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We developed an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method for testing 23 elements, namely, Mg, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, W, Tl, Pb, and U, in human serum. The serum samples were analyzed after diluting 1/25 with 0.5% nitric acid, 0.02% Triton-X-100, and 2% methanol. Sc, In, Y, Tb, and Bi were assigned internal standards to correct the baseline drift and matrix interference. The kinetic energy discrimination mode of the instrument with helium gas as the collision gas eliminated polyatomic interference. All 23 elements exhibited excellent linearity in their testing range, with a coefficient of determination ≥ 0.9996. The limits of detection of the 23 elements were within the range of 0.0004–0.2232 µg/L. The intra- and inter-day precision (relative standard deviation) were

Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of adjunctive lacosamide (LCM) in patients with focal-onset seizures, with or without combined secondarily generalized seizures. Methods 106 patients aged ≥ 16 years were recruited consecutively in this single-center prospective observational study. All patients received LCM as an add-on treatment on the basis of clinical judgement. Seizure frequency, adverse events (AEs) and retention rates were obtained at 3 and 6 months after LCM introduction. Result The overall response rates were 53.3 and 70.4% after 3 and 6 months, respectively, and the freedom of seizures at the same points was reached at 19 and 26.5%. The retention rates were 99.1% at the 3-month follow-up and 93.3% at the 6-month follow-up. The overall incidence of adverse events was 35.8%. The leading AEs were dizziness (16.98%) and sedation (6.6%). Conclusions Our study confirmed the efficacy and tolerability of adjunctive LCM in Chinese patients in real-life conditions. Based on our treatment experience, a universal maintenance dose of LCM would be needed in Chinese patients.

Effects of laser surface remelting (LSR) on microstructure and corrosion properties of as-cast Mg-12Dy-1.1Ni (wt.%) alloy were investigated. The as-cast alloy was mainly composed of α-Mg, lamellar Mg12DyNi phase with an 18R-long period stacking order (LPSO) structure and Mg24Dy5. After LSR treatment, fine and compact 18R-LPSO phase reprecipitated on dendrite boundaries as a continuous network. In addition, the volume fraction of the LPSO phase remarkably increased to 34.9% and the grain size of as-cast alloy was refined to ca. 4 μm. Electrochemical and immersion tests indicated that the LSR-treated alloy exhibited a lower weight loss rate (2.8 ± 0.2 mg/cm2/h) and corrosion current density (160.1 ± 20.7 μA/cm2, and of 37% reduction after LSR) than the as-cast alloy in 0.1 M NaCl solution. The improved corrosion resistance of the LSR alloy was mainly ascribed to the grain refinement and continuous distribution of 18R-LPSO phase on dendrite boundaries.

Background The TIFY family is a plant-specific gene family and plays an important role in plant growth and development. But few reports have been reported on the phylogenetic analysis and gene expression profiling of TIFY family genes in birch (Betula platyphylla). Results In this study, we characterized TIFY family and identified 12 TIFY genes and using phylogeny and chromosome mapping analysis in birch. TIFY family members were divided into JAZ, ZML, PPD and TIFY subfamilies. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 12 TIFY genes were clustered into six evolutionary branches. The chromosome distribution showed that 12 TIFY genes were unevenly distributed on 5 chromosomes. Some TIFY family members were derived from gene duplication in birch. We found that six JAZ genes from JAZ subfamily played essential roles in response to Methyl jasmonate (MeJA), the JAZ genes were correlated with COI1 under MeJA. Co-expression and GO enrichment analysis further revealed that JAZ genes were related to hormone. JAZ proteins involved in the ABA and SA pathways. Subcellular localization experiments confirmed that the JAZ proteins were localized in the nucleus. Yeast two-hybrid assay showed that the JAZ proteins may form homologous or heterodimers to regulate hormones. Conclusion Our results provided novel insights into biological function of TIFY family and JAZ subfamily in birch. It provides the theoretical reference for in-depth analysis of plant hormone and molecular breeding design for resistance.

Epidemiological evidence has linked air pollution with adverse respiratory outcomes, but the mechanisms underlying susceptibility to air pollution remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the role of glutathione S-transferase (GST) polymorphism in the association between air pollution and lung function levels. A total of 75 healthy young volunteers aged 18–20 years old were recruited for six follow-up visits and examinations. Spirometry was conducted to obtain lung function parameters such as forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). Nasal fluid concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and 8-epi-prostaglandin F2α (8-epi-PGF2a) were measured using ELISA kits. Linear mixed-effect models were used to evaluate the association of air pollutants with respiratory outcomes. Additionally, polymorphisms of glutathione S-transferase mu 1 (GSTM1) and glutathione S-transferase theta 1 (GSTT1) were estimated to explore its role in the association between air pollutants and lung function. We found that short-term exposure to atmospheric particulates such as PM2.5 and PM10 can cause an increase in nasal biomarkers of inflammation, oxidative stress, and lung function, while air gaseous pollutant exposure is linked with decreased lung function, except for CO. Stratification analyses showed that an increase in nasal inflammatory cytokines caused by exposure to atmospheric particulates is more obvious in subjects with GSTM1-sufficient (GSTM1+) than GSTM1-null (GSTM1−), while elevated lung function levels due to air particles are more significant in subjects with the genotype of GSTM1− when compared to GSTM1+. As for air gaseous pollutants, decreased lung function levels caused by O3, SO2, and NO2 exposure is more manifest in subjects with the genotype of GSTM1− compared to GSTM1+. Taken together, short-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with alterations in nasal biomarkers and lung function levels in young healthy adults, and susceptible genotypes play an important mediation role in the association between exposure to air pollutants and inflammation, oxidative stress, and lung function levels.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic, autoimmune disease that may lead to joint damage, deformity, and disability, if not treated effectively. Hedyotis diffusa Willd (HDW) and its main components have been widely used to treat a variety of tumors and inflammatory diseases. The present study utilized a network pharmacology approach, microarray data analysis and molecular docking to predict the key active ingredients and mechanisms of HDW against RA. Eleven active ingredients in HDW and 180 potential anti-RA targets were identified. The ingredients-targets-RA network showed that stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol, quercetin, kaempferol, and 2-methoxy-3-methyl-9,10-anthraquinone were key components for RA treatment. KEGG pathway results revealed that the 180 potential targets were inflammatory-related pathways with predominant enrichment of the AGE-RAGE, TNF, IL17, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. Screened through the PPI network and with Cytoscape software, RELA, TNF, IL6, TP53, MAPK1, AKT1, IL10, and ESR1 were identified as the hub targets in the HDW for RA treatment. Molecular docking was used to identify the binding of 5 key components and the 8 related-RA hub targets. Moreover, the results of network pharmacology were verified by vitro experiments. HDW inhibits cell proliferation in MH7A cells in a dose and time-dependent manner. RT-qPCR and WB results suggest that HDW may affect hub targets through PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, thereby exerting anti-RA effect. This study provides evidence for a clinical effect of HDW on RA and a research basis for further investigation into the active ingredients and mechanisms of HDW against RA.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal malignant tumors. Cell division cycle associated 8 (CDCA8) is an important multifactorial regulator in cancers. However, its up and downstream targets and effects in HCC are still unclear. Methods A comprehensive bioinformatics analysis was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset (TCGA) to explore novel core oncogenes. We quantified CDCA8 levels in HCC tumors using qRT-PCR. HCC cell’s proliferative, migratory, and invasive abilities were detected using a Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay, clone formation, and a Transwell assay. An orthotopic tumor model and tail vein model were constructed to determine the effects of CDCA8 inhibition in vivo. The mechanism underlying CDCA8 was investigated using RNA sequencing. The prognostic value of CDCA8 was assessed with immunohistochemical staining of the tissue microarrays. Results CDCA8 was identified as a novel oncogene during HCC development. The high expression of CDCA8 was an independent predictor for worse HCC outcomes both in publicly available datasets and in our cohort. We found that CDCA8 knockdown inhibited HCC cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration by suppressing the MEK/ERK pathway in vitro. Moreover, CDCA8 deficiency significantly inhibited tumorigenesis and metastasis. Next-generation sequencing and laboratory validation showed that CDCA8 silencing inhibited the expression of TPM3, NECAP2, and USP13. Furthermore, NA-YA overexpression upregulated the expression of CDCA8. CDCA8 knockdown could attenuate NF-YA-mediated cell invasion in vitro. The expression of NF-YA alone or in combined with CDCA8 were validated as significant independent risk factors for patient survival. Conclusion Our findings revealed that the expression of CDCA8 alone or in combined with NF-YA contributed to cancer progression, and could serve as novel potential therapeutic targets for HCC patients.

Priming is an induced defence mechanism in which plants that have been exposed to elicitors, such as herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs), go into an alert state with faster and stronger responses against a future biotic challenge. This study evaluated whether HIPVs emitted by maize genotypes after herbivory by fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) larvae could prime neighbouring maize plants for an enhanced indirect defence response, and if priming was consistent across different genotypes. Two genotypes were selected based on their differences in HIPV emission: Sintético Spodoptera (SS), a relatively high emitter of HIPVs, and L3, a relatively low emitter of HIPVs. SS plants that were previously exposed to SS HIPVs initiated earlier and enhanced volatile production upon larval challenge, compared to SS plants that were previously exposed to SS undamaged plant volatiles. In addition, SS plants exposed to SS HIPVs and then to larval challenge attracted an egg parasitoid, Telenomus remus, at an earlier stage than SS plants that were only subjected to larval challenge, indicating a priming effect. There was no evidence of a priming response by L3 plants that were previously exposed to L3 or SS HIPVs. When comparing the gene expression of HIPV-exposed and undamaged plant volatile (UDV)-exposed plants, jasmonate-induced protein GRMZM2G05154 and UDP-glucosyltransferase bx8 genes related to the biosynthesis of DIBOA-Glu were upregulated. These data indicate that priming by HIPVs enhances indirect defence in maize plants as reported by other studies, and provide new information showing that the priming effect can be genotype-specific.

Ca3Co4O9 micro-nanopowder was synthesized by Sol–gel-molten-salt method. The effects of molten salt system, secondary calcination temperature, and holding time on the synthesis of Ca3Co4O9 have been systematically investigated. The results show that the optimal solution for the synthesis of final Ca3Co4O9 powder by the Sol–gel-molten-salt is as follows: The calcium cobaltate precursor powders were obtained by holding the xerogel at 850 °C for 2 h at a heating rate of 3 °C/min and then adding the single-phase molten salt with a ratio of precursor: K2CO3 = 1:7 at a temperature of 850 °C for 5 h to obtain calcium cobaltate powder. The thickness of the product is about 0.2 μm, the maximum crystal diameter can reach about 10 μm, and the grain distribution is relatively uniform under the best process conditions. Compared with a single sol–gel method, high-purity Ca3Co4O9 powder can be synthesized by the sol–gel method combined with molten salt method.

Background The cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) is one of the most devastating sap-sucking pests of cultivated plants. The success of P. solenopsis is attributable to its ecological resilience and insecticide resistance, making its control extremely difficult and expensive. Thus, alternative safe approaches are needed to prevent the pest population from reaching the economic threshold. One of these novel approaches is based on the fact that chemical communication via the olfactory system drives critical behaviors required for the survival and development of the species. This knowledge can be useful for controlling insect pests using traps based on semiochemicals. The antennae of insects are an invaluable model for studying the fundamentals of odor perception. Several efforts have been made to investigate the histological and ultrastructural organization of the olfactory organs, such as the antennae and maxillary palps, in many insect species. However, studies on the antennal sensory structures of Phenacoccus species are lacking. Furthermore, although enormous progress has been made in understanding the antennal structures of many mealybug species, the olfactory sensilla in the antennae of P. solenopsis have not yet been described. In this study, we describe, for the first time, the morphology and distribution of the antennal sensilla in male and female P. solenopsis using scanning electron microscopy. Results Our results revealed that the entire antennae length and the number of flagellar segments were different between the sexes. Eight morphological types of sensilla were identified on male antennae: trichoid sensilla, chaetic sensilla (three subtypes), basiconic sensilla (two subtypes), and campaniform sensilla (two subtypes). Six morphological types of sensilla were found on female antennae. Sensilla chaetica of subtype 2 and campaniform sensilla of subtype 1 were distributed only on male antennae, suggesting that these sensilla are involved in the recognition of female sex pheromones. The subtype 1 of sensilla chaetica was significantly more abundant on female antennae than on male ones, while subtype 3 was only located on the terminal flagellar segment of the antenna in both sexes. Conclusions This study provides insightful information for future electrophysiological and behavioral studies on chemical communication in insects, particularly the cotton mealybug, P. solenopsis that could help in developing new strategies for controlling this economically important insect species.

Background The long-term protective effect of hepatitis B vaccine (HepB), the incidence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine breakthrough infections (VBIs), and whether a booster HepB is necessary remain to be clarified in children born to mothers with chronic HBV infection. Methods Based on a long-term follow-up prospective cohort of 1177 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive mothers and their paired infants which was established from 2009 to 2011, total 454 children with immunoprophylaxis success as determined by postvaccination serologic testing (PVST) at 7 months old were included in this study. Among the 454 children, 246 never had a booster HepB, and 208 children received a booster HepB from 1 to 5 years of age. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the risk factors for HBV VBIs. Results The hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) levels declined sharply from 7 months to 2 years old, and the anti-HBs seronegative rate in the children increased significantly from 2 years old. A total of 31 (6.83%) of the 454 children experienced VBIs, of which 7 had overt and 7 had occult HBV infections. Notably, 14 (45.16%) of the 31 children with VBIs were diagnosed at 2 years old, and all of them had anti-HBs positivity (> 10 mIU/mL) at 1 year old. Maternal hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) positivity, higher HBV DNA and HBsAg levels, lower initial infant anti-HBs levels and not receiving a booster HepB were independent risk factors for VBIs. The incidence of VBIs was significantly lower in children with a booster HepB than in nonboosted children (0.50 vs. 11.90%, P Conclusions After the primary full immunization with HepB, children born to mothers with chronic HBV infection, especially the children with maternal HBeAg positivity, high HBV DNA levels, high HBsAg levels and/or low initial infant anti-HBs levels, were at a high risk of VBIs, and a booster HepB for these children before 2 years old, instead of when their anti-HBs level is

Background The pathophysiology of hepatitis B-related liver cirrhosis (HBV-LC) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the disease mechanisms using topological analysis of the miRNA/mRNA network. Methods Paired miRNA/mRNA sequencing was performed with thirty-three peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples (LC, n = 9; chronic hepatitis B, n = 12; normal controls, n = 12) collected from a prospective cohort to identify the miRNA/mRNA network. Topological features and functional implications of the network were analyzed to capture pathophysiologically important miRNAs/mRNAs, whose expression patterns were confirmed in the validation group (LC, n = 15; chronic hepatitis B, n = 15; normal controls, n = 10), and functional potentials initiating fibrogenesis were demonstrated in vitro. Results The miRNA/mRNA network contained 3121 interactions between 158 differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs and 442 DE-mRNAs. The topological analysis identified a core module containing 99 miRNA/mRNA interactions and two hub nodes (miR-20a-5p/miR-340-5p), which connected to 75 DE-mRNAs. The expression pattern along the disease progression of the core module was found associated with a continuous increase in wound healing, inflammation, and leukocyte migration but an inflection of immune response and lipid metabolic regulation, consistent with the pathophysiology of HBV-LC. MiR-20a-5p/miR-340-5p were found involved in macrophage polarization and hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation in vitro (THP-1, LX-2 cell lines), and their expression levels were confirmed in the validation group independently. Conclusion Topological analysis of the miRNA/mRNA network in HBV-LC revealed the association between fibrosis and miR-20a-5p/miR-340-5p involving initiating activations of macrophage and HSC. Further validations should be performed to confirm the HSC/macrophage activations and the interactions between miR-20a-5p/miR-340-5p and their potential targets, which may help to develop non-invasive prognostic markers or intervention targets for HBV-LC.

Molecular property prediction is an essential but challenging task in drug discovery. The recurrent neural network (RNN) and Transformer are the mainstream methods for sequence modeling, and both have been successfully applied independently for molecular property prediction. As the local information and global information of molecules are very important for molecular properties, we aim to integrate the bi-directional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) into the original Transformer encoder, together with self-attention to better capture local and global molecular information simultaneously. To this end, we propose the TranGRU approach, which encodes the local and global information of molecules by using the BiGRU and self-attention, respectively. Then, we use a gate mechanism to reasonably fuse the two molecular representations. In this way, we enhance the ability of the proposed model to encode both local and global molecular information. Compared to the baselines and state-of-the-art methods when treating each task as a single-task classification on Tox21, the proposed approach outperforms the baselines on 9 out of 12 tasks and state-of-the-art methods on 5 out of 12 tasks. TranGRU also obtains the best ROC-AUC scores on BBBP, FDA, LogP, and Tox21 (multitask classification) and has a comparable performance on ToxCast, BACE, and ecoli. On the whole, TranGRU achieves better performance for molecular property prediction. The source code is available in GitHub: https://github.com/Jiangjing0122/TranGRU.

It had been suggested, after facilitating the hatching process, improved pregnancy outcomes could be attained in embryos with thick and hard zona. This study aimed to determine the effect of zona thinning on pregnancy outcomes in poor-quality frozen-thawed blastocysts. This retrospective study included 230 women (≤ 40 years) who underwent frozen embryo transfer of poor-quality blastocysts (scored 3BB). In total, 105 patients were in the assisted hatching group in which the zona was thinned by laser before transfer and 125 patients were in the control group in which the blastocysts were non-manipulated. Patients' demographics, cycle characteristics, and pregnancy outcomes were compared between the assisted hatching group and the control group. Further, regression analysis was applied to test the correlation between assisted hatching and live birth. All parameters in the patients' demographic characteristics and the cycle's characteristics were not significantly different between two groups. As for pregnancy outcomes, the second trimester pregnancy loss was significantly higher in the assisted hatching group (P = 0.035). Other pregnancy outcomes, including implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, biochemical miscarriage rate, the first trimester pregnancy loss, ongoing pregnancy rate, and live birth rate were comparable between two groups. The logistic regression analysis demonstrated no association between live birth and assisted hatching (univariate, OR = 0.787, P 0.05; multivariate, OR = 0.652, P 0.05), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the regression model was almost 0.7. It suggested that zona thinning may not be supposed to perform on poor-quality, frozen-thawed blastocysts. The indications of assisted hatching were still needed to further investigate.

Clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas systems have a powerful ability to edit DNA and RNA targets. However, the need for a specific recognition site, protospacer adjacent motif (PAM), of the CRISPR/Cas system limits its application in gene editing. Some Argonaute (Ago) proteins have endonuclease functions under the guidance of 5′ phosphorylated or hydroxylated guide DNA (gDNA). The NgAgo protein might perform RNA gene editing at 37 °C, suggesting its application in mammalian cells; however, its mechanisms are unclear. In the present study, the target of NgAgo in RNA was confirmed in vitro and in vivo. Then, an in vitro RNA cleavage system was designed and the cleavage site was verified by sequencing. Furthermore, NgAgo and gDNA were transfected into cells to cleave an intracellular target sequence. We demonstrated targeted degradation of GFP, HCV, and AKR1B10 RNAs in a gDNA-dependent manner by NgAgo both in vitro and in vivo, but no effect on DNA was observed. Sequencing demonstrated that the cleavage sites are located at the 3′ of the target RNA which is recognized by 5′ sequence of the gDNA. These results confirmed that NgAgo–gDNA cleaves RNA not DNA. We observed that the cleavage site is located at the 3′ of the target RNA, which is a new finding that has not been reported in the past.

We report acoustic impulse-response and system function of particle vibration inside viscous, dense solids and explain the physical mechanism of intrinsic-noise generation. With an external disturbance of a harmonic force acting on particles inside viscous solid media, the system of particle vibration goes through a gradual transition from a static state to a steady harmonic vibrational state. Based on the damped oscillator model, the transition frequency spectrum resembles the intrinsic noise generated by vibrating particles in viscous isotropic solids, which delivers a crucial understanding for applications to invert stratum characteristics around the drilled oil well and its abnormal geological structure.

Background Ovarian cancer is a common gynecological cancer with poor prognosis and poses a serious threat to woman life and health. In this study, we aimed to establish a prognostic signature for the risk assessment of ovarian cancer. Methods The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset was used as the training set and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) dataset was set as an independent external validation. A multi-stage screening strategy was used to determine the prognostic features of ovarian cancer with R software. The relationship between the prognosis of ovarian cancer and the expression level of SLC25A10 was selected for further analysis. Results A total of 16 prognosis-associated genes were screened to construct the risk score signature. Survival analysis showed that patients in the high-risk score group had a poor prognosis compared to the low-risk group. Accuracy of this prognostic signature was confirmed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and decision curve analysis (DCA), and validated with ICGC cohort. This signature was identified as an independent factor for predicting overall survival (OS). Nomogram constructed by multiple clinical parameters showed excellent performance for OS prediction. Finally, it’s found that patients with low expression of SLC25A10 generally had poor survival and higher resistance to most chemotherapeutic drugs. Conclusions In sum, we developed a 16-gene prognostic signature, which could serve as a promising tool for the prognostic prediction of ovarian cancer, and the expression level of SLC25A10 was tightly associated with OS of the patients.

Intermetallic compounds formed from non-precious transition metals are promising cost-effective and robust catalysts for electrochemical hydrogen production. However, the development of monolithic nanoporous intermetallics, with ample active sites and sufficient electrocatalytic activity, remains a challenge. Here we report the fabrication of nanoporous Co7Mo6 and Fe7Mo6 intermetallic compounds via liquid metal dealloying. Along with the development of three-dimensional bicontinuous open porosity, high-temperature dealloying overcomes the kinetic energy barrier, enabling the direct formation of chemically ordered intermetallic phases. Unprecedented small characteristic lengths are observed for the nanoporous intermetallic compounds, resulting from an intermetallic effect whereby the chemical ordering during nanopore formation lowers surface diffusivity and significantly suppresses the thermal coarsening of dealloyed nanostructure. The resulting ultrafine nanoporous Co7Mo6 exhibits high catalytic activity and durability in electrochemical hydrogen evolution reactions. This study sheds light on the previously unexplored intermetallic effect in dealloying and facilitates the development of advanced intermetallic catalysts for energy applications.

Eight liquid effluent samples from nuclear power plants (NPP) were analyzed for 63Ni, 131I, and gamma radionuclides using methods with low detection limits. The sum of the radionuclides activity concentrations of the effluent samples from NPPs A and B were closely lower than the operator’s results with a maximum of decreasing to 29%, while from NPP C were much lower with a maximum of decreasing to 5%. The unlisted radionuclides account for 5.0–889%. It was indicated that the statistics method of the discharge amount could be established based on a regular investigation of the radionuclide characteristics based on analytical methods with low limits of detection.

The vibration properties of a side-placed high-temperature superconducting (HTS) bulk and permanent magnet (PM) system have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. In this system, an HTS pendulum (HTSP) is introduced to laterally arrange the HTS bulks beside a PM with a high pinning force. The resonant frequency nearly linearly decreases when increasing both the mass of HTSP and the gap between superconductors and a magnet. The results indicate that the resonant frequency is dependent on HSTP mass and stiffness. This may be helpful for the future application on close-proximity spacecraft operations and maglev system.

Plant root system plays an important role in preventing soil erosion and improving slope stability. However, its performance is significantly affected by soil moisture content, and the role of soil moisture in root reinforcement is not fully understood. In this study, the influence of soil moisture on root pullout properties was studied by experiments. Vertical in-situ pullout tests under four different levels of soil matric suction (12 kPa, 18 kPa, 24 kPa, 30 kPa) were carried out on roots of sea buckthorn plants (Hippophae rhamnoides Linn.) which were artificially cultivated for 7 months. Diameter and length of the root system of sea buckthorn were investigated. The results showed that a very significant correlation was observed between root diameter (D) and root length (L) (P

Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of polypropylene (PP)/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fibrillated composites is presented. In-situ fibrillated PP/PTFE-composites containing 1 and 3 wt% PTFE were prepared by melt compounding using a twin-screw extruder. The morphology and non-isothermal crystallization behavior of the composites were examined using scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, respectively. The Mo equation was used to analyze the kinetics of non-isothermal crystallization behavior. The PTFE created a three-dimensional (3-D) network. A low PTFE content promoted crystallization through fast nucleation, whereas a high PTFE content decreased the crystallization kinetics through hindering the crystal growth. These findings are all based on the Mo equation analysis. The activation energy and nucleation activity were also evaluated, and the way in which the PTFE nanofibers affected the crystallization was discussed in detail. Polarized optical microscopy images revealed that the size of PP spherulites decreased with the increase of PTFE content. Finally, the effect of PTFE on the crystalline phase of PP was investigated by wide angle X-ray diffraction.

Lignin is an integral part of secondary cell walls in plants and plays important roles in maintaining the strength of stems, enhancing transport ability of stems, and providing resistance to multiple stresses. Lignin biosynthesis has become one of the hotspots in molecular forest biology research. The AP1 transcription factor plays important roles in plant flower development. However, in this study, suppression of BpAP1 altered the transcription profiles of white birch and RNA-seq was used to find that suppression of BpAP1 changed the expression of lignin pathway-related genes; C4H/CYP73A, POD were down-regulated and HCT, CCoAOMT, REF1 and CAD were up-regulated. Cell walls of the suppressed transgenic birch were significantly thinner than the wild type of birch, and BpAP1- repressed birch contained less lignin. In addition to regulation of floral development, BpAP1 might play a role in regulating the expression of genes in lignin biosynthesis of birch. This study could provide a new insight into the function of AP1 genes in woody species.

Background Sepsis is defined as a systemic inflammatory response to microbial infections with multiple organ dysfunction. This study analysed untargeted metabolomics combined with proteomics of serum from patients with sepsis to reveal the underlying pathological mechanisms involved in sepsis. Methods A total of 63 patients with sepsis and 43 normal controls were enrolled from a prospective multicentre cohort. The biological functions of the metabolome were assessed by coexpression network analysis. A molecular network based on metabolomics and proteomics data was constructed to investigate the key molecules. Results Untargeted metabolomics analysis revealed widespread dysregulation of amino acid metabolism, which regulates inflammation and immunity, in patients with sepsis. Seventy-three differentially expressed metabolites (|log2 fold change| > 1.5, adjusted P value 1.5) that could predict sepsis were identified. External validation of the hub metabolites was consistent with the derivation results (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC): 0.81–0.96/0.62–1.00). The pentose phosphate pathway was found to be related to sepsis-associated encephalopathy. Phenylalanine metabolism was associated with sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. The key molecular alterations of the multiomics network in sepsis compared to normal controls implicate acute inflammatory response, platelet degranulation, myeloid cell activation involved in immune response and phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, and arginine biosynthesis. Conclusions Integrated analysis of untargeted metabolomics and proteomics revealed characteristic metabolite and protein alterations in sepsis, which were mainly involved in inflammation-related pathways and amino acid metabolism. This study depicted the pathological characteristics and pathways involved in sepsis and potential therapeutic targets.