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Background Studies have shown that CXCR7 is expressed in many tumors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the function of CXCR7 in colon cancer. Although evidence indicates that CXCR7 promotes angiogenesis in colon cancer, the mechanism involved in this process remains unclear. Methods The expression of CXCR7 in colon cancer was evaluated by quantitative reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. After transfection, cell proliferation, migration, and lumen formation were measured in vitro. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting were used to identify the functional target of CXCR7 in vivo and in vitro. Results In this study, CXCR7 was differentially expressed in four colon cancer cell lines. The proliferation and migration experiments showed that overexpression of CXCR7 enhanced cell growth and migration. Moreover, the tube formation assays showed that co‐culture of colon cancer cells overexpressing CXCR7 with human umbilical vein endothelial cells significantly promoted tube formation in the latter cells. Conversely, the stable knockdown of CXCR7 significantly reduced this malignant activity. In addition, we found that CXCR7 activates the AKT and ERK pathways in colon cancer cells. The phosphorylation of AKT and ERK, as well as the expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor, can be inhibited using the LY294002 and U0126 inhibitors. Furthermore, the angiogenic ability of CXCR7‐induced colon cancer cells was eliminated. Conclusion Expression of CXCR7 contributes to colon cancer growth and angiogenesis, by activating the AKT and ERK pathways. CXCR7 provides a potential therapeutic target against colon cancer.

A new finite element model is developed for nonlinear finite element analyses of structural behavior of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-strengthened steel-reinforced concrete (RC) beams under cyclic loading in this paper. All the components of the beam, including concrete, steel rebar, FRP sheet, adhesive, and shear strengthening stirrups, are included in the model. Material nonlinear properties of concrete and steel rebars are accounted for, while the FRP and adhesive are considered to be linearly elastic until rupture. The degradation of each material under cyclic loading is considered and defined using the user-programmable features in ANSYS. The developed finite element model is validated against experimental results, and demonstrated to be effective for structural analyses of FRP-strengthened RC beams under cyclic loading. Furthermore, parametric studies are carried out to learn the effects of types, thickness, and length of FRP on the structural behavior of FRP-strengthened RC beams based on the new model. Research findings are summarized finally.

When applying the combined finite-discrete element method for analysis of dynamic problems, contact is often encountered between the finite elements and discrete elements, and thus an effective contact treatment is essential. In this paper, an accurate and robust contact detection algorithm is proposed to resolve contact problems between spherical particles, which represent rigid discrete elements, and convex quadrilateral mesh facets, which represent finite element boundaries of structural components. Different contact scenarios between particles and mesh facets, or edges, or vertices have been taken into account. For each potential contact pair, the contact search is performed in an hierarchical way starting from mesh facets, possibly going to edges and even further to vertices. The invalid contact pairs can be removed by means of two reasonable priorities defined in terms of geometric primitives and facet identifications. This hierarchical contact searching scheme is effective, and its implementation is straightforward. Numerical examples demonstrated the accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An aerobic, ligand-free Suzuki reaction catalyzed by Pd/C in aqueous media has been developed. This method is a very simple, efficient and mild protocol for the cross-coupling of aryl bromides with arylboronic acids, and the reactions proceeded smoothly in excellent yields within short reaction times. Control experiments demonstrated that the Pd/C-cata

SUMMARY In discrete element method (DEM) simulations of real scale, the spherical particles are commonly employed for increasing the computation speed, and the complex boundary models are represented by triangle meshes with controllable accuracy. A new contact detection algorithm has been developed to resolve the contacts between the spheres and the triangle mesh boundaries. The application of the barycentric coordinates makes this algorithm more efficient to identify contacts in the intersection test. As a particle probably collides with several triangles at the same time, the multiple contacts would be reported as face contacts, edge contacts, or vertex contacts. Moreover, the particle embedding in a triangle can be also contact with the edges or vertices of the next triangles. These contacts should be considered as invalid for updating contact forces in the DEM. To exclude invalid records from the multiple contacts, the algorithm gives attention to the mesh structure nearby contacts and analyzes all possible collision situations. Numerical experiments have been conducted to verify this algorithm by using the algorithm in the DEM simulation framework. The numerical results suggest that the algorithm can resolve all contacts precisely and stably when the spherical particles collide on the complex boundary circumstances. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We report a practical and highly efficient protocol for the arylation of pyridine N -oxides with arylboronic acid through palladium-catalyzed Suzuki reaction in water. This ligand-free Suzuki reaction is performed in the presence of diisopropylamine and gives 2- or 3-arylated pyridyl N -oxide derivatives in good to excellent yields within 1 h.

A new 3-node, 18-DOF triangular layered plate element is developed in this paper for the geometric and material non-linear analysis of isotropic plates and reinforced concrete slabs under service loads. The proposed model is a combination of Allman's 3-node, 9-DOF triangular membrane element with drilling degrees of freedom and the refined non-conforming 3-node, 9-DOF triangular plate-bending element RT9 in order to account for the coupling effects between membrane and bending actions. The element is modelled as a layered system of concrete and equivalent smeared steel reinforcement layers, and perfect bond is assumed between the concrete layers and the smeared steel layers. The maximum normal stress criterion is employed to detect cracking of the concrete, and a smeared fixed crack model is assumed. Both geometric non-linearity with large displacements but moderate rotations and material non-linearity, which incorporates tension, compression, concrete cracking and tension stiffening, are included in the model. An updated Lagrangian approach is employed as a solution strategy for the non-linear finite element analysis and a numerical example of reinforced concrete slab is given to demonstrate the efficacy of this robust element. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Two simple 4-node 20-DOF and 4-node 24-DOF displacement-based quadrilateral elements named RDKQ-L20 and RDKQ-L24 are developed in this paper based on the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) for linear analysis of thin to moderately thick laminates. The deflection and rotation functions of the element sides are obtained from Timoshenko's laminated composite beam functions. Linear displacement interpolation functions of the standard 4-node quadrilateral isoparametric plane element and displacement functions of a quadrilateral plane element with drilling degrees of freedom are taken as in-plane displacements of the proposed elements RDKQ-L20 and RDKQ-L24, respectively. Due to the application of Timoshenko's laminated composite beam functions, convergence can be ensured theoretically for very thin laminates. The elements are simple in formulation, and shear-locking free for extremely thin laminates even with full integration. A hybrid-enhanced procedure is employed to improve the accuracy of stress analysis, especially for transverse shear stresses. Numerical tests show that the new elements are convergent, not sensitive to mesh distortion, accurate and efficient for analysis of thin to moderately thick laminates. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A refined non-conforming triangular plate/shell element for geometric non-linear analysis of plates/shells using the total Lagrangian/updated Lagrangian approach is constructed in this paper based on the refined non-conforming element method for geometric non-linear analysis. The Allman's triangular plane element with vertex degrees of freedom and the refined triangular plate-bending element RT9 are used to construct the present element. Numerical examples demonstrate that the accuracy of the new element is quite high in the geometric non-linear analysis of plates/shells. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A very simple, green, efficient, and mild protocol for the title reaction is presented with short reaction times.