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Aquilaria sinensis is a significant resin-producing plant worldwide that is crucial for agarwood production. Agarwood has different qualities depending on the method with which it is formed, and the microbial community structures that are present during these methods are also diverse. Furthermore, the microbial communities of plants play crucial roles in determining their health and productivity. While previous studies have investigated the impact of microorganisms on agarwood formation, they lack comprehensiveness, particularly regarding the properties of the microbial community throughout the entire process from seedling to adult to incense formation. We collected roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and other tissues from seedlings, healthy plants and agarwood-producing plants to address this gap and assess the dominant bacterial species in the microbial community structures of A. sinensis at different growth stages and their impacts on growth and agarwood formation. The bacteria and fungi in these tissues were classified and counted from different perspectives. The samples were sequenced using the Illumina sequencing platform, and sequence analyses and species annotations were performed using a range of bioinformatics tools to assess the plant community compositions. An additional comparison of the samples was conducted using diversity analyses to assess their differences. This research revealed that Listeria, Kurtzmanomyces, Ascotaiwania, Acinetobacter, Sphingobium, Fonsecaea, Acrocalymma, Allorhizobium, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Peethambara, and Debaryomyces are potentially associated with the formation of agarwood. Overall, the data provided in this article help us understand the important roles played by bacteria and fungi in the growth and agarwood formation process of A. sinensis, will support the theoretical basis for the large-scale cultivation of A. sinensis, and provide a basis for further research on microbial community applications in agarwood production and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the RFID adoption and chain structure (i.e., integrated or decentralized) decisions in two supply chains under two competition modes (i.e., Bertrand or Cournot competition). Each chain consists of a manufacturer and an exclusive retailer, who suffers from inventory misplacement problem. Two supply chains first simultaneously choose chain structure and then decide whether to invest in RFID technology. We develop an analytical model to derive the equilibrium outcomes, then further analyze the interactions between RFID adoption and chain structure under two competition modes. We find that in equilibrium, both chains prefer to choose integration under Cournot competition, while they might be better off from decentralization under Bertrand competition. Moreover, there may exist a prisoner's dilemma for the equilibrium strategies on RFID adoption and chain structure. Specifically, when both chains adopt RFID, the prisoner's dilemma occurs if the competition is fierce; when only one chain adopts RFID, the chain who forgoes RFID adoption is easier to trap into the prisoner's dilemma; when no chain adopts RFID, a high misplacement rate may aggravate the prisoner's dilemma if the competition is weak, and the supply chain members under Cournot competition may escape such dilemma if the competition is fierce. In addition, competition mode doesn't affect the optimal strategies for RFID adoption and chain structure. Further, in the case where the manufacturer affords a higher production cost, Cournot competition is more conducive to coordinate chains when competition is weak or relatively fierce, whereas Bertrand competition will be more effective when competition is moderate or very fierce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difficulty in estimating ages of regional landslides hampers to assess frequency of landslides and hence to quantitatively assess regional landslide hazard. In this study, we used radiocarbon dating of organic sediment on boulder rock varnish to estimate landslide ages in Langxian (LX) arid region in southeastern Tibet. Samples of rock varnish with organic sediment were collected on site for radiocarbon dating, leading to landslide ages from 1880 ± 30 to 18,430 ± 30 yr B.P. To measure surface roughness characteristics of 109 remotely-mapped large bedrock landslide deposits, we estimated average standard deviation of slope (SDS) over an area of ∼640 km2 by calculating the slope gradient of each raster cell and using a rectangular moving window method in ArcMap from a 5 m-resolution Digital Elevation Model generated from helicopter-obtained photographs. Combing estimated landslide ages (t) with average surface roughness of mapped landslide deposits (R) quantified by SDS, we fit an exponential landslide deposits surface roughness-age function (t=1.47×106×e−1.46R, r2=0.63) that was used to estimate regional landslide ages in LX. We conclude that three periods with clusters of regional landslides in LX were revealed by different surface roughness of landslide deposits combing roughness-age function, with the values of 5563–7455 yr B.P., 1724–4151 yr B.P., and 960–1287 yr B.P.. Furthermore, we used our estimates of landslide ages to quantify landslide erosion rates of three corresponding hillslopes in LX ranging from 0.50 to 2.42 mm yr−1. Although rock varnish radiocarbon dating provides us a feasible option for timing regional landslides of arid regions, the epistemic uncertainty in the dating method should arouse our attention, which could be reduced by increasing the number of samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Irisin, a myokine mainly secreted by skeletal and cardiac muscles, is actively involved in cardiovascular diseases. However, whether irisin is associated with aortic stenosis remains unknown. Two hundred ninety-three severe AS patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation were enrolled and followed-up for 35 months on average. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to measure circulating irisin levels. Patients were divided into two groups based on the median plasma irisin level. We found that high plasma irisin levels were independently associated with pure aortic stenosis (PAS) after adjusting for age, body mass index, history of peripheral vascular disease, and creatinine (OR = 3.015, 95% CI 1.775–5.119, P < 0.001). ROC curve analysis showed a significant predictive value of irisin for PAS (AUC = 0.647, 95% CI 0.583–0.711, P < 0.001). The severity of aortic valve calcification was negatively associated with plasma irisin levels (P < 0.05). In conclusion, irisin is an independent predictor for PAS and is negatively associated with the severity of aortic valve calcification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of endophytic bacteria is influenced by the host plants and their secondary metabolites and activities. In this study, P. megaterium P-NA14 and P. megaterium D-HT207 were isolated from potato tuber and dendrobium stem respectively. They were both identified as Priestia megaterium. The antimicrobial activities and metabolites of both strains were explored. For antimicrobial activities, results showed that P. megaterium P-NA14 exhibited a stronger inhibition effect on the pathogen of dendrobium, while P. megaterium D-HT207 exhibited a stronger inhibition effect on the pathogen of potato. The supernatant of P. megaterium P-NA14 showed an inhibition effect only on Staphylococcus aureus, while the sediment of P. megaterium D-HT207 showed an inhibition effect only on Escherichia coli. For metabolomic analysis, the content of L-phenylalanine in P. megaterium P-NA14 was higher than that of P. megaterium D-HT207, and several key downstream metabolites of L-phenylalanine were associated with inhibition of S. aureus including tyrosine, capsaicin, etc. Therefore, we speculated that the different antimicrobial activities between P. megaterium P-NA14 and P. megaterium D-HT207 were possibly related to the content of L-phenylalanine and its metabolites. This study preliminarily explored why the same strains isolated from different hosts exhibit different activities from the perspective of metabolomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional corrosion inhibitors have made great contributions to metal corrosion protection. However, environmental pollution caused by them is becoming more serious. To circumvent this tricky problem, green corrosion inhibitors have attracted increasing attention. Notably, plants are good raw materials of effective corrosion inhibitors and also meet the requirements of industrial production, where some active components really work. Therein, starch and cellulose are most abundant in plants which have great potential as industrial corrosion inhibitors. Besides, some other plant extracts are also available from rich sources, and show good corrosion inhibition efficiency. Starch, cellulose, and other plant extracts as representative green corrosion inhibitors have been reported without pollution to the environment. Although many advantages of starch, cellulose, and other plant extracts have been described, no such inhibitors are successfully applied to anticorrosion industry. These factors (source, solubility, dosage, composition, and others) seriously affect the applied industrialization of them. Currently, there are no analysis and discussions on these deficiencies and the related solutions: Herein, we review the factors that affect the industrial application of starch, cellulose, and other extracts from plants, and discuss specific solutions to make them potential industrial corrosion inhibitors. The major points are the following: 1) Why can't plant corrosion inhibitors be really applied to the industry? 2) The deficiencies of starch, cellulose, and other plant extracts as corrosion inhibitors are comprehensively analyzed from material source, solubility, dosage and composition. 3) Solutions that these green plant corrosion inhibitors cannot be used in industry are proposed. We aim to make appropriate recommendations for the early application of rich plant components into industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with adverse perinatal outcomes in previous studies. However, few studies have examined the interaction between air pollution and the season of conception on term low birth weight (TLBW) or macrosomia. Birth registry data of singleton live births in Wenzhou, China, between January 2015 and December 2016 were accessed from the Wenzhou Maternal and Child Health Information Management platform, and data on the ambient air pollutants in Wenzhou were obtained from the Chinese Air Quality Online Monitoring and Analysis Platform. Single-/two-pollutant binary logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between ambient air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, and O3) and TLBW/macrosomia, further exploring whether the season of conception interacts with air pollution to impact birth weight. Finally, 213,959 term newborns were selected, including 2452 (1.1%) infants with TLBW and 13,173 (6.1%) infants with macrosomia. In the single-/two-pollutant models, we observed an increased risk of TLBW associated with maternal exposure to PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 during the entire pregnancy, especially in the 2nd trimester. Maternal exposure to O3 during the 1st trimester was associated with increased macrosomia risk, and O3 exposure during the 3rd trimester was associated with increased TLBW risk. Pregnant women who conceive in the warm season may experience a more adverse ambient air environment that is related to the risks of TLBW. These findings add to the evidence suggesting that air pollution and the season of conception may have synergistic effects on adverse perinatal outcomes, especially TLBW. Further prospective cohort studies are needed to validate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effects of ordering-timing strategies on radio-frequency identification (RFID) adoption sequences and firms' profitability in a supply chain with a manufacturer and two retailers, both of whom suffer from misplaced inventory problems. The manufacturer is the Stackelberg leader, the two retailers engage in a quantity competition and simultaneously/sequentially make decisions on RFID adoption under two ordering-timing strategies. We derive the equilibrium strategies for RFID adoption and characterize each partner's optimal order quantity and profit. We show that the equilibrium strategies for RFID adoption are identical regardless of the two competing retailers' RFID adoption sequences. The retailer with a smaller misplacement rate will never adopt RFID alone. However, for the retailer with a higher misplacement rate: the more intense the competition is, the more likely he is to adopt RFID; ordering later always promotes him to adopt RFID; ordering earlier is more attractive than adopting RFID when the tagging cost is intermediate. Furthermore, as long as one or both retailers adopt RFID, ordering simultaneously can achieve Pareto improvement for both retailers. When neither retailer adopts RFID, the optimal ordering strategies depend on the misplacement rates and competition intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate how the National Health Commission of China (NHCC)-recommended Chinese medicines (CMs) modulate the major maladjustments of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), particularly the clinically observed complications and comorbidities. Methods: By focusing on the potent targets in common with the conventional medicines, we investigated the mechanisms of 11 NHCC-recommended CMs in the modulation of the major COVID-19 pathophysiology (hyperinflammations, viral replication), complications (pain, headache) and comorbidities (hypertension, obesity, diabetes). The constituent herbs of these CMs and their chemical ingredients were from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Information Database. The experimentally-determined targets and the activity values of the chemical ingredients of these CMs were from the Natural Product Activity and Species Source Database. The approved and clinical trial drugs against these targets were searched from the Therapeutic Target Database and DrugBank Database. Pathways of the targets was obtained from Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and additional literature search. Results: Overall, 9 CMs modulated 6 targets discovered by the COVID-19 target discovery studies, 8 and 11 CMs modulated 8 and 6 targets of the approved or clinical trial drugs for the treatment of the major COVID-19 complications and comorbidities, respectively. Conclusion: The coordinated actions of each NHCC-recommended CM against a few targets of the major COVID-19 pathophysiology, complications and comorbidities, partly have common mechanisms with the conventional medicines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the storage capacities of electrode materials is one of the most critical points for ion batteries. Two-dimensional (2D) topological semimetals with high carrier mobility are naturally suitable as electrode materials. Herein, using the first-principle calculations, 2D BP monolayer with Dirac-type band structure is predicted to be a superior anode material with ultrahigh capacity for both Li/Na-ion batteries. The BP monolayer remains metallic after the adsorption of Li/Na ions, ensuring a good conductivity. Furthermore, BP owns low diffusion barriers (0.35 eV for Li ions and 0.16 eV for Na ions) and a moderate lattice change (3%) during the process of charging and discharging. Remarkably, the storage capacity of monolayer BP is enhanced to 1924 mAh/g by multilayer adsorption of both Li/Na ions, much higher than those of most previous 2D anode materials. All these characteristics strongly suggest that BP has great potential as a superior anode material in Li/Na-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Loess Plateau in China has suffered severe soil erosion. To control soil erosion, extensive conservation measures aimed at redistributing rainfall, hindering flow velocity and intercepting sediment were implemented on the Loess Plateau. To accurately evaluate the combined effect of conservation measures in the Chabagou watershed, this study classified intra-event-based floods into four regimes via cluster and discriminant analyses. Regime A was characterized by short flood duration and low erosive energy, regime B was characterized by short flood duration and high erosive energy, regime C was characterized by long flood duration and low erosive energy, and regime D was characterized by long flood duration and high erosive energy. The results indicated that peak discharge (qp), runoff depth (H), mean discharge (qm), and runoff erosion power (E) decreased by 75.2%, 56.0%, 68.0% and 89.2%, respectively, in response to conservation measures. Moreover, area-specific sediment yield (SSY), average suspended sediment concentration (SCE), and maximum suspended sediment concentration (MSCE) decreased by 69.2%, 33.3% and 11.9%, respectively, due to conservation measures. The nonlinear regression analysis revealed a power function relationship between SSY and E in both the baseline (1961–1969) and measurement period (1971–1990) in all regimes. Conservation measures reduced sediment yield by not only reducing the runoff amount and soil erosion energy but also transforming the flood regime, for example, transforming a high-sediment-yield regime into a low-sediment-yield regime. Moreover, conservation measures altered the SSY-E relationship in regime A, whereas no obvious difference in regime B or C/D was observed between the measurement period and the baseline period. This study provides a better understanding of the mechanism of runoff regulation and the sediment yield reduction under comprehensive conservation measures in a small watershed on the Chinese Loess Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The active zone of a presynaptic nerve terminal defines sites for neurotransmitter release. Its protein machinery may be organized through liquid–liquid phase separation, a mechanism for the formation of membrane-less subcellular compartments. Here, we show that the active zone protein Liprin-α3 rapidly and reversibly undergoes phase separation in transfected HEK293T cells. Condensate formation is triggered by Liprin-α3 PKC-phosphorylation at serine-760, and RIM and Munc13 are co-recruited into membrane-attached condensates. Phospho-specific antibodies establish phosphorylation of Liprin-α3 serine-760 in transfected cells and mouse brain tissue. In primary hippocampal neurons of newly generated Liprin-α2/α3 double knockout mice, synaptic levels of RIM and Munc13 are reduced and the pool of releasable vesicles is decreased. Re-expression of Liprin-α3 restored these presynaptic defects, while mutating the Liprin-α3 phosphorylation site to abolish phase condensation prevented this rescue. Finally, PKC activation in these neurons acutely increased RIM, Munc13 and neurotransmitter release, which depended on the presence of phosphorylatable Liprin-α3. Our findings indicate that PKC-mediated phosphorylation of Liprin-α3 triggers its phase separation and modulates active zone structure and function. Liquid–liquid phase separation may be a mechanism for organizing the presynaptic nerve terminal. Here, the authors show that PKC-mediated phosphorylation of Liprin-α3 triggers phase separation in cell lines and modulates active zone structure and function in primary hippocampal neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In solids, charge polarity can one-to-one correspond to spin polarity phenomenologically, e.g., ferroelectricity/ferromagnetism, antiferroelectricity/antiferromagnetism, and even dipole-vortex/magnetic-vortex, but ferrielectricity/ferrimagnetism kept telling a disparate story in microscopic level. Since the definition of a charge dipole involves more than one ion, there may be multiple choices for a dipole unit, which makes most ferrielectric orders equivalent to ferroelectric ones, i.e., this ferrielectricity is not necessary to be a real independent branch of polarity. In this work, by using the spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, we visualize a nontrivial ferrielectric structural evolution in BaFe2Se3, in which the development of two polar sub-lattices is out-of-sync, for which we term it as irreducible ferrielectricity. Such irreducible ferrielectricity leads to a non-monotonic behavior for the temperature-dependent polarization, and even a compensation point in the ordered state. Our finding unambiguously distinguishes ferrielectrics from ferroelectrics in solids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: BIG regulates the shoot stem cell population. The shoot apical meristem (SAM) contains a population of self-renewing cells, and provides daughter cells for initiation and development of aerial parts of plants. However, the underlying mechanisms of SAM size regulation remain largely unclear. Here, we identified a mutant that displayed a large SAM, designated big-shoot meristem (big-m), in Arabidopsis thaliana. The phenotype of big-m is caused by a new T-DNA insertion allele of BIG, causing a loss of function. The big-m mutant had more stem cells in the SAM than in the wild type. Expression of WUSCHEL (WUS) and SHOOTMERISTEMLESS (STM) was promoted in big-m compared with the wild type, showing that BIG functions upstream of WUS and STM. Therefore, BIG is an important regulator of the stem cell population in the SAM. Furthermore, genetic analysis indicated that BIG acts synergistically with PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1) in controlling SAM size. Our results suggest that BIG plays an important role in controlling Arabidopsis thaliana SAM growth via PIN1-mediated auxin homeostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecofriendly green biosynthesis of bacterial cellulose (BC) using a low-cost carbon source from the shell extract of Sapindus mukorossi was studied by Komagataeibacter xylinus B2-1. After 7 d of incubation, strain B2-1 produced 1.31 g L−1 BC, which had similar micro-morphology and structural properties to that from Hestrin–Schramm medium based on scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared analyses. While strain B2-1 grew well and produced BC efficiently at pHs ranging from 4.0 to 6.0, the considerable BC production was only found at temperature of 30 °C. The present investigation can provide a new low-cost carbon source for BC preparation and lead towards commercialization and industrial scale up BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of developmental and reproductive toxicity of food contact materials (FCMs) is an important task for food safety. Since traditional experiments are both time-consuming and labor-intensive, only a small number of FCMs have sufficient toxicological data for evaluating their effects on human health. While computational methods such as structural alerts and quantitative structure–activity relationships can serve as first-line tools for the identification of chemicals of high toxicity concern, models with binary outputs and unsatisfied accuracy and coverage prevent the use of computational methods for prioritizing chemicals of high concern. This study proposed a genetic algorithm-based method to develop a weight-of-evidence (WoE) model leveraging complementary methods of structural alerts, quantitative structure–activity relationships and in silico toxicogenomics models for chemical prioritization. The WoE model was applied to evaluate 623 food contact chemicals and identify 26 chemicals of high toxicity concern, where 13 chemicals have been reported to be developmental or reproductive toxic and further experiments are suggested for the remaining 13 chemicals without toxicity data related to developmental and reproductive effects. The proposed WoE model is potentially useful for prioritizing chemicals of high toxicity concern and the methodology may be applied to toxicities other than developmental and reproductive toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The mechanisms of naso-ocular interaction in allergic rhinoconjunctivitis are not well understood. Neurogenic inflammation affects both eyes and nose via the same neurogenic factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of neurogenic inflammation on conjunctival inflammation following nasal allergen provocation. Methods: Sensitized rats were exposed to ovalbumin (OVA) via the nose. Parts of the nasal mucosa and conjunctivae were sliced and used for hematoxylin–eosin staining, immunohistochemical analysis, western blotting, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. The slides were observed under a light microscope, and the acquired images were analyzed. The levels of substance P (SP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and nerve growth factor (NGF) were detected. Results: The levels of SP, VIP, and NGF were increased in both nasal mucosa and conjunctivae 1 h and 24 h after OVA administration (p < 0.05). Higher levels of SP, VIP, and NGF expression were observed in the nasal mucosa and conjunctivae 24 h after OVA administration (p < 0.05). Following damage of the nasal sensory nerves by capsaicin, the protein and mRNA levels of SP, VIP, and NGF were reduced. Conclusion: In conclusion, the increased levels of VIP, SP, and NGF might be responsible for the ocular reaction following nasal challenge with allergen in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine Z-score equations and reference ranges for Doppler flow velocity indices of cardiac outflow tracts in normal fetuses. A prospective cross-sectional echocardiographic study was performed in 506 normal singleton fetuses from 18 to 40 weeks. Twelve pulsed-wave Doppler (PWD) measurements were derived from fetal echocardiography. The regression analysis of the mean and the standard deviation (SD) for each parameter were performed against estimated fetal weight (EFW) and gestational age (GA), in order to construct Z-score models. The correlation between these variables and fetal heart rate were also investigated. Strong positive correlations were found between the twelve PWD indices and the independent variables. A linear-quadratic regression model was the best description of the mean and SD of most parameters, with the exception of the velocity time interval (VTI) of ascending aorta against EFW, which was best fitted by a fractional polynomial. Z-score equations and reference values for PWD indices of fetal cardiac outflow tracts were proposed against GA and EFW, which may be useful for quantitative assessment of potential hemodynamic alternations, particularly in cases of intrauterine growth retardation and structural cardiac defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computational prioritization of chemicals for potential skin sensitization risks plays essential roles in the risk assessment of environmental chemicals and drug development. Given the huge number of chemicals for testing, computational methods enable the fast identification of high-risk chemicals for experimental validation and design of safer alternatives. However, the development of robust prediction model requires a large dataset of tested chemicals that is usually not available for most toxicological endpoints, especially for human data. A small training dataset makes the development of effective models difficult with insufficient coverage and accuracy. In this study, an ensemble tree-based multitask learning method was developed incorporating three relevant tasks in the well-defined adverse outcome pathway (AOP) of skin sensitization to transfer shared knowledge to the major task of human sensitizers. The results show both largely improved coverage and accuracy compared with three state-of-the-art methods. A user-friendly prediction server was available at https://cwtung.kmu.edu.tw/skinsensdb/predict. As AOPs for various toxicity endpoints are being actively developed, the proposed method can be applied to develop prediction models for other endpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

γ-Al2O3-supported CeO2 catalysts were prepared by microemulsion and impregnation methods and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. At the same time, the desulfurization activity of catalysts was investigated. The results show that nanoscale active substances and a high desulfurization effect are achieved by microemulsion, exhibiting a significant dominance compared with traditional impregnation method. The optimal preparation condition is temperature of 30 °C and ratio of [H2O]/[surface active agent] of 7 with slow demulsification. The activated catalysts still keep high and stable desulfurization activity during a wide temperature range of 450-600 °C. Among a series of prepared catalysts, the desulfurization rate of 6CeO2/γ-Al2O3 is the highest, reaching up to 80 % when temperature is higher than 550 °C. The catalytic reduction mechanism of SO2 over nano-CeO2/γ-Al2O3 follows redox mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein analysis is vital for biological and clinical research, but the measurement of unseparated, intact and high-mass proteins is also a challenging task by mass spectrometry-based methods. Here, we present a protocol for rapid and high-throughput analysis of intact proteins in tissue samples using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) combined with a high-mass detector platform. The method involves tissue specimens that undergo a simple protein extraction before MALDI-MS analysis. Using this method, the high abundance proteins in human thyroid carcinoma and paracarcinoma tissues were successfully investigated, and the mass spectra of the tissues of the 30 illustrated thyroid cancers showed remarkable differences. The peak intensity revealed a significant increase in human albumin in thyroid carcinoma tissues (p<0.05). To validate the feasibility and credibility of this method, label-free proteomics quantitative analysis and Western blotting were used to relatively quantify the proteins in these tissues. Those results demonstrated a nearly 3-fold difference in human albumin levels between thyroid carcinoma and para-carcinoma tissues, which were consistent with the results of our method. The advantages of our method are easy sample handling, remarkable reproducibility and the ability to analyze high-mass proteins without digestion, which make them have the potential to be used in biological research and in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical glaciers are extremely sensitive to a warming climate. In this paper, the evolution of the remaining tropical glaciers in Australasia (Irian Jaya, Indonesia) during the period 1988-2015 was quantified. Landsat series images, a digital elevation model from SRTM, and previously published data were used. Estimated total glacier area in 1988, 1993, 1997 and 2004 was 3.85 km2±0.13 km2, 3.01 km2±0.08 km2, 2.49 km2±0.07 km2 and 1.725 km2 ±0.042 km2, respectively. Only 0.58 km2±0.016 km2 glacierized area remained in 2015 in Puncak Jaya, which is about 84.9% loss in just 27 years. If this rate continued, the remaining tropical glaciers in Australasia would disappear in the 2020s. Timeseries analysis of climate variables showed significant positive trends in air temperature (0.009°C per year) and relative humidity (0.43% per year) but no considerable tendency was observed for precipitation. Warming climate together with mining activities would accelerate loss of glacier coverage in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-doped ZnO/g-CN composites have been successfully prepared via a facile and cost-effective sol-gel method. The nanocomposites were systematically characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, HRTEM, FT-IR, XPS, and UV-vis DRS. The results indicated that compared with the pure N-doped ZnO, the absorption edge of binary N-doped ZnO/g-CN shifted to a lower energy with increasing the visible-light absorption and improving the charge separation efficiency, which would enhance its photocatalytic activity. Compared with the pure g-CN, ZnO, N-doped ZnO and the composite ZnO/g-CN, the as-prepared N-doped ZnO/g-CN exhibits a greatly enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and phenol under visible-light irradiation. Meanwhile, N-doped ZnO/g-CN possesses a high stability. Finally, a proposed mechanism for N-doped ZnO/g-CN is also discussed. The improved photocatalysis can be attributed to the synergistic effect between N-doped ZnO and g-CN, including the energy band structure and enhanced charge separation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transplantation of human amniotic mesenchymal stem cells (hAM-MSCs) seems to be a promising strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the clinical therapeutic effects of hAM-MSCs and their mechanisms of action in AD remain to be determined. Here, we used amyloid precursor protein (APP) and presenilin1 (PS1) double-transgenic mice to evaluate the effects of hAM-MSC transplantation on AD-related neuropathology and cognitive dysfunction. We found that hAM-MSC transplantation into the hippocampus dramatically reduced amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) deposition and rescued spatial learning and memory deficits in APP/PS1 mice. Interestingly, these effects were associated with increasing in Aβ-degrading factors, elevations in activated microglia, and the modulation of neuroinflammation. Furthermore, enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus (DG) and enhanced synaptic plasticity following hAM-MSC treatment could be another important factor in reversing the cognitive decline in APP/PS1 mice. Instead, the mechanism underlying the improved cognition apparently involves a robust increase in hippocampal synaptic density and neurogenesis that is mediated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In conclusion, our data suggest that hAM-MSCs may be a new and effective therapy for the treatment of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consistent test via the partial penalized empirical likelihood approach for the parametric hypothesis testing under the sparse case, called the partial penalized empirical likelihood ratio (PPELR) test, is proposed in this paper. Our results are demonstrated for the mean vector in multivariate analysis and regression coefficients in linear models, respectively. And we establish its asymptotic distributions under the null hypothesis and the local alternatives of order n under regularity conditions. Meanwhile, the oracle property of the partial penalized empirical likelihood estimator also holds. The proposed PPELR test statistic performs as well as the ordinary empirical likelihood ratio test statistic and outperforms the full penalized empirical likelihood ratio test statistic in term of size and power when the null parameter is zero. Moreover, the proposed method obtains the variable selection as well as the p-values of testing. Numerical simulations and an analysis of Prostate Cancer data confirm our theoretical findings and demonstrate the promising performance of the proposed method in hypothesis testing and variable selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Zhejiang University: Science B is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Skin sensitization is an important toxicological endpoint for chemical hazard determination and safety assessment. Prediction of chemical skin sensitizer had traditionally relied on data from rodent models. The development of the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) and associated alternative in vitro assays have reshaped the assessment of skin sensitizers. The integration of multiple assays as key events in the AOP has been shown to have improved prediction performance. Current computational models to predict skin sensitization mainly based on in vivo assays without incorporating alternative in vitro assays. However, there are few freely available databases integrating both the in vivo and the in vitro skin sensitization assays for development of AOP-based skin sensitization prediction models. To facilitate the development of AOP-based prediction models, a skin sensitization database named SkinSensDB has been constructed by curating data from published AOP-related assays. In addition to providing datasets for developing computational models, SkinSensDB is equipped with browsing and search tools which enable the assessment of new compounds for their skin sensitization potentials based on data from structurally similar compounds. SkinSensDB is publicly available at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, stable cadmium(II)-based metal-organic nanotubes (Cd-MONTs) were prepared and used as a coating material for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from environmental water samples. The as-prepared Cd-MONT SPME coating material was characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The synthesized Cd-MONTs exhibited high thermal stability (385 °C) and excellent extraction performance toward PCBs. The important conditions were optimized systematically by the response surface method. Under the optimal conditions, the new fiber achieved high enrichment factors (938-3417), low limits of detection (1.80-8.73 pg L), and wide linearity (10-5000 pg L). The method developed was used in ultratrace-level analysis of PCBs in seawater samples, with satisfactory results for each sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Zhejiang University: Science B is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors study the empirical likelihood method for partially linear errors-in-variablesmodel with covariate data missing at random. Empirical likelihood ratios for the regression coefficients and the baseline function are investigated, and the corresponding empirical log-likelihood ratios are proved to be asymptotically standard chi-squared, which can be used to construct confidence regions. The finite sample behavior of the proposed methods is evaluated by a simulation study which indicates that the proposed methods are comparable in terms of coverage probabilities and average length of confidence intervals. Finally, the Earthquake Magnitude dataset is used to illustrate our proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the operation speed of the high-speed train increases and the weight of the carbody becomes lighter, not only does the sensitivity of the wheel/rail contact get higher, but also the vibration frequency range of the vehicle system gets enlarged and more frequencies are transmitted from the wheelset to the carbody. It is important to investigate the vibration characteristics and the dynamic frequency transmission from the wheel/rail interface to the carbody of the high-speed electric multi-uint (EMU). An elastic highspeed vehicle dynamics model is established in which the carbody, bogieframes, and wheelsets are all dealt with as flexible body. A rigid high-speed vehicle dynamics model is set up to compare with the simulation results of the elastic model. In the rigid vehicle model, the carbody, bogieframes and wheelsets are treated as rigid component while the suspension and structure parameters are the same as used in the elastic model. The dynamic characteristic of the elastic high speed vehicle is investigated in time and frequency domains and the difference of the acceleration, frequency distribution and transmission of the two types of models are presented. The results show that the spectrumpower density of the vehicle decreases from the wheelset to the carbody and the acceleration transmission ratio is approximately from 1% to 10% for each suspension system. The frequency of the wheelset rotation is evident in the vibration of the flexible model and is transmitted from the wheelset to the bogieframe and to the carbody. The results of the flexible model are more reasonable than that of the rigid model. A field test data of the high speed train are presented to verify the simulation results. It shows that the simulation results are coincidentwith the field test data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of ventricular dysfunction and asynchrony is very important in predicting the outcome for children with a single right ventricle. However, the assessment is inaccurate and subjective because of the unusual ventricular shape. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and clinical value of velocity vector imaging for assessing longitudinal systolic ventricular dysfunction and intraventricular asynchrony in children with a single right ventricle. The study enrolled 36 children with a single right ventricle and 36 age-matched children with a normal heart. Peak systolic velocity, peak displacement, strain, strain rate, time to peak systolic velocity, and time to peak systolic strain were measured via velocity vector imaging using the Siemens Sequoia C512 echocardiography instrument. The maximum positive rate of ventricular pressure change (Max [d p/d t]) was obtained by cardiac catheterization for all the children with a single right ventricle. In the children with a single right ventricle, the maximal temporal differences and the standard deviations of the times to peak systolic velocity and peak systolic strain were higher ( P < 0.01) than in the children with a normal heart. Moreover, the strain and strain rate values were significantly lower in all six segments ( P < 0.05). The strain rate of the basal segment adjacent to the rudimentary chamber correlated best with Max (d p/d t) ( r = 0.86; P < 0.01). Longitudinal systolic dysfunction and intraventricular asynchrony could be assessed accurately using velocity vector imaging in children with a single right ventricle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis plays a pivotal role in the progression of diabetic complications. Abundant studies have demonstrated the pivotal role of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on the development of diabetes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of calycosin, a phytoestrogen, on AGEs-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) apoptosis. Fluorescence polarization and fluorescence absorption assays indicated that calycosin interacted with AGEs in a time-dependent manner. Further studies found that calycosin entered the cells as detected by HPLC. The MTT method demonstrated that calycosin ameliorated AGEs-induced HUVEC apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner, and statistical significance was observed at 1 × 10 −8 M of calycosin; this behavior was further demonstrated by acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining in that the presence of calycosin dramatically reduced AGEs-induced red staining in HUVECs. Further studies found that pre-incubation with calycosin at 1 × 10 −8 M dramatically increased anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 while decreased pro-apoptotic Bax and Bad expressions as detected by immunocytochemistry, and the effect of calycosin on rebalancing the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax was more significant than that of its glycoside, calycosin-7- O-β- d-glucopyranoside (CG). Furthermore, calycosin slightly reversed AGEs-induced cell oxidative stress at 1 × 10 −8 M, but its antioxidative stress effect was less significant than that of CG. The present study strongly indicates that calycosin can enter the cell and modulate endothelial cell dysfunction by ameliorating AGEs-induced cell apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, for solving the singular saddle point problems, we present a new preconditioned accelerated Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (AHSS) iteration method. The semi-convergence of this method and the eigenvalue distribution of the preconditioned iteration matrix are studied. In addition, we prove that all eigenvalues of the iteration matrix are clustered for any positive iteration parameters α and β. Numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical results and examine the numerical effectiveness of the AHSS iteration method served either as a preconditioner or as a solver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel metal-organic coordination compounds, [Zn(Hdcp)(HO)]·1.5HO ( 1), [Zn(Hdcp)(HO)] ( 2) and [Zn(dcp)(HO)] ( 3) with the ligand 3,5-pyrazoledicarboxylic acid were prepared by the hydrothermal method. The complexes were structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. Compound 1 is a mononuclear molecule that is linked into a 3D supramolecular framework via N-H···O and O-H···O hydrogen bonds. In 2, two types of carboxylic bridges were found between Zn ions to form a 1D double-chain. The 1D chains were further construct into a 3D structure by hydrogen bonds. Trinuclear 3 consists of 1D bi-infinite parallelogram chains of [Zn(dcp)(HO)] trimers. In the basic trinuclear unit a further bridging mode of the ligand is seen where two dcp ligands chelate three Zn ions by utilizing five donors of the dcp ligand. The photoluminescent properties of 1, 2 and 3 were investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the framework of a modified Fisher model, the ratio of the symmetry-energy coefficient to temperature ( a/ T) is extracted from the fragment produced in the Xe induced reactions using the isobaric yield ratio methods based on different approximations. It is found that for nuclei with the same neutron excess ( I ≡ N − Z) increases when the mass of the fragment increases, while for isobar a/ T decreases when I increases. It is also found that the extracted a/ T of the nucleus has very little dependence on the n/p ratio of the projectile, target, and the incident energies in the reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

new microextraction method termed ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction has been developed for the rapid enrichment and sensitive determination of tetrabromobisphenol A in environmental water samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. Instead of using toxic organic solvents, green solvent ionic liquid was used as extraction solvent. Factors that may influence the enrichment efficiency, such as type and volume of ionic liquid, type and volume of disperser solvent, sample pH, extraction time and NaCl content were investigated and optimized in detail. Under optimum conditions, linearity of the method was observed over the range 1-100 μg L with correlation coefficient 0.9986. The proposed method has been found to have excellent sensitivity with limit of detection 0.06 μg L and precision 6.95% (RSD, n = 5). This method has been successfully applied to analyze real environmental water samples and satisfactory results were achieved. All these results indicated that the present method was an environmentally friendly method for the rapid enrichment and sensitive analysis of tetrabromobisphenol A at trace level in environmental water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Neuroscience Bulletin is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A new compound, ent-kaur-15-en-19,20-olide ( 1), together with a new natural compound, (-)-20-hydroxykaur16-en-19-oic acid lactone ( 2), were isolated from the stems of Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb. Their structures were determined by extensive analysis of spectroscopic data (1D and 2D NMR, MS) and by comparison with literature data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we designed ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates by atomic layer deposition (ALD) as anode material for lithium ion batteries. ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates were fabricated on copper foil by depositing unit of 26 cycles ZnO/26 cycles TiO2 repeatedly using ALD. ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates are much more stable than pristine ZnO films during electrochemical cycling process. Therefore, ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates exhibit excellent lithium storage performance with an improved cycling performance and superior rate capability compared to pristine ZnO films. Moreover, coulombic efficiency (CE) of ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates is above 99%, which is much higher than the value of pristine ZnO films. Excellent ultralong-life performance is gained for ZnO/TiO2 nanolaminates, retaining a reversible capacity of ~667 mAh g−1 within cut-off voltage of 0.05-2.5 V after 1200 cycles of charge-discharge at 500 mA g−1. Constructing nanolaminates structures via ALD might open up new opportunities for improving the performance of anode materials with large volume expansion in lithium ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendrobium is known for its pharmacological actions including anti-cancer effect, anti-fatigue effect, gastric ulcer protective effect, and so on. At present, only studies on endophytic fungi of Dendrobium affecting the metabolites of host plants have been reported, very little research has been done on endophytic bacteria. In this study, we have demonstrated the great diversity of endophytic bacteria in 6 Dendrobium samples from different origins and cultivars. According to the results of the culture-independent method, the endophytic bacterial community in Dendrobium stems showed obvious different in the 6 samples and was influenced by origin and cultivar. Some bacteria including Ralstonia, Comamonas and Lelliottia were first detected in Dendrobium in this study. Based on the culture-dependent method, a total of 165 cultivable endophytic bacteria isolates were isolated from the sterilized Dendrobium stems, and were classified into 43 species according to the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Moreover, 14 of the 43 strains showed antimicrobial activity against phytopathogen using the Kirby-Bauer method. Strain NA-HTong-7 (Bacillus megaterium, 99.12%) showed the highest antimicrobial activity. This study was the first comprehensive study on endophytic bacteria of Dendrobium from different origins and cultivars, which provides new insights into the endophytic bacteria from Dendrobium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assembly of spherical fullerenes, or buckyballs, into single crystals for crystallographic identification often suffers from disordered arrangement. Here we show a chiral configuration of decapyrrylcorannulene that has a concave 'palm' of corannulene and ten flexible electron-rich pyrryl group 'fingers' to mimic the smart molecular 'hands' for self-adaptably cradling various buckyballs in a (+)hand-ball-hand(−) mode. As exemplified by crystallographic identification of 15 buckyball structures representing pristine, exohedral, endohedral, dimeric and hetero-derivatization, the pyrryl groups twist with varying dihedral angles to adjust the interaction between decapyrrylcorannulene and fullerene. The self-adaptable electron-rich pyrryl groups, susceptible to methylation, are theoretically revealed to contribute more than the bowl-shaped palm of the corannulene in holding buckyball structures. The generality of the present decapyrrylcorannulene host with flexible pyrryl groups facilitates the visualization of numerous unknown/unsolved fullerenes by crystallography and the assembly of the otherwise close-packed spherical fullerenes into two-dimensional layered structures by intercalation. The structures of fullerenes, or buckyballs, are often very difficult to resolve. Here, the authors describe a decapyrrylcorannulene host with ten flexible pyrryl groups that can efficiently co-crystallize with diverse fullerene derivatives in a 'hand-ball-hand' fashion, allowing crystallographic identification of commonly known types of fullerenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphate (PO43−) accumulation associated with bacteria contributes to efficient remediation of eutrophic waters and has attracted attention due to its low cost, high removal efficiency and environmental friendliness. In the present study, we isolated six strains from sludge with high concentrations of chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus levels. Among them, strain LH4 exhibited the greatest PO43− removal ability. Strain LH4 is typical of Acinetobacter junii based on physiological, biochemical, and molecular analyses and is a PO43−-accumulating organism (PAO) based on toluidine blue staining. The strain grew quickly when subjected to aerobic medium after pre-incubation under anaerobic condition, with a maximum OD600 of 1.429 after 8 h and PO43− removal efficiency of 99%. Our data also indicated that this strain preferred utilizing the carbon (C) sources sodium formate and sodium acetate and the nitrogen (N) sources NH4Cl and (NH4)2SO4 over other compounds. To achieve optimal PO43− removal efficiency, a C:N ratio of 5:1, inoculation concentration of 3%, solution pH of 6, incubation temperature of 30 °C, and shaking speed of 100 rpm were recommended for A. junii strain LH4. By incubating this strain with different concentrations of PO43−, we calculated that its relative PO43− removal capacity ranged from 0.67 to 3.84 mg L−1 h−1, ranking in the top three among reported PAOs. Our study provided a new PO43−-accumulating bacterial strain that holds promise for remediating eutrophic waters, and its potential for large-scale use warrants further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]