically, it is shown that Jurkat death rates are closely governed by the plasma treatment time. However, apart from time, alterations to different parameters of treatment process may yield better results. Here, Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors excited by a nanosecond-pulse energy source are used to investigate cell viability for longer exposure times as well as the effects of polarity of reactor on treatment. Plasma discharge regimes are discussed and assessed using imaging and thermal imaging methods. We found that by changing the polarity of reactor i.e. changing the direction of plasma discharge, the plasma discharge regime changes influencing directly the effectiveness of treatment. Our results showed that ns-DBD− reactor could induce both apoptosis and necrosis of human Jurkat and U937 cells, and this cytotoxic effect of plasma was not completely antagonized by N-acetyl cysteine. It indicates that plasma could induce ROS-independent cell death. Gene expression analyses revealed that p53, BAD, BID and caspase 9 may play vital roles in plasma caused cell death. In addition, our findings demonstrate how different parameters can influence the effectiveness of our reactors. Our assay reveals the custom ability nature of plasma reactors for hematologic cancer therapy and our findings can be used for further development of such reactors using multi-objective optimisation techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulosic materials show great superiority in oil/water separation owing to abundance, low cost, renewability and biodegradability. Herein, silylated cellulose graft copolymer (C-PGMA-S) was prepared by combing ATRP grafting of glycidyl methacrylate with ring-opening reaction between epoxy groups in grafted chains and amine groups in (3-Aminopropyl)- triethoxysilane. C-PGMA-S was utilized to construct hydrophobic surface for filter paper substrate conveniently through dipping and drying. As the curing proceeded, water contact angle of the modified paper increased from 77° to 128°. Inhomogeneous coverage on the pores and micro-scaled irregular concavities were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on modified paper, resulting in decreased porosity and increased roughness. Moreover, bursting strength was improved by 27%. An efficiency of 96.8% was achieved using the modified paper for oil/water separation. The modified paper exhibited moderate reusability with the separation efficiency remaining over 90% after reuse for 8 cycles without renewing process and good stability against pH variations. The C-PGMA-S modified filter paper, which is fluorine-free, might be a potential candidate for oil/water separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas tungsten arc welding based additive manufacturing (GTAW-AM) was carried out by printing 316L austenitic stainless steel on carbon steel substrate with different arc currents (140, 160, 180 A). Microstructure and corrosion resistance of additive manufactured components were investigated. The results show that the microstructure of the GTAW-AM austenitic stainless steel is obviously changed by the arc current. With arc current increasing from 140 to 180 A, the austenite grains become coarse due to the effect of welding heat input. Meanwhile, the quantity of ferrites in the austenite matrix is decreased and the morphology transforms from lath to skeleton. Moreover, a phases are finally formed under the arc currents of 180 A owing to high welding heat input. Therefore, as the microstructure transform into coarse-grained austenites, low-quantity ferrites and new-generated a phases, the GTAW-AM austenitic stainless steel presents a significantly decrease in corrosion resistance. And the reduction of corrosion resistance is mainly due to the formation of a phase as a result from consuming the large amounts of Cr element from the matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selective laser melting (SLM), a type of additive manufacturing, is a powder bed process that makes use of a high-power laser beam to completely melt a thin layer of powder on a substrate, layer upon layer to form a solid part. This experimental study confirmed that laser power and scanning speed are indeed SLM's most significant process parameters that affect porosity as stated in some literature and further studied the influence of laser power and/or laser-based volumetric energy density (VED) on hardness and friction and wear of SLM-formed samples. Full factorial design of experiment was carried out to study the influence of the two parameters on porosity with the help of Minitab 18 statistical software. The results obtained from this experiment were analyzed using analysis of variance. VED and laser power influence on hardness and friction and wear were studied on one factor at a time basis. Optimum laser power and scanning speed, optimum laser energy density values that achieve higher surface microhardness, minimum wear and porosity of H13 steel material were obtained from this experimental study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there are many algorithms that can solve the multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) efficiently, each algorithm has its own disadvantages. The emergence of new algorithms is beneficial to make up the deficiencies of existing algorithms. Inspired by the organic matter transport process and the branch update theory of the banyan, this work proposed a new bio-inspired algorithm, named the multi-objective artificial tree (MOAT) algorithm to solve the MOPs. In MOAT, an improved crossover operator and an improved self-evolution operator are introduced to update solutions, a adaptive grid method is applied to manage the non-dominated solutions, and the strategy of variable number of branches in population is adopted to enhance the accuracy of this algorithm. Many typical test functions and seven well-known multi-objective algorithms, including MOEAD, NSGAII, MOPSO, GDE3, εMOEA, IBEA and MPSO/D, are applied to study the accuracy and efficiency of MOAT. Experimental tests show that the results of MOAT are better than those of the seven algorithms, and the performance of MOAT is demonstrated. In addition, this new algorithm is also applied to solve the MOPs of two-dimensional acoustic metamaterials (AMs). The key parameters of AMs are optimized by MOAT to mitigate impact load and reduce structural mass, and the performance of these AMs is significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As innovation and technological change have become increasingly important for the competitiveness and sustainable growth of firms, cooperative innovation is now crucial for traditional industries in the context of globalization. This paper proposes a framework for analyzing the spatial pattern of cooperative innovation for traditional industries in developing countries. Based on in-depth interviews with 35 firms in the oil equipment manufacturing industry in Dongying City, China, this study argues that different firms in the innovation pyramid have various innovation activity preferences and spatial patterns. Firms with high innovation abilities tend to cooperate with various partners that are geographically dispersed and continuously expanding, while firms with inferior abilities usually cooperate with nearby fixed partners. Due to the differences in innovation environment and actor locations, firms tend to make different choices regarding innovation types and models, which highlight the importance of personnel training and basic scientific research at the global scale and practical product research and development at the national scale. Additionally, talent flow is the most important way to realize relationships for firm innovation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anionic pectic substances in whitewater from papermaking are detrimental to machine operation and product quality. Pectinase was immobilized on pulp fiber using cationic polyacrylamide with layer-by-layer method to obtain bound enzyme with tunable activity and good performance for wastewater treatment. It was revealed that high charge density and low molecular weight for cationic polyacrylamide were advantageous for enzymatic activity. During the layer-by-layer adsorption process, the enzymatic activity of the immobilized enzyme increased nearly linearly with the layer number from 983 to 3074 U/g until the fourth layer. The stability of the four-layer immobilized enzyme was improved. The multilayer immobilized enzyme exhibited good reusability and storage stability compared with monolayer enzyme. At dosage of 10 U/mL, the cationic demand of the whitewater samples was reduced by 15% using four-layer immobilized enzyme. The results indicated a potential route to prepare immobilized enzyme with good performance for wastewater treatment in papermaking industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop high-performance ceramic devices with a low dielectric constant and low dielectric loss, porous ZnAl2O4 ceramics were fabricated by combining a pore-forming agent and partial sintering using ZnAl2O4 particles with an average size of 80 nm as the precursor and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as the pore-forming agent. The microstructure and dielectric properties of the porous ZnAl2O4 ceramics were investigated. As the PEG content increased from 10 to 24 wt%, the porosity of the ceramics increased from 53.80 to 63.30%, the thermal conductivity decreased from 0.446 to 0.212 W/m K, the compressive strength decreased from 15.74 to 11.75 MPa, and the dielectric constant decreased from 5.63 to 3.74, respectively. The increase in porosity with increasing pore-forming agent contributed to the low dielectric constant and low thermal conductivity while maintaining good mechanical properties. Moreover, the uniform pore structure of the ceramics supported the low dielectric loss. The prepared porous ZnAl2O4 ceramics can be used as a new type of wave-transmitting material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saline-alkali soil can inhibit the growth of crops as a consequence of cellular damage through oxidation of lipids and proteins and degradation of nucleic acids, ultimately leading to cell death. The bacterial community composition and diversity in saline-alkali soil across different land uses, such as agricultural land, forest land, and grassland, were evaluated using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Significant differences in the soil physicochemical characteristics and bacterial community among different land uses were observed in this study. The soil pH value and electrical conductivity were much higher in grassland soil than in agricultural and forest soils. There were high proportions of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria (phyla) in agricultural and forest soils, while Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes were more predominant in grassland soil. The relative abundance of dominant taxa exhibited a highly significant correlation with soil pH, water content, EC, and organic matter. The percentage of species that are shared among the different soil samples ranged from 5.3 to 30.5%. The haloalkaliphilic Actinobacterial genus Nitriliruptor was detected in grassland but not in areas with other types of land use. Results of both heatmap and principal component analysis (PCA) indicated that the soil properties and bacterial communities in the areas studied have been greatly influenced by long-term land use by different management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in an aesthetic surgery setting in the region of Southwest China, and to ascertain the differences in terms of body images between patients in the aesthetic setting and general Chinese population. This study tracked patient satisfaction with their body image changes while undergoing aesthetic medical procedures to identify whether the condition of patients who were presenting with BDD symptoms or their psychological symptoms could be improved by enhancing their appearance. Additionally, this study explored whether there was improvement in quality of life (QoL) and self-esteem after aesthetic medical procedures. Methods: A total of 106 female patients who were undergoing aesthetic medical procedures for the first time (plastic surgery, n = 26; minimally invasive aesthetic treatment, n = 42; and aesthetic dermatological treatment, n = 38) were classified as having body dysmorphic disorder symptoms or not having body dysmorphic disorder symptoms, based on the body dysmorphic disorder examination (BDDE), which was administered preoperatively. These patients were followed up for 1 month after the aesthetic procedures. The multidimensional body self-relations questionnaire-appearance scales (MBSRQ-AS) and rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE-S) were used to assess patients' preoccupation with appearance and self-esteem pre-procedure and 1 month post-procedure. Additionally, 100 female healthy control participants were recruited as a comparative group into this study and they were also assessed using BDDE, MBSRQ-AS, and RSE-S. Results: A total of 14.2 % of 106 aesthetic patients and 1 % of 100 healthy controls were diagnosed with BDD to varying extents. BDDE scores were 72.83 (SD ± 30.7) and 68.18 (SD ± 31.82), respectively, before and after the procedure for the aesthetic patient group and 43.44 (SD ± 15.65) for the healthy control group ( F = 34.28; p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the groups in subscales of MBSRQ-AS, i.e. appearance evaluation ( F = 31.31; p < 0.001), appearance orientation ( F = 31.65; p < 0.001), body areas satisfaction ( F = 27.40; p < 0.001), and RSE-S scores ( F = 20.81; p < 0.001). There was no significant difference, however, in subscales of MBSRQ-AS, i.e. overweight preoccupation ( F = 1.685; p = 0.187), self-classified weight ( F = 0.908; p = 0.404) between groups. All the subscales of MBSRQ-AS showed significant differences between the aesthetic patients (pre-procedure) and female adult norms from Dr. Cash's result given in Table 4 ( p < 0.001). The study also showed that there were no significant differences in the scores of BDDE, MBSRQ-AS, and RSE-S of those fifteen aesthetic patients diagnosed with BDD after aesthetic procedures lasting one month. Conclusion: There was a high prevalence rate (14.2 %) of body dysmorphic disorder in aesthetic procedure seekers, and it seemed that those patients suffering from BDD were more likely to be dissatisfied with the results of the aesthetic medical procedures. However, general aesthetic patients showed improvement in most assessments which indicated that aesthetic medical procedures could not only enhance patient appearance, but also patient low self-esteem and QoL. Self-satisfaction could also be promoted. A screening procedure for BDD including suitable screening questionnaires might be considered for routine use in aesthetic clinical settings to minimize dissatisfaction and complaints. Level of Evidence IV: This journal requires that the authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors. . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Airway smooth muscle cell (ASMC) phenotypic modulation is one of the key factors contributing to asthma. Temperature changes may induce asthma, and these changes are known to be related to the temperature-sensitive transient receptor potential channels (TS-TRPs). The present study was designed to investigate the cellular functions of cold-sensitive channels, TRPM8 and TRPA1, in the phenotypic modulation of ASMCs. Methods: A rat asthma model was constructed and the expression of TS-TRPs in ASM was tested. Using the agonists and antagonists for both TRPM8 and TRPA1, the effects of cold-sensitive channels on the phenotypic modulation of ASMCs were evaluated by measurement of contractile protein expression and cell proliferation and migration. Signaling pathways and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activity were assayed with Western blotting and gelatin zymography. Results: TRPM8 and TRPA1 were decreased in the ASM of the rat asthma model. Icilin and menthol, agonists for TRPM8 and TRPA1, inhibited ASMC proliferation and migration induced by fetal bovine serum (FBS) or platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Moreover, icilin reversed the FBS-induced inhibition of the expression of contractile phenotype markers, smooth muscle α-actin, and SM22α. Icilin also antagonized the activation of p38 and MMP-2 and the repression of p21 caused by FBS. Conclusions: Our findings show, for the first time, that the activation of TRPM8 and TRPA1 inhibits ASMC proliferative phenotype. These data suggest that TRPM8 and TRPA1 agonists may be promising new therapies for asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prunus mira Koehne ex Sargent (syn. Persica mira (Koehne) Kov. et Kostina), native to China, is an excellent fruit tree due to its high ecological and economical value. However, there is limited knowledge on the genetic information of P. mira. In this study, the genetic relationships of 83 P. mira accessions from five populations were assessed using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). The results showed that AFLP was a powerful tool to detect levels of genetic diversity of natural populations in P. mira. The similarity coefficient between accessions ranged from 0.12 to 0.76, with an average 0.57. 83 accessions were clustered into two major clusters at similarity coefficient of 0.225. The highest values of N, H and I occurred in ML population. Most of the genetic variations occur within population. There is no close relationship between geographic distance and genetic distance. At the same time, ex situ conservation needs to be established for P. mira. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The equilibrium between metallic titanium and titanium ions, 3Ti ⇌ 2Ti + Ti, in NaCl-KCl equimolar molten salt was reevaluated. At a fixed temperature and an initial concentration of titanium chloride, the equilibrium was achieved by adding an excess amount of sponge titanium in assistant with bubbling of argon into the molten salt. The significance of this work is that the accurate concentrations of titanium ions have been obtained based on a reliable approach for taking samples. Furthermore, the equilibrium constant $$ {\text{K}}_{\text{C}} = (x_{{{\text{Ti}}^{{ 3 { + }}} }}^{\text{eql}} )^{3} /(x_{{{\text{Ti}}^{{ 2 { + }}} }}^{\text{eql}} )^{2} $$ was calculated through the best-fitting method under the consideration of the TiOCl dissolution. Indeed, the final results have disclosed that the stable value of K could be achieved based on all modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the growth rate of five wood-rotting fungi, i.e., Coriolus versicolor, Irpex lacteus, Fomes fomentarius, Piptoporus betulinus and Pholiota adiposa, in solid medium and their biomass in liquid culture medium were compared by measuring mycelium length and dry mass. The activity of three main ligninolytic enzymes in those fungi, namely LiP, MnP and Lac, were also tested by colorimetry. At the same time, these fungi were used to decay the wood samples from 300 natural trees of white birch, to study their wood-decaying ability by measuring wood mass loss. The result showed that the growth rate, biomass, ligninolytic enzyme activity, and wood-decaying ability of the fungi were incompletely correlated. The growth rates of C. versicolor and I. lacteus were faster than those of P. betulinus and F. fomentarius; P. adiposa was the slowest in growth. The biomass of P. betulinus was the highest; C. versicolor, I. lacteus and F. fomentarius were in the middle, and P. adiposa was the lowest. There existed LiP, MnP and Lac activities in all fungi except P. betulinus, and the enzyme activities induced by wood powder were all higher than those of the control. The Lac of I. lacteus and the LiP of F. fomentarius and P. adiposa were only expressed in wood powder medium; the longer the fungi were cultured, the higher activity the enzyme had. The decomposition ability of C. versicolor to wood samples was the highest, followed by F. fomentarius and P. betulinus; I. lacteus and P. adiposa were the lowest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia was used as a main test material and diploid R. pseudoacacia was used as the control. The indices of shape, physiology and biochemistry, photosynthesis and anatomic structure of the young plants were investigated under salt stress (NaCl and Na2SO4). The treatment time was 30 d with an interval time of 7 d. Before and after treatment, the indices were measured. Results show that: 1) the growth of diploid R. pseudoacacia inhibited an evident symptom of salt damage and the leaf moisture content was lower under salt stress than that of control. But the tetraploid R. pseudoacacia was contrary. 2) The relative electric conductivity and proline (Pro) of tetraploid R. pseudoacacia increased slightly and had no significant difference compared with its control, which was contrary to diploid R. pseudoacacia. At the same time, three protective enzymes including perocidase (POD), superoxide (SOD) and catalase (CAT) kept higher activities at a post stage of salt stress to tetraploid R. pseudoacacia, which enhanced its anti-salt characteristics. Diploid R. pseudoacacia was sensitive to salt and had contrary information. 3) Salt stress had little influence to photosynthesis of tetraploid R. pseudoacacia. The net photosynthetic rate ( P n) and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) had no significant changes, but those of diploid R. pseudoacacia decreased singificantly. 4) After salt stress, the anatomic structure of tetraploid R. pseudoacacia had a positive reaction, including the palisade parenchyma of diachyma, was prolonged and arranged more tightly. The spongy parenchyma was shrunk and was arranged tightly, which was contrary with diploid R. pseudoacacia. These data demonstrate that tetraploid R. pseudoacacia had superior anti-salt performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between Anthocyanins in Aronia melanocarpa (AMA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were studied in this paper by multispectral technology, such as fluorescence quenching titration, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results of the fluorescence titration revealed that AMA could strongly quench the intrinsic fluorescence of BSA by static quenching. The apparent binding constants KSV and number of binding sites n of AMA with BSA were obtained by fluorescence quenching method. The thermodynamic parameters, enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS), were calculated to be 18.45 kJ mol−1 > 0 and 149.72 J mol−1 K−1 > 0, respectively, which indicated that the interaction of AMA with BSA was driven mainly by hydrophobic forces. The binding process was a spontaneous process of Gibbs free energy change. Based on Förster’s non-radiative energy transfer theory, the distance r between the donor (BSA) and the receptor (AMA) was calculated to be 3.88 nm. Their conformations were analyzed using infrared spectroscopy and CD. The results of multispectral technology showed that the binding of AMA to BSA induced the conformational change of BSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise cancer classification is a central challenge in clinical cancer research such as diagnosis, prognosis and metastasis prediction. Most existing cancer classification methods based on gene or metabolite biomarkers were limited to single genomics or metabolomics, and lacked integration and utilization of multiple 'omics' data. The accuracy and robustness of these methods when applied to independent cohorts of patients must be improved. In this study, we propose a directed random walk-based method to evaluate the topological importance of each gene in a reconstructed gene-metabolite graph by integrating information from matched gene expression profiles and metabolomic profiles. The joint use of gene and metabolite information contributes to accurate evaluation of the topological importance of genes and reproducible pathway activities. We constructed classifiers using reproducible pathway activities for precise cancer classification and risk metabolic pathway identification. We applied the proposed method to the classification of prostate cancer. Within-dataset experiments and cross-dataset experiments on three independent datasets demonstrated that the proposed method achieved a more accurate and robust overall performance compared to several existing classification methods. The resulting risk pathways and topologically important differential genes and metabolites provide biologically informative models for prostate cancer prognosis and therapeutic strategies development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adipose tissue-derived hormone leptin can drive decreases in food intake while increasing energy expenditure. In diet-induced obesity, circulating leptin levels rise proportionally to adiposity. Despite this hyperleptinemia, rodents and humans with obesity maintain increased adiposity and are resistant to leptin's actions. Here we show that inhibitors of the cytosolic enzyme histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) act as potent leptin sensitizers and anti-obesity agents in diet-induced obese mice. Specifically, HDAC6 inhibitors, such as tubastatin A, reduce food intake, fat mass, hepatic steatosis and improve systemic glucose homeostasis in an HDAC6-dependent manner. Mechanistically, peripheral, but not central, inhibition of HDAC6 confers central leptin sensitivity. Additionally, the anti-obesity effect of tubastatin A is attenuated in animals with a defective central leptin-melanocortin circuitry, including db/db and MC4R knockout mice. Our results suggest the existence of an HDAC6-regulated adipokine that serves as a leptin-sensitizing agent and reveals HDAC6 as a potential target for the treatment of obesity., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Thermogenesis is an important contributor to whole body energy expenditure and metabolic homeostasis. Although circulating factors that promote energy expenditure are known, endocrine molecules that suppress energy expenditure have remained largely elusive. Here we show that Tsukushi (TSK) is a liver-enriched secreted factor that is highly inducible in response to increased energy expenditure. Hepatic Tsk expression and plasma TSK levels are elevated in obesity. TSK deficiency increases sympathetic innervation and norepinephrine release in adipose tissue, leading to enhanced adrenergic signaling and thermogenesis, attenuation of brown fat whitening and protection from diet-induced obesity in mice. Our work reveals TSK as part of a negative feedback mechanism that gates thermogenic energy expenditure and highlights TSK as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in metabolic disease., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest.