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Current studies have shown that perception of subject's own name (SON) involves multiple multimodal brain regions, while activities in unimodal sensory regions (i.e., primary auditory cortex) and their interaction with multimodal regions during the self-processing remain unclear. To answer this, we combined multivariate pattern analysis and dynamic causal modelling analysis to explore the regional activation pattern and inter-region effective connection during the perception of SON. We found that SON and other names could be decoded from the activation pattern in the primary auditory cortex. In addition, we found an excitatory effect of SON on connections from the anterior insula/inferior frontal gyrus to the primary auditory cortex, and to the temporoparietal junction. Our findings extended the current knowledge of self-processing by showing that primary auditory cortex could discriminate SON from other names. Furthermore, our findings highlighted the importance of influence of the insula on the primary auditory cortex during self-processing.

Eleutherococcus senticosus fruit (ESF) is a natural health supplement resource that has been extensively applied as a tonic for the nervous system. The structures and neural bioactivities of triterpenoid saponins (TS), which are the major constituents of ESF, have not been comprehensively analyzed thus far.We conducted a complete in-depth MS/MS molecular networking (MN)-based targeted analysis of TS from the crude extract of ESF and investigated its neuroprotective value.An MS/MS MN-guided strategy was used to rapidly present a series of precursor ions (PIs) of TS in a compound cluster as TS-targeted information used in the discovery and characterization of TS. In addition, a prepared TS-rich fraction of ESF was assayed for its restraining effects on β-amyloid-induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth.A total of 87 TS were discovered using a PI tracking strategy, 28 of which were characterized as potentially undescribed structures according to their high-resolution MS values. Furthermore, the TS-rich fraction can significantly reduce β-amyloid-induced damage to neural networks by promoting the outgrowth of neurites and axons.Our findings reveal the richness of TS in ESF and will accelerate their application in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

The advances in synthetic biology bring exciting new opportunities to reprogram microorganisms with novel functionalities for environmental applications. For real-world applications, a genetic tool that enables genetic engineering in a stably genomic inherited manner is greatly desired. In this work, we design a novel genetic device for rapid and efficient genome engineering based on the intron-encoded homing-endonuclease empowered genome editing (iEditing). The iEditing device enables rapid and efficient genome engineering in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, the representative strain of the electroactive bacteria group. Moreover, combining with the Red or RecET recombination system, the genome-editing efficiency was greatly improved, up to approximately 100%. Significantly, the iEditing device itself is eliminated simultaneously when genome editing occurs, thereby requiring no follow-up to remove the encoding system. Then, we develop a new extracellular electron transfer (EET) engineering strategy by programming the parallel EET systems to enhance versatile EET. The engineered strains exhibit sufficiently enhanced electron output and pollutant reduction ability. Furthermore, this device has demonstrated its great potential to be extended for genome editing in other important microbes. This work provides a useful and efficient tool for the rapid generation of synthetic microorganisms for various environmental applications.

Three rigid and structurally simple heterocyclic stilbene derivatives, (E)-3H,3'H-[1,1'-biisobenzofuranylidene]-3,3'-dione, (E)-3-(3-oxobenzo[c] thiophen-1(3H)-ylidene)isobenzofuran-1(3H)-one, and (E)-3H,3'H-[1,1'-bibenzo[c] thiophenylidene]-3,3'-dione, are found to fluoresce in their neat solid phases, from upper (S2 ) and lowest (S1 ) singlet excited states, even at room temperature in air. Photophysical studies, single-crystal structures, and theoretical calculations indicate that large energy gaps between S2 and S1 states (T2 and T1 states) as well as an abundance of intra and intermolecular hydrogen bonds suppress internal conversions of the upper excited states in the solids and make possible the fluorescence from S2 excited states (phosphorescence from T2 excited states). These results, including unprecedented fluorescence quantum yields (2.3-9.6 %) from the S2 states in the neat solids, establish a unique molecular skeleton for achieving multi-colored emissions from upper excited states by "suppressing" Kasha's rule.

This paper evaluates the effects of the Home Appliances Going to the Countryside (HAGC) policy, a fiscal subsidy program implemented in China to boost private consumption of home appliances in rural areas from 2007 to 2012. Using the policy as a natural experiment and employing the difference‐in‐difference estimator, we find that the policy did not increase domestic sales of relevant goods as expected; instead, it actually reduced domestic sales and significantly promoted exports. These surprising results are robust across regressions of alternative datasets, more controls, and different regions. We further provide detailed information of undisclosed audit data for a county in Zhejiang province to shed light on the underlying mechanism of such unexpected results, suggesting loopholes in the HAGC and changes in export tax rebate rates.

The Drosophila transcription factor (TF) Zfh1 has distinct roles compared to the cell lineage-determining TFs in almost all mesoderm-derived tissues. Here, we link Zfh1 to the well-characterized mesodermal transcriptional network. We identify five enhancers integrating upstream regulatory inputs from mesodermal TFs and directing zfh1 expression in mesoderm. Most downstream Zfh1-target genes are co-bound by mesodermal TFs, suggesting that Zfh1 and mesodermal TFs act on the same sets of co-regulated genes during the development of certain mesodermal tissues. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Zfh1 is critical for the expression of a hemocyte marker gene peroxidasin and helps restrict the activity of a hemocyte-specific enhancer of serpent to hemocyte-deriving head mesoderm, suggesting a potential role of Zfh1 in hemocyte development.

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to describe the differences between next-generation sequencing (NGS) and cloning-based sequencing (CBS) in HBX quasispecies research and primitively investigate the relationship between the dominant HBX quasispecies and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS A total of 12 serum samples were collected. Serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was extracted, and the HBV X-region (HBX) was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were simultaneously tested with NGS and CBS to detect quasispecies of the HBX. RESULTS A total of 9348 eligible quasispecies sequences were obtained by NGS, which were much larger than the 98 of that by CBS. By the phylogenetic tree, the dominant quasispecies sequence of each sample could be found, although they had several nucleotides differences between the dominant quasispecies sequences found by CBS and NGS. By comparing the quasispecies heterogeneity, it was found that the quasispecies complexity value of HBV X-region obtained by NGS was higher than CBS (P

This paper studies how increasing the number of sellers in a Bertrand oligopoly with homogenous goods affects the equilibrium price level predicted by logistic quantal response equilibrium (LQRE) and power‐function QRE (PQRE). We show that increasing the number of sellers reduces the average posted price in a PQRE, but can increase the average posted price in an LQRE. Our results indicate that the comparative‐static predictions of QRE (McKelvey & Palfrey, 1995, Games Econ Behav, 10, 6–38) are not necessarily robust to changes of the quantal response function.

Background and Aim The Chinese version Quality of Life Questionnaire for Functional Digestive Disorders (Chin-FDDQL) is a useful health assessment instrument for functional dyspepsia. This study aims to identify its score interpretation for clinical practice. Methods Data of Chin-FDDQL from the FD patients (≥18yrs) between Nov. 2009 and Apr. 2013 were enrolled in the 1st and 14th day. After baseline and responsiveness analysis, the single score interpretation and percentile ranks were established. The statistically reliable change was defined with effect size, standardized response mean, and minimal detectable change (MDC), etc. Then the Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for health improvement was performed to define the clinically important change. Results 202 FD patients, 150 healthy participants and 25 missing data were enrolled for analysis. Compared with the intake patients, the discharged and health persons have significant better health status in all domains (P

To solve the problems of high toxicity and poor efficacy of existing tumor treatment methods, researchers have developed a variety of tumor immunotherapies. Among them, tumor vaccines activate antigen-presenting cells and T lymphocytes upstream of the cancer-immunity cycle are considered the most promising therapy to activate the immune system. Nanocarriers are considered the most promising tumor vaccine delivery vehicles, including polymer nanocarriers, lipid nanocarriers, inorganic nanocarriers, and biomimetic nanocarriers that have been developed for vaccine delivery. Based on the cascade reaction for tumor vaccines to exert their effects, this review summarizes the four key factors for the design and construction of nano-tumor vaccines. The composition and functional characteristics of the corresponding preferred nanocarriers are illustrated to provide a reference for the development of effective tumor vaccines. Finally, potential challenges and perspectives are illustrated in the hope of improving the efficacy of tumor vaccine immunotherapy and accelerating the clinical transformation of next-generation tumor vaccines.

Plants defend against pathogens using both cell surface andintracellular immune receptors (Dodds & Rathjen, 2010; Winet al., 2012). Plant cell surface receptors include receptor-likekinases (RLKs) and receptor-like proteins (RLPs), which respondto pathogen-derived apoplastic molecules (Boller & Felix, 2009;Thomma et al., 2011). By contrast, plant intracellular immunereceptors are typically nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR or NLR) proteins, which respond to translocated effectorsfrom a diversity of pathogens (Eitas & Dangl, 2010; Bonardi et al.,2012). These receptors engage in microbial perce ption either bydirectly binding pathogen molecules or ind irectly by sensingpathogen-induced perturbations (Win et al., 2012). However,signaling events downstream of pathogen recognition remainpoorly understood.In addition to their role in microbial recognition, some NLRproteins contribute to signal transduction and/or amplification(Gabriels et al., 2007; Bonardi et al., 2011; Cesari et al., 2014). Anemerging model is that NLR proteins often function in pairs, with‘helper’ proteins required for the activity of ‘sensors’ that mediatepathogen recognition (Bonardi et al., 2011, 2012). Amongpreviously reported NLR helpers, NRC1 (NB-LRR proteinrequired for hypersensitive-response (HR)-associated cell death 1)stands out for having been reported as a signaling hub required forthe cell death mediated by both cell surface immune receptors suchas Cf-4, Cf-9, Ve1 and LeEix2, as well as intracellular immunereceptors, namely Pto, Rx and Mi-1.2 (Gabriels et al., 2006,2007; Sueldo, 2014; Sueldo et al., 2015). However, these studiesdid not take into account the Nicotiana benthamiana genomesequence, and it remains questionable whether NRC1 is indeedrequired for the reported phenotypes.Functional analyses of NRC1 were performed using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) (Gabriels et al., 2007), a method thatis popular for genetic analyses in several plant systems, particularlythe model solanaceous plant N. benthamiana (Burch-Smith et al.,2004). However, interpretation of VIGS can be problematic as theexperiment can result in off-target silencing (Senthil-Kumar & Mysore, 2011). In addition, heterologous gene fragments from other species (e.g. tomato) have been frequently used to silence homologs in N. benthamiana, particularly in studies that predate the sequencing of the N. benthamiana genome (Burton et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2002b; Lee et al., 2003; Gabriels et al., 2006, 2007; SenthilKumaret al., 2007; Oh et al., 2010). In the NRC1 study, a fragment of a tomato gene corresponding to the LRR domain was used for silencing in N. benthamiana (Gabriels et al., 2007). Given that a draft genome sequence of N. benthamiana has been generated (Bombarely et al., 2012) and silencing prediction tools have become available (Fernandez-Pozo et al., 2015), we can now design better VIGS experiments and revisit previously published studies. Two questions arise about the NRC1 study. First, is there a NRC1 ortholog in N. benthamiana? Second, are the reported phenotypes caused by silencing of NRC1 in N. benthamiana? In this study, we investigated NRC1-like genes in solanaceous plants using a combination of genome annotation, phylogenetics, gene silencing and genetic complementation experiments. We discovered three paralogs of NRC1, which we termed NRC2a, NRC2b and NRC3, are required for hypersensitive cell death and resistance mediated by Pto, but are not essential for the cell death triggered by Rx and Mi-1.2. NRC2a/b and NRC3 weakly contribute to the hypersensitive cell death triggered by Cf-4. Our results highlight the importance of applying genetic complementation assays to validate gene function in RNA silencing experiments.

A number of plant pathogenic and symbiotic microbes produce specialized cellular structures that invade host cells where they remain enveloped by host-derived membranes. The mechanisms underlying the biogenesis and functions of host–microbe interfaces are poorly understood. Here, we show that plant late endocytic trafficking is diverted toward the extrahaustorial membrane (EHM); a host–pathogen interface that develops in plant cells invaded by Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans. A late endosome and tonoplast marker protein Rab7 GTPase RabG3c, but not a tonoplast-localized sucrose transporter, is recruited to the EHM, suggesting specific rerouting of vacuole-targeted late endosomes to a host–pathogen interface. We revealed the dynamic nature of this process by showing that, upon activation, a cell surface immune receptor traffics toward the haustorial interface. Our work provides insight into the biogenesis of the EHM and reveals dynamic processes that recruit membrane compartments and immune receptors to this host–pathogen interface.

In this study, epoxy-based nanocomposites with low content mechanically exfoliated graphene were successfully prepared via one-step in situ ball milling method. The effect of graphene on mechanical properties of the nanocomposites was investigated. The results showed that samples with loadings less than 0.1% weight of mechanically exfoliated graphene increased by 160% in tensile strength and 65% in Young's modulus. The experimental value of Young's modulus was also compared with the predictions of the well-established Halpin-Tsai model. In addition, the adding of graphene did not decrease the impact strength of epoxy. The microstructural results showed that the as-prepared graphenes were single- and few-layer graphene sheets and preserved perfect structure. Thus enhancements of mechanical properties in the nanocomposites could be ascribed to the strong interfacial interaction between the stiff graphene nanosheets and the epoxy matrix. POLYM. COMPOS. 37:1190–1197, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers

The homozygous p.V37I variant of GJB2 is frequent in East Asians and has been reported to have a pathogenic role in mild-to-moderate hearing impairment (HI). In this study, we investigated the prevalence and phenotypic spectrum of homozygous p.V37I in three Chinese Han cohorts with severe-to-profound HI (n = 857, Cohort S), mild-to-moderate HI (n = 88, Cohort M) and normal hearing (n = 1550, Cohort N). Sequencing of GJB2 showed that homozygous p.V37I was detected in 1.63% (14/857), 12.5% (11/88) and 0.32% (5/1550) of subjects in Cohorts S, M and N, respectively. It was strongly associated with both mild-to-moderate (p = 2.0 × 10(-11) ) and severe-to-profound (p = 0.001) HI, but was estimated to have a rather low penetrance (17%). Among the hearing impaired subjects with homozygous p.V37I, the onset of HI was congenital in 65% (11/17) and delayed in 35% (6/17). By targeted next-generation sequencing of 79 known deafness genes, we identified an additional homozygous pathogenic mutation of CDH23 in 1 of 14 p.V37I homozygous subjects from Cohort S. Our study suggested that homozygous p.V37I is associated with a broader spectrum of hearing phenotypes than previously revealed. Data presented in this study can be effectively applied to clinical evaluation and genetic counseling of people carrying this variant.

This experiment evaluated the effects of training tutors to use an instructional package to teach pronunciation and translation of the Chinese language. Tutors' correct use of the package increased from 68% of trials to 92% after training, and student correct pronunciation increased from 45% to 90%, with similar effects for translation. Continued use of the package, high social validity, and extended follow-up suggest that use of the package may be sustainable.

A one-pot method which involves peeling graphite nanosheets (GNs) off into graphenes in polymer solution and in situ forming polymer/graphene sheets nanocomposites by using ball milling is presented. Via this approach, nanocomposites based on maleic anhydride grafted poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA-g-MAH) and graphene sheets comprising one to five layers were accomplished. The resulted EVA-g-MAH/graphene nanocomposites displayed a percolation threshold around 5.0 wt %, much lower than that of the EVA-g-MAH/GNs nanocomposites prepared by direct solution blending (∼ 13.0 wt %). The nanocomposite containing 10 wt % of graphene sheets exhibited a higher maximum decomposition temperature by ∼ 10°C when compared with the virgin polymer and the corresponding nanocomposite loaded with 10 wt % of GNs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012

In this article, the printed reflectarray with/without electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) ground plate are compared. The result shows that incorporating EBG structure into reflectarray cannot always improve the gain as said in reference except in some special situation. The theoretical discussion is given as well as the specific design samples to verify the results. At the same time, the third-dimension-directional radiation mechanism for 2D EBG structure within bandgap is also discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 1968–1971, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22610

The antiinflammatory effect of the total flavonoids of Laggera pterodonta (TFLP) was evaluated with various in vivo models of both acute and chronic inflammation. In the acute inflammation tests, TFLP significantly inhibited xylene-induced mouse ear oedema, carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema and acetic acid-induced mouse vascular permeability. In the carrageenan-induced rat pleurisy model, TFLP efficiently suppressed inflammatory exudate and leukocyte migration, reduced the serum levels of lysozyme (LZM) and malondialdehyde (MDA), increased the activity of serum superoxide dismutase (SOD), and also decreased the contents of total protein, nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) in the pleural exudates. No marked effect of TFLP on the activity of serum glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) was observed. In the chronic inflammation experiment, TFLP inhibited cotton pellet-induced rat granuloma. The antiinflammatory mechanisms of TFLP are probably associated with the inhibition of prostaglandin formation, influence on the antioxidant systems and the suppression of LZM release. The acute toxicity study revealed that TFLP was nontoxic in mice up to an oral dose of 7.5 g/kg body weight. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Two series of territrem B analogs, i.e., 5–10, containing both the 2-en-1-one-A-ring and the aromatic-E-ring pharmacophores were designed and synthesized from jujubogenin (4a). The anti-acetylcholinesterase (anti-AChE), anti-caspase-3, and other biological activities of these territrem-B analogs and their intermediates were assessed. Compound 9b, 22a, and 24f were shown to be weak inhibitors of AChE. None of the synthesized compounds exhibited significant inhibitory activity on caspase-3. On the other hand, compounds 22e, 24a, 7b, and 8a showed mild cytotoxicity on cultured KB cells, with IC50 values of 2.0, 3.5, 6.5, and 14 μM, respectively. In addition, compounds 23b and 5f were active against injury arising from oxygen-glucose deprivation.

In order to clarify the effects of phenols on properties of polyesters, the blends of poly[(3-hydroxybutyrate)-co-(3-hydroxyvalerate)] (PHBV) with 4,4'-dihydroxydiphenylpropane (BPA) and p-tert-butylphenol (TBP) were studied. The FTIR spectra revealed that there was strong hydrogen-bond (H-bond) interaction between PHBV and both phenols. By evaluating the fraction of H-bonded C = O in the blend, it was concluded that BPA showed a stronger tendency than TBP to form H-bonds with PHBV. Accordingly, BPA formed a stronger suppression than TBP on the crystallization of PHBV. When 30 wt% BPA or 50 wt% TBP were added into PHBV, the crystallization of PHBV was completely suppressed in the DSC cooling scan. As the phenol content was increased, the T-g of PHBV/TBP blend decreased while the T-g of PHBV/BPA blend increased. This difference indicated that TBP and BPA acted as plasticizer and physical crosslinking agent, respectively.

To synthesize the copolyester of poly(β-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(ϵ-caprolactone) (PCL), the transesterification of PHB and PCL was carried out in the liquid phase with stannous octoate as the catalyzer. The effects of reaction conditions on the transesterification, including catalyzer concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time, were investigated. The results showed that both rising reaction temperature and increasing reaction time were advantageous to the transesterification. The sequence distribution, thermal behavior, and thermal stability of the copolyesters were investigated by 13C NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The transesterification of PHB and PCL was confirmed to produce the block copolymers. With an increasing PCL content in the copolyesters, the thermal behavior of the copolyesters changed evidently. However, the introduction of PCL segments into PHB chains did not affect its crystalline structure. Moreover, thermal stability of the copolyesters was little improved in air as compared with that of pure PHB. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1893–1903, 2002

1. The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between endothelial dysfunction and the endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase NG,NG'-asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in aged rats. 2. Studies were performed in male adult Sprague-Dawley rats (6 months old; n = 8) and in aged rats (20 months old; n = 8). Serum levels of ADMA and L-arginine were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and responses of endothelium-intact aortic rings to acetylcholine (ACh) were tested. Nitric oxide synthase activity in kidney tissue and serum concentrations of nitrite, a stable end-product of nitric oxide, were assayed and serum contents of malondialdehyde, derived from lipid peroxidation and serum lipid and creatinine level were determined. 3. Serum levels of ADMA increased significantly in aged rats compared with adult rats (P < 0.01), whereas serum levels of L-arginine were similar in both groups (P = NS). Accordingly, the ratio of L-arginine/ADMA in old rats was lower than that in young rats (P < 0.01). Endothelium-dependent relaxation responses to ACh in aortic rings from aged rats were impaired and these impaired responses were improved by pre-incubation of aortic rings with L-arginine. 4. Nitric oxide synthase activity in the kidney, together with serum concentration of nitrite, was significantly decreased and serum contents of malondialdehyde, cholesterol and triglycerides were increased in old compared with young rats. However, the serum creatinine level was not significantly different between adult and aged rats. 5. Endogenous ADMA may be a contributor to age-related endothelial dysfunction and increases in endogenous ADMA may be linked to lipid peroxidation in aged rats.

This paper presents a new kind of microstrip reflectarray antenna those polarization could be reconfigurable among all polarization states instead of some fixed states for dual- or multipolarized antenna. The mechanism for polarized variability is so simple that only mechanical rotation is needed. The complete theoretical analysis is given as well as a specific design sample to verify this method. At designed frequency of 10 GHz and in case of circularly polarized (CP) radiation, experimental results in agreement with simulated ones exhibit −26-dB cross-polar level (CPL), −13-dB side-lobe level, 13.5° half-power beamwidth, and 17.3-dBi gain corresponding to about 40% aperture efficiency. It also possesses 8% bandwidth from 9.5 to 10.3 GHz for CPL less than −15 dB. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 1429–1432, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21640

Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are currently the recommended treatment for uncomplicated and severe cases of malaria.[1] Additionally, artemisinins, as well as a number of other sesquiterpene lactones (SLs), are currently in phase I–II clinical trials against breast, colorectal and nonsmall-cell lung cancers.[2] As outlined by the iron-dependent activation hypothesis,[3] the activity of artemisinin (ART) is dependent on the endoperoxide bridge.[4] The peroxide is cleaved by endogenous sources of FeII to generate highly reactive carbon-centred radicals (CCRs), which are believed to react with critical cellular targets.[3] ART demonstrates selectivity towards rapidly proliferating cancer cell lines that possess a high intracellular iron content required to sustain their characteristic high rates of multiplication.[5] Iron activation links this particular potency of ART towards rapidly proliferating cancer cell lines; differentiation between healthy and cancerous cells by variation of iron concentration provides a strategy for selective cytotoxicity by ART and its derivatives.[4] The mechanism by which ART exerts its cytotoxic activity still remains elusive. ART acts by disruption of proliferation,[6, 7] oxidative stress,[8] anti-angiogenesis,[9] NF-kB signalling,[10] apoptosis[4] and interfering with iron uptake and metabolism.[6] ART also induces DNA breakage,[11] and it has been reported that artesunate-mediated DNA damage contributes to its therapeutic efficacy.