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Obesity, which has unknown pathogenesis, can increase the frequency and seriousness of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study evaluated effect of Huayu Qutan Recipe (HQR) pretreatment on myocardial apoptosis induced by AMI by regulating mitochondrial function via PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway in rats with obesity. For in vivo experiments, 60 male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: sham group, AMI group, AMI (obese) group, 4.5, 9.0 and 18.0 g/kg/d HQR groups. The models fed on HQR with different concentrations for 2 weeks before AMI. For in vitro experiments, the cardiomyocytes line (H9c2) was used. Cells were pretreated with palmitic acid (PA) for 24 h, then to build hypoxia model followed by HQR-containing serum for 24 h. Related indicators were also detected. In vivo, HQR can lessen pathohistological damage and apoptosis after AMI. In addition, HQR improves blood fat levels, cardiac function, inflammatory factor, the balance of oxidation and antioxidation, as well as lessen infarction in rats with obesity after AMI. Meanwhile, HQR can diminish myocardial cell death by improving mitochondrial function via PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway activation. In vitro, HQR inhibited H9c2 cells apoptosis, improved mitochondrial function and activated the PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway, but effects can be peripeteiad by LY294002. Myocardial mitochondrial dysfunction occurs following AMI and can lead to myocardial apoptosis, which can be aggravated by obesity. HQR can relieve myocardial apoptosis by improving mitochondrial function via the PI3K/Akt/Bad pathway in rats with obesity.

The generation of dynamic biochemical signals in a microfluidic control system is of importance for the study of the interaction between biological cells and their niches. However, most of microfluidic control systems are not able to provide dynamic biochemical signals with high precision and stability due to inherent mechanical vibrations caused by the actuators of the programmable pumps. In this paper, we propose a novel microfluidic feedback control system integrating an external feedback control system with a Y-shaped microfluidic chip with a "Christmas tree" inlet. The Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) controller is implemented to reduce the influence of vibrations. In order to regulate the control parameters efficiently, a mathematical model is built to describe the actuator of the programmable pump, in which a fractional-order model is utilized. Both simulation and experimental studies are carried out, confirming that the microfluidic feedback control system can precisely and stably generate desired dynamic biochemical signals.

We present a facile and one-step synthesis of N-decorated porous carbon (NPC) material via direct heating dicyanobenzene in presence of ZnCl2, free from any pre- and post-treatments. The resultant NPC material features with graphite-like monolayers with thickness of ca. 1.4 nm as proved by microscopy technology. Highly porous NPC shows a BET surface area of 3038.5 m2 g-1 and a narrow pore size distribution centered at 0.51 nm. As a consequence, NPC displays a high H2 uptake up to 2.96 wt% at 77 K and CO2 adsorption capability of 23.4 wt% at 278 K and 1 bar. N-doping leads to optical absorption of NPC extended into near infrared (NIR) region. This N-decorated carbon material, as first example of NIR-triggered carbon photocatalyst, exhibits a pronounced H2 production capability. Carbonization of aromatic multi-nitriles would be a general and facile approach to prepare multifunctional N-doped carbon materials for gas storage and full solar spectrum-driven photocatalysts.

We present an adaptive slicing scheme for reducing the manufacturing time for 3D printing systems. Based on a new saliency-based metric, our method optimizes the thicknesses of slicing layers to save printing time and preserve the visual quality of the printing results. We formulate the problem as a constrained i¾?0 optimization and compute the slicing result via a two-step optimization scheme. To further reduce printing time, we develop a saliency-based segmentation scheme to partition an object into subparts and then optimize the slicing of each subpart separately. We validate our method with a large set of 3D shapes ranging from CAD models to scanned objects. Results show that our method saves printing time by 30-40% and generates 3D objects that are visually similar to the ones printed with the finest resolution possible.

Constructing a model of a query protein based on its alignment to a homolog with experimentally determined spatial structure (the template) is still the most reliable approach to structure prediction. Alignment errors are the main bottleneck for homology modeling when the query is distantly related to the template. Alignment methods often misalign secondary structural elements by a few residues. Therefore, better alignment solutions can be found within a limited set of local shifts of secondary structures. We present a refinement method to improve pairwise sequence alignments by evaluating alignment variants generated by local shifts of template-defined secondary structures. Our method SFESA is based on a novel scoring function that combines the profile-based sequence score and the structure score derived from residue contacts in a template. Such a combined score frequently selects a better alignment variant among a set of candidate alignments generated by local shifts and leads to overall increase in alignment accuracy. Evaluation of several benchmarks shows that our refinement method significantly improves alignments made by automatic methods such as PROMALS, HHpred and CNFpred. The web server is available at http://prodata.swmed.edu/sfesa.

Background Adiponectin (AdipoQ) is an adipose-derived plasma protein that plays an important role in hepatic lipoprotein–lipid metabolism. Emerging evidence have shown that two common polymorphisms (T45 G and G276 T) in the AdipoQ gene may contribute to increasing susceptibility to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however individually published studies show inconclusive results. This meta-analysis aimed to derive a more precise estimation of the association of AdipoQ T45 G (rs2241766 T>G) and G276 T (rs1501299 G>T) polymorphisms with NAFLD risk. Method Potential relevant studies were identified covering the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Bio-medicine Database (CBM), and Chinese Sci-tech Journals databases. Statistical analyses were calculated using the version 12.0 STATA software (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA). Odds ratios (ORs) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Result Ten case–control studies were included with a total of 2,672 subjects, of these 1,117 being NAFLD patients and 1,555 being healthy controls. Our meta-analysis results revealed that the T variant of AdipoQ rs2241766 T>G polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk of NAFLD. There was also a significant association between the G variant of AdipoQ rs1501299 G>T polymorphism and an increased risk of NAFLD. Country-stratified analysis indicated that a higher AdipoQ rs2241766 T>G polymorphism was closely related with an increased risk of NAFLD in Chinese and Indian populations (all Ps G polymorphism and an increased risk of NAFLD (P G and rs1501299 G>T polymorphisms may contribute to an increasing susceptibility to NAFLD. Moreover, this meta-analysis also suggests for future larger studies with stratified case–control population, and greater focus on the gene–environment interactions regarding NAFLD susceptibility for valid studies.

Three new triterpenoids, 21β,22α-diangeloyloxy-3β,15α,16α,28-tetrahydroxyolean-12-en-23-al (1), 21β-angeloyloxy-3β,15α,16α,28-tetrahydroxy-22α-(2-methylbutanoyloxy)olean-12-en-23-al (2), and 21β-angeloyloxy-3β,16α,28-trihydroxy-22α-(2-methylbutanoyloxy)olean-12-en-23-al (3), along with six known triterpenoids, were isolated from the roots of Camellia oleifera C.Abel. The structures of compounds 1–3 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. Moreover, all compounds isolated were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities by MTT (=3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) assay.

We describe the synthesis and characterization of the first water-soluble and chiral poly(2,4-disubstituted-2-oxazoline)s. While poly(2,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline)s are water soluble up to 100 C, aqueous solutions of poly(2-ethyl-4-methly-2-oxazoline) exhibit a lower critical solution temperature. This is discussed in context with its constitutional isomers poly(2-oxazoline)s and poly(2-oxazine)s. Circular dichroism spectroscopy revealed strong Cotton effects, which are also responsive to temperature in aqueous solution. It is therefore hypothesized that structures, comparable to polyproline helices, are formed in aqueous solution. In contrast to polyproline, poly(2,4-disubstituted-2-oxazoline)s are highly water soluble and therefore represent very interesting pseudo-polypeptides that may be useful to develop responsive biomimetic biomaterials. VC 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 000: 000–000, 2012

In this paper we present a hybrid approach to reconstruct hair dynamics from multi-view video sequences, captured under uncontrolled lighting conditions. The key of this method is a refinement approach that combines image-based reconstruction techniques with physically based hair simulation. Given an initially reconstructed sequence of hair fiber models, we develop a hair dynamics refinement system using particle-based simulation and incompressible fluid simulation. The system allows us to improve reconstructed hair fiber motions and complete missing fibers caused by occlusion or tracking failure. The refined space-time hair dynamics are consistent with video inputs and can be also used to generate novel hair animations of different hair styles. We validate this method through various real hair examples. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Previous studies have shown that Pseudolaric acid B (PAB), a medicinal plant-derived terpenoid, is a promising chemopreventive or therapeutic agent against various types of cancer. However, less is known regarding its activity against prostate cancer. The objective of the current study is designed to determine the anti-prostate cancer effects of PAB. We demonstrated here that PAB was highly effective against both androgen-dependent (LNCaP) and androgen-independent prostate cancer cells (PC-3 and DU145) through the mechanisms involved in induction of G2/M cell cycle arrest, caspase-dependent apoptosis and autophagic cell death. Furthermore, PAB can greatly sensitize these two aggressive androgen-independent prostate cancer cells to ABT-737-induced cytotoxicity. Our findings suggest that PAB holds excellent potential as either novel chemopreventive agent or enhancer of therapeutic drug against prostate cancer.

Poly(2-oxazoline)s (POx) are currently discussed as an upcoming polymer platform for biomaterials design and especially for polymer therapeutics. POx meet specific requirements needed for the development of next-generation polymer therapeutics such as biocompatibility, high modulation of solubility, variation of size, architecture as well as chemical functionality. Although in the early 1990s first and promising POx-based systems were presented, the field lay dormant for almost two decades. Only very recently, POx-based polymer therapeutics came back into the focus of very intensive research. In this review, we give an overview on the chemistry and physicochemical properties of POx and summarize the research of POx-protein conjugates, POx-drug conjugates, POx-based polyplexes and POx micelles for drug delivery.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the intrinsic fluorescence spectrum of gastric juice as a diagnostic method for gastric cancer. METHODS: We collected gastric juice by gastroscopy in 1870 patients from May 2001 to March 2006, of whom 202 were involved in a preliminary test, 162 in experimental optimization and 1506 in clinical verification. The best dilution and pH value were chosen in the experimental optimization phase. Clinical verification was based on optimized samples. Intrinsic fluorescence spectra were measured in all samples with a fluorescence spectrophotometer using an excitation wavelength of 288 nm. RESULTS: The first peak of fluorescence intensity (P1FI) of the intrinsic fluorescence spectrum was significantly higher in gastric juice from patients with gastric cancer than from those with benign lesions. There was no significant difference in the P1FI differences between patients with benign and malignant lesions with samples diluted by 20-fold to 80-fold and from pH 9 to pH 11. Clinical verification in 1506 patients showed that P1FI ≥ 76.5 was the optimal cut-off on the receiver operating characteristic curve for diagnosing gastric cancers: sensitivity was 83.2%, specificity 80.7% and accuracy 82.0%. CONCLUSIONS: P1FI of the intrinsic fluorescence at 288 nm is significantly higher in patients with gastric cancers than in individuals with benign lesions. As a clinical indicator of gastric cancer, its sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were high.

In this report, we present the results of an anatomic study on the dimensions of the pectoralis minor muscle and its neurovascular supply in 10 adult human cadavers, in attempt to evaluate the feasibility of microsurgical transplantation of a part of the muscle for thumb opposition reconstruction. A series of five patients consequently underwent thenar reconstruction with the pectoralis minor muscle flap from December 2004 to October 2006. The transferred muscle was reinnervated with the third lumbrical branch of the ulnar nerve. Follow-up assessment showed that the patients recovered functional opposition of carpometacarpal joint with 24 degrees of pronation, and a muscle power with M4 to M5. All patients were satisfied with the appearance of reconstructed thenar eminence. We recommend this new technique for thenar and opposition reconstruction in patients who have severe loss of thenar muscles, injury to the median nerve, and wish to improve the appearance of thenar eminence. © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc. Microsurgery, 2011.

Capturing realistic 3D shapes of human bodies is very useful for many computer graphics applications. However, for existing 3D shape capturing devices, such as structured light, laser scanner or multi-view methods, problems arise when dealing with 3D hairstyle scanning and body deformation. To solve these problems, a novel approach is proposed to scan 3D body with hairstyle using only one time-of-flight (TOF) camera. By capturing depth data at video rate, temporal average meshes can be obtained from different views. After some analysis, we found that the local geometric details of real surfaces, after the hair scanning process and low-frequency body deformation, are still preserved in the average meshes. Utilising the restriction that the corresponding surfaces in different views should overlap, a global optimisation process is proposed to iteratively improve the average meshes, while still preserving the geometric details. The proposed system is compact, and can scan 3D human body easily. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This work demonstrates the potential of HPCE in the analysis of antibiotics in a complex matrix such as feedstuffs. Using 20 mM citric acid-40 mM Na(2)HPO(4) buffer (pH 2.65), the five antibiotics, tetracycline, oxytetracycline, doxycycline, tilmicosin, and tylosin were successfully separated at 30 kV in a 64.5 cm x 75 microm id capillary. Good repeatability, stability, and reliability of the method were supported by 70%, and the limit of detection of the five analytes was 0.5-1 mg/kg. It was for the first time that a capillary electrophoretic method was employed to simultaneously detect five tetracycline and macrolide antibiotics in animal feeds.

The effect of government ownership on firm performance remains a controversial issue, especially in a transitional economy like China. Government ownership is typically viewed as adversely affecting firm performance. This study of that of Mainland China’s privatization experience indicates the opposite. No matter whether it is in the form of state ownership or legal person ownership, government ownership has a positive impact on partially privatized state-owned enterprises. However, this relationship is nonlinear and shows an inverted U-shape. Given the situation of highly indebted, non-performing state-owned enterprises, we argue that too much government control is indeed bad for enterprises. But too little government ownership may not be good either. It might mean a lack of the government’s political support and business connections, which are valuable and necessary to vitalize performance.