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Background Difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) are widely considered to underlie anxiety and depression. Given the prevalence of anxiety and depression in adolescents and the fact that adolescence is a key period for the development of emotion regulation ability, it is important to examine how DER is related to anxiety and depression in adolescents in clinical settings. Methods In the present study, we assessed 209 adolescents in clinical settings using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and examined the associations between six components of DER and 14 symptoms of anxiety and depression. We used network analysis, constructed circular and multidimensional scaling (MDS) networks, and calculated network centrality, bridge centrality, and stability of centrality indices. Results The results showed that: (1) The global centrality index shows that the Strategy component (i.e., lack of access to strategies) is the center in the whole network, ranking highest in strength, closeness, betweenness, and expected influence. (2) The MDS network showed a closeness of anxiety and depression symptoms, while Awareness component (i.e., lack of emotional awareness) stayed away from other DER components, but Awareness is close to some depression symptoms. (3) The bridge nodes of three groups, Strategy from DERS, Worry and Relax from anxiety symptoms, and Cheerful and Slow from depression symptoms, had the strongest relationships with the other groups. Conclusion Lack of access to strategies remains in the center not only in DER but also in the DER-anxiety-depression network, while lack of awareness is close to depression but not to anxiety. Worrying thoughts and inability to relax are the bridging symptoms for anxiety, while lack of cheerful emotions and slowing down are the bridging symptoms for depression. These findings suggest that making emotion regulation strategies more accessible to patients and reducing these bridging symptoms may yield the greatest rewards for anxiety and depression therapy.

Insufficiency of oocyte activation impairs the subsequent embryo development in assisted reproductive technology (ART). Intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) oscillations switch the oocytes to resume the second meiosis and initiate embryonic development. However, the [Ca2+]i oscillation patterns in oocytes are poorly characterized. In this study, we investigated the effects of various factors, such as the oocytes age, pH, cumulus cells, in vitro or in vivo maturation, and ER stress on [Ca2+]i oscillation patterns and pronuclear formation after parthenogenetic activation of mouse oocytes. Our results showed that the oocytes released to the oviduct at 17 h post-human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) displayed a significantly stronger [Ca2+]i oscillation, including higher frequency, shorter cycle, and higher peak, compared with oocytes collected at earlier or later time points. [Ca2+]i oscillations in acidic conditions (pH 6.4 and 6.6) were significantly weaker than those in neutral and mildly alkaline conditions (pH from 6.8 to 7.6). In vitro-matured oocytes showed reduced frequency and peak of [Ca2+]i oscillations compared with those matured in vivo. In vitro-matured oocytes from the cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) showed a significantly higher frequency, shorter cycle, and higher peak compared with the denuded oocytes (DOs). Finally, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) severely affected the parameters of [Ca2+]i oscillations, including elongated cycles and lower frequency. The pronuclear (PN) rate of oocytes after parthenogenetic activation was correlated with [Ca2+]i oscillation pattern, decreasing with oocyte aging, cumulus removal, acidic pH, and increasing ER stress. These results provide fundamental but critical information for the mechanism of how these factors affect oocyte activation.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex state-dependent psychiatric illness for which biomarkers linking psychophysical, biochemical, and psychopathological changes remain yet elusive, though. Earlier studies demonstrate reduced GABA in lower-order occipital cortex in acute MDD leaving open its validity and significance for higher-order visual perception, though. The goal of our study is to fill that gap by combining psychophysical investigation of visual perception with measurement of GABA concentration in middle temporal visual area (hMT+) in acute depressed MDD. Psychophysically, we observe a highly specific deficit in visual surround motion suppression in a large sample of acute MDD subjects which, importantly, correlates with symptom severity. Both visual deficit and its relation to symptom severity are replicated in the smaller MDD sample that received MRS. Using high-field 7T proton Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), acute MDD subjects exhibit decreased GABA concentration in visual MT+ which, unlike in healthy subjects, no longer correlates with their visual motion performance, i.e., impaired SI. In sum, our combined psychophysical-biochemical study demonstrates an important role of reduced occipital GABA for altered visual perception and psychopathological symptoms in acute MDD. Bridging the gap from the biochemical level of occipital GABA over visual-perceptual changes to psychopathological symptoms, our findings point to the importance of the occipital cortex in acute depressed MDD including its role as candidate biomarker.

Till now, little information is available on the flow-induced vibration (FIV) of multiple flexible cylinders with unequal diameters. Some FIV characteristics of unequal-diameter cylinders can be predicted based on the knowledge of equal-diameter cylinders, while there are still other features remaining unrevealed. In this paper, the FIV characteristics of two flexible cylinders with unequal diameters arranged side-by-side are experimentally investigated. The diameter ratio of the small cylinder (Small Cyl.) to the large cylinder (Large Cyl.) is nearly 0.5. The aspect ratios and mass ratios of the two flexible cylinders are 350/181 and 1.90/1.47, respectively. The centre-to-centre spacing ratio in the cross-flow (CF) direction is kept constant as 6.0 and the two cylinders can oscillate freely in both the CF and in-line (IL) directions. The towing velocity varies from 0.05 m/s to 1.00 m/s. The dominant modes and frequencies, CF and IL displacement amplitudes and response trajectories are discussed. Compared with the case of two identical cylinders in our previous study, the FIV responses demonstrate some similarities and differences. The similarities are as follows. Both cylinders exhibit multi-mode vibration features and they interact with each other. Meanwhile, the IL FIV shows a more complex behaviour than that in the CF direction. The difference is that as the diameter of one cylinder is increased, the effect on the smaller cylinder becomes more significant. For Large Cyl., the FIV response is similar to its isolated counterpart, which indicates that Small Cyl. has a negligible effect on the FIV of the larger one. Whereas Large Cyl. perplexes the FIV of Small Cyl. during the vibration process. The spacing would change when both cylinders are oscillating. Proximity interference between the two cylinders and wake shielding effect of the Large Cyl. may occur. The dominant frequencies of Small Cyl. are reduced and the wake-induced flutter of Small Cyl. is observed from the response trajectories at different measuring points.

The purposes of this study were to investigate the activation and transport of atrazine in the presence of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the surfactant (Triton X-100) and to understand interactions between DOM, Triton X-100, and atrazine. Uncontaminated soils collected from Nanjing, China, along with DOM extracted from rice straw and Triton X-100 (TX-100), were used in the study. The sorption and desorption experiments were carried out using the standard batch equilibration analysis. Soil column leaching was conducted with soil samples packed into PVC columns. Soil thin-layer chromatography was performed using soil and water mixture spread on a 0.5–0.7-mm-thick layer over 20 × 10-cm glass plates. Atrazine accumulation in maize was determined by planting maize in plastic pots (1 L) containing 1 kg soil mixed with 1.0 mg kg−1 atrazine. Soils were watered with different solutions, with the relative water content of 60%. Using batch experiment and soil thin-layer chromatography, application of DOM and surfactant reduced sorption and increased desorption of atrazine in soil. In column experiment, DOM and surfactant significantly promoted the mobility of atrazine in soil and the total concentration of atrazine in leachate of the soil column. Accumulation of atrazine in both maize roots and shoots increased with the elevated concentration of surfactant, whereas the content of atrazine declined with the increase of the DOM concentration. Dissolved organic matter and TX-100 affected the partitioning and transport of atrazine in soil–water and soil–plant ecosystems.

An intermolecular efficient dimerization of diynes via Rh-catalyzed cycloaddition is presented. This protocol allows for the expedient synthesis of structurally diverse benzene derivatives, which retain an alkyne unit for post-functionalization to realize molecules with potential medicinal value and extended molecular complexity. The transformation is carried out in toluene and employs Rh(COD)2OTf3 as the metal source. Diversely decorated diynes tethered by nitrogen atom and ester were compatible with these conditions and furnished substituted benzenes with excellent selectivity.

A bifunctional sulfonated polyaniline nanofiber mat (NFM) was synthesized by oxidative polymerization and by using polyacrylonitrile nanofiber mat (NFM) as the template. The adsorption capacity of the NFM for fluoroquinolones (FQs) is distinctly improved and the adsorption was a spontaneous process. According to theoretical calculations, hydrogen bonding and ion-exchange interaction are the two major kinds of interaction mechanisms between adsorbent and FQs. The adsorption and desorption properties for FQs were systematically evaluated by adsorption isotherms and by thermodynamic and kinetic studies. The results indicate that the NFM is a viable sorbent for FQs because of rapid mass transfer and good adsorption/desorption efficiency. The NFM is re-usable for at least 20 cycles without decline in performance. Following desorption of the FQs with 10% (V/V) formic acid/acetonitrile, they were quantified by UPLC with MS/MS detection. The sorbent was applied to the solid phase extraction of the FQs norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, enrofloxacin, danofloxacin, pefloxacin, marbofloxacin, lomefloxacin and difloxacin from water and biological fluids. Figures of merit include (a) low limits of detection (0.5–1.5 ng L−1 for water, 0.016–0.052 μg L−1 for urine and serum), (b) high recoveries from spiked samples (82.3%–109.4%) with low relative standard deviations (1.1%–12.3%); (c) short extraction times (2 min), and (d) low adsorbent dosage (4 mg).

A persons manner of walking or their gait is an important feature in human recognition and classification tasks. Gait serves as an unobtrusive biometric modality which yields high quality results. In comparison with other biometric modalities, its main strength is its performance even in data that are captured at distance or at low resolution. In this paper, we present an algorithm for classification of gait disorders arising from neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson and Hemiplegia. We focus on motion anomalies such as tremor, partial paralysis, gestural rigidity and postural instability. The analysis and classification of such motions are challenging since they consist of a multiplicity of subtle formations while lacking a regular pattern or major cycle. We introduce a gait representation which is invariant to the walking cycle and yields an efficient similarity metric. Our method performs on the joints’ motion trajectories of a 3D human skeleton captured by a Kinect sensor. The algorithm is robust, in that it does not require calibration, synchronization or a careful capturing setup. We demonstrate its efficiency by classifying different degenerative cases with high accuracy even in the presence of noise and low-resolution acquisition.

Thirty sediment subsamples were recovered from the Iheya North hydrothermal field (with an average of 38 m away from the hydrothermal vent) in the middle Okinawa Trough. Samples were obtained by the ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) Faxian during the virgin cruise of the R/V Kexue in 2014 with the application of push cores. The chemical compositions of the sediments show that the hydrothermal sediments near the hydrothermal vent are mainly composed of SO3, ZnO and Fe2O3. Moreover, the hydrothermal sediments are also highly enriched in Pb, As, Sb, Hg, Se, Ag, Ba, Mo and Cd comparing with previous analysis results. On the other hand, the concentrations of Sr, Hg and Ag in studied sediments are strongly and positively correlated, these elements can be used as an hydrothermal indicator. In addition, a factor analysis of the sediments suggested that the sediments were mainly influenced by hydrothermal origin, and terrestrial and biogenic input are limited in studied area. It is also suggested that different stages of crystallization were involved in the formation of hydrothermal chimney from factor analysis.

In this paper, we report the hydrothermal synthesis and physicochemical characterization of a complicated high-dimensional and high-connected POM-based hybrid compound, namely, [Ag3(pytz)2(H2O)]2.[HAgGeMo12O40]·H2O, which has been synthesized by reactions of pyridyltetrazoles and Keggin POMs. X-ray diffraction and crystallographic analyses reveals that the new compound exhibits POMs chains pillaring transition-metal complexes, which represents the highest coordination number of Keggin POMs up to date. Moreover, the new compound bulk-modified carbon-paste electrode (1-CPE) displays good electrocatalytic activity toward the reduction of nitrite, and the result of the photocatalytic activities indicates that the new compound presents better degradation activity and may be a potential photocatalyst to oxidative decomposition of rhodamine B dye in the presence of crystals [Ag3(pytz)2(H2O)]2·[HAgGeMo12O40]·H2O catalyst under ultraviolet-light irradiation.

Background Chromosomal abnormalities that result in genomic imbalances are main causes of congenital and developmental anomalies including intellectual disability and multiple congenital malformations. In this report we describe four patients from three families with imbalanced translocations. Only a small percentage of imbalanced translocation individuals can be born to live, most of them were aborted in embryonic period. It is of great significances to precisely analysis the chromosome variation to study the relationship between genotype and phenotype. Results Four patients showed common clinical manifestations including delayed growth, intellectual disability, language barrier and facial dysmorphisms. In addition to the above features, lower limbs dysplasia and both foot eversion were found in patient 1, brachydactylic hand, cerebellar ataxia and congenital heart defects were also found in patient 4. Conventional karyotype analysis revealed abnormal karyotypes 46, XX, der (6) t (6: 10) (p23; q24), 46, XX, der (20) t (3; 20) (p23; p13) and 46, XX, der (22) t (3; 22) (q27; q13.3) in the four patients, respectively. Array-CGH analyses confirmed 23.6 Mb duplication on 10q25.1-q26.3 and 0.9 Mb deletions on 6p25.3, 19.9 Mb duplication on 3p24.3-p26.3 and 0.25 Mb deletion on 20p13 and 12.5 Mb duplication on 3q27.2-q29 and 1.9 Mb deletions on 22q13.2-q13.33 in the four patients, respectively. Conclusion Parents with balanced translocation are passed the imbalanced chromosome to patient, and the partial monosomy and partial trisomy lead to multiple congenital malformations of four patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13039-016-0244-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

We report a novel strategy for the biological synthesis of calcite crystals using the petioles of the plant Scindapsus aureum. The resultant calcite crystals were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry, and electron diffraction. The biomolecules of S. aureum petioles were confirmed by UV–Vis and FT-IR analysis. The results showed that the spherical or rhombohedral calcite crystals were obtained in the cells of S. aureum petioles. Biomimetic synthesis of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) in aqueous solution containing extracts of S. aureum petioles was also performed to investigate the soluble biomolecules’ influence on crystal growth of CaCO3. It was found that twinborn spherical calcite crystals were formed, suggesting that the soluble biomolecules of S. aureum play a crucial role in directing the formation of calcite spherical particles. The possible mechanism of formation of CaCO3 crystals using S. aureum is also discussed; the biomolecules of S. aureum may induce and control the nucleation and growth of CaCO3 crystals.

A valid chromatographic fingerprint method using liquid chromatography-diode array detection-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry in negative mode (LC-DAD-APCI-MS) is proposed for studying the absorption and metabolites of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) Angelica sinensis (danggui) in rabbit plasma, after the rabbit is administered with danggui oral solution (DOS). More than thirty-two common components were detected in both DOS and rabbit plasma, which shows that the components in the DOS were absorbed into the body of the rabbit. Of these, senkyunolide I, senkyunolide H, Z-6,7-epoxyligustilide, 3-butylidene-7-hydroxyphthalide, Z-ligustilide, Z-butylidenephthalide, Diels-Alder dimers of ligustilide, linolenic acid, linoleic acid and falcarindiol were tentatively identified from their MS, UV spectra and retention behavior by comparing the results with the published literature. At least ten components were found in rabbit plasma but not in DOS, indicating that these components must be metabolites of some of the components in the original extract. The results prove that the proposed method can be used to rapidly analyze multiple constituents in TCMs, and to screen for bioactive compounds by comparing and contrasting the chromatographic fingerprints of DOS and plasma samples.

on a basic element, vertex degree, of topological graphs, insights are obtained on the structural features hidden in the degree distributions (DD) of saturated hydrocarbons. The investigation shows that the cyclicity and branching features are mainly coded by the different mathematical characteristics of the degree distributions. Surprisingly, the center (or mathematical expectation) of a degree distribution corresponds to the cyclicity of a saturated hydrocarbon, and the dispersion (mean absolute deviation or MAD) around its center of a distribution is a measure of branching. The structural feature such as number of quaternary atoms is also mined out as a special case of branching. The cyclicity and branching information in the present work is with least human intervention, and an interesting thing is that the two features can be unified into the mathematical characteristics of a degree distribution. By the strict mathematical characteristics of a distribution, the structure features within the degree distributions (DD somer domains) are studied. The space spanned by the size (number of carbons), mathematical expectation, and MAD shows some enlightening results. The results also give a new idea on how to model the properties of diverse structures.

Background Cell proliferation, differentiation, Gene expression, metabolism, immunization and signal transduction require the participation of ligands and targets. It is a great challenge to identify rules governing molecular recognition between chemical topological substructures of ligands and the binding sites of the targets. Methods We suppose that the ligand-target interactions are determined by ligand substructures as well as the physical-chemical properties of the binding sites. Therefore, we propose a fragment interaction model (FIM) to describe the interactions between ligands and targets, with the purpose of facilitating the chemical interpretation of ligand-target binding. First we extract target-ligand complexes from sc-PDB database, based on which, we get the target binding sites and the ligands. Then we represent each binding site as a fragment vector based on a target fragment dictionary that is composed of 199 clusters (denoted as fragements in this work) obtained by clustering 4200 trimers according to their physical-chemical properties. And then, we represent each ligand as a substructure vector based on a dictionary containing 747 substructures. Finally, we build the FIM by generating the interaction matrix M (representing the fragment interaction network), and the FIM can later be used for predicting unknown ligand-target interactions as well as providing the binding details of the interactions. Results The five-fold cross validation results show that the proposed model can get higher AUC score (92%) than three prevalence algorithms CS-PD (80%), BLM-NII (85%) and RF (85%), demonstrating the remarkable predictive ability of FIM. We also show that the ligand binding sites (local information) overweight the sequence similarities (global information) in ligand-target binding, and introducing too much global information would be harmful to the predictive ability. Moreover, The derived fragment interaction network can provide the chemical insights on the interactions. Conclusions The target and ligand bindings are local events, and the local information dominate the binding ability. Though integrating of the global information can promote the predictive ability, the role is very limited. The fragment interaction network is helpful for understanding the mechanism of the ligand-target interaction.