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Esophageal cancer is one of the most frequent malignant tumors of the digestive tract, among which esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the main pathological type worldwide. Previous studies have shown microbial infections in the upper digestive tract to be a potential risk factor in ESCC etiology. In this study, we identified that Mycoplasma hyorhinis infection promoted the malignancy of ESCC. In response, we generated a single-stranded DNA aptamer, ZY3A, against M. hyorhinis using the cell-SELEX strategy. The underlying recognition mechanism of ZY3A on M. hyorhinis involves its binding to M. hyorhinis-specific p37 protein. This tool allowed us to provide the first proof-of-concept evidence using a nucleic acid aptamer to control mycoplasma infection. More specifically, we found that ZY3A could neutralize M. hyorhinis infection on ESCC cells by blocking the interaction between p37 protein and its receptor TLR4 on the ESCC cell membrane. As a result, ZY3A inhibited the migration and invasion of M. hyorhinis-infected ESCC cells in vitro and metastasis in vivo. Taken together, these findings indicate that aptamer ZY3A is a potential candidate for development into a novel molecular tool for treatment of M. hyorhinis infection and a safe first-in-class M. hyorhinis-targeting antitumor agent.

Many popular deconvolution methods based on Robinson’s convolutional model have played an important role in improving the temporal resolution of seismic data. However, the outcomes of applying these deconvolution methods to real land seismic data are not always desirable due to the effect of noise in the deconvolution process. Although the noise in the seismogram can be minimized during the recording process, the effect of residual noise on deconvolution operators can result in poor deconvolution output. To address the shortcomings of conventional deconvolution methods, we developed a new deconvolution method based on a multichannel statistical principle. In the proposed method, we have extended the surface-consistent convolutional model to include a noise component, thus including the noise effect on deconvolution operators in the deconvolution process. According to the proposed multichannel statistical strategy, we first calculated the autocorrelation of the seismogram, in which the lateral variation effect on the wavelet is considered because of inhomogeneities in the vicinity of sources and receivers. Then, we adopted a local fitting technique to approximate the autocorrelation of the seismic wavelet. To obtain the seismic data with a broad bandwidth and low-noise level, we used the integral-Ricker wavelet as the desired output wavelet. Tests on synthetic data and real land seismic data demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in increasing the resolution of seismic signals.

Our previous research demonstrated that phosphodiesterase-1 (PDE1) could work as a potential target against idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Nimodipine, a calcium antagonist commonly used to improve hypertension, was reported to have inhibition against PDE1. Herein, a series of nimodipine analogues were discovered as novel selective and potent PDE1 inhibitors after structural modifications. Compound

Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs) are chronic disorders with iterative intestinal mucosal inflammation which remain unmet medical needs. PDE4 inhibitors were reported to be novel anti-IBD agents, but their clinical use was hampered by side effects such as emesis and nausea. Herein, structure-based discovery of natural mangostanin (1) targeting the M-pocket resulted in the novel and potent PDE4 inhibitor 22d (IC

The aim of this study is to observe the effects of Ninghong black tea extract on fat deposition and high-fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to explore the potential mechanisms of these effect. Under 2% Ninghong black tea extract diet feeding in rat model, the results showed that Ninghong black tea extract decreased the body fat ratio and the number of lipid droplets in the liver and significantly alleviated NAFLD in the rat model. The real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that Ninghong black tea extract significantly upregulated the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα), which is important in fatty acid β-oxidation, and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), which plays an important role in the synthesis of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). By promoting the expression of PPARα and MTP in liver tissue and thereby promoting fatty acid β-oxidation and VLDL synthesis, Ninghong black tea extract relieves high-fat diet-induced NAFLD.

How to win the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign" is becoming the focus all over the world, especially in developing economies, while the implementation of the smart cities initiative (SCI) is seen to be a feasible program to address the negative environmental externalities through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), but it lacks the quantitative evidence so far. This study aims to examine the impacts and potential mechanisms of SCI on air pollution governance from the objective satellite monitoring data within a quasi-natural experiment framework. We find that SCI directly reduces the air pollutants concentration such as PM2.5, SO

Environmental issues represented by haze pollution have become the focus of all sectors of society. Industrial activities, especially industrial energy consumption play an important role in it. After the energy consumption of provincial industrial sectors is decomposed into urban industrial sectors through nighttime light data, this study measures the industrial green total factor energy efficiency (IGTFEE) of Chinese cities from 2003 to 2017, and the haze abatement effect of IGTFEE is investigated from the perspective of spatial correlation. The results show that China's haze pollution and IGTFEE present a positive spatial cluster. Additionally, China's haze pollution has obvious path dependence that shows a monotonous decreasing trend as the aggravation of haze pollution. Meanwhile, although haze pollution shows a serious leakage effect, it plays a warning role in haze control in surrounding areas. This effect is stronger in the most severely polluted areas that have higher economic levels. Not only does the improvement of IGTFEE have a positive effect on local haze abatement but can control haze pollution in spatially related areas through spillover effects and spatial feedback effects. However, the effects are significantly heterogeneous and asymmetric across quantiles, where IGTFEE has a marginal diminishing distribution on haze abatement at the middle and low quantiles, but the haze pollution has intensified at the high quantiles due to the energy rebound effect. The results also reveal that haze abatement conforms to the spatial EKC hypothesis in China. Meanwhile, industrial agglomeration, environmental regulations, and industrial upgrading are vital drivers for haze abatement.

African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the highest-yielding oil crop in the world. Recent studies have shown the importance of long-chain acyl-CoA synthetases (LACSs) in lipid biosynthesis and degradation, but few studies have focused on oil palm. In this work, we found that transcription of EgLACS1was positively correlated with lipid accumulation in the oil palm mesocarp. In order to clarify the role of EgLACS1 on lipid metabolism, three variants of the EgLACS1 gene were cloned from oil palm and designated EgLACS1-V1, EgLACS1-V2, and EgLACS1-V3. Sequence analysis revealed that the three variant proteins contained several highly conserved motifs, shared important sequence similarities with other known LACS1s, and demonstrated that EgLACS1-V1, EgLACS1-V2 and EgLACS1-V3 were 666-, 664- and 601-aminoacid proteins, respectively. All of the three variant genes encodingEgLACS1 were expressed and tested for their functionality in an acyl-coenzyme-A synthetase- (ACS-) deficient mutant yeast strain YB525. Only EgLACS1-V1 and EgLACS1-V2 could rescue the growth deficiency (an inability to grow on a fatty acid auxotrophic medium) of YB525 in complementation tests. Using a fluorescent fatty acid analogue confirmed that EgLACS1-V1 and EgLACS1-V2 facilitated exogenous fatty acid uptake. EgLACS1 overexpression in yeast reduced fatty acid content. All these results suggested that not only did both the EgLACS1-V1 and EgLACS1-V2 enzymes exhibit acyl-coenzyme-A activities, but that they were also involved in the transfer of fatty acid-coenzyme A. They may also take part in the storage of lipid during fruit development in oil palm. The characterization of EgLACS1 will provide a molecular basis for the study of acyl-coenzyme A synthetase-mediated lipid synthesis and degradation in oil palm.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is one of the most important oil crops in the tropics with special fatty acid compositions. In this paper, a cDNA sequence putatively encoding the plastidial ω6 fatty acid desaturase (FAD) which plays a key role in the linoleic acid biosynthesis, designated EgFAD6, was isolated from the mesocarp of oil palm. Sequence analysis indicated that it had an open reading frame (ORF) of 1320 base pairs (bp) encoding 349 amino acids (aa) of 51 KDa. The real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR results indicated that EgFAD6 mRNA exhibited an extremely high expression level in the mature leaves, and it showed quite flat during the mesocarp ripening with a slight increase at the phase 2. The heterologous expression of EgFAD6 in yeast accumulated a considerable amount of linoleic acid, while no significant difference in other fatty acids when compared with the control pYES2. Furthermore, the promoter of EgFAD6 (proEgFAD6) with 1474 bp in length was isolated and used for functional analysis. The bioinformatics analysis indicated proEgFAD6 contains several potential cis-acting elements, such as light and hormone-responsive elements. Expression analysis in transgenic Arabidopsis revealed that proEgFAD6 could drive β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene express in the leaf, silique coat, stem and flower. These results revealed the function of EgFAD6 and the feature of its promoter, which will be useful for understanding the function and regulation mechanism of plastidial linoleic acid synthesis in other tropical palm plants.

A novel naphthalocyanine 2,11,20,29-tetrabromo-2,3-naphthalocyanine iron was synthetized. Its optical nonlinearity was investigated using the Z-scan technique. Reverse saturable absorption and high-order optical nonlinear refraction were detected. The absorption cross sections of the ground state, the singlet first excited state and the triplet first excited state were fitted to be 3.2 × 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text], 6.2 × 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text] and 4.6 × 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text], respectively. Fits also gave 1.17 × 10[Formula: see text] cm[Formula: see text] for the refractive volume of the ground state, 0.6 for the ratio of the refractive volume of the singlet first excited state to the ground state and 2.7 for the ratio of refractive volume of the first triplet excited state to the ground state.

Under the dual pressures of slowing economic growth and increasing environmental pollution in China, there is no doubt that relying on innovation to promote pollution reduction is the key to achieving compatible development between economic growth and environmental quality. Since previous studies have mostly explored the relationship between the two from the perspective of technological innovation, the endogeneity problem makes the research results lack credibility. This study attempts to fill this gap. Constructing a quasi-natural experiment based on the national innovative city policy, this study explores the impact and mechanism of innovation-driven development on pollution reduction using propensity score matching(PSM) and difference-in-differences(DID) models. The results demonstrate that the construction of national innovative cities has a positive effect on the reduction of pollution emissions intensity, which is mainly achieved through the improvement of urban innovation level and industrial R&D personnel concentration but has not effectively promoted pollution reduction through the advanced industrial structure. Additionally, national innovative city policy exhibits heterogeneous effects on pollution reduction. Specifically, the pollution reduction effect of big cities is weaker than that of small and medium-sized cities. The greater the manufacturing scale and the degree of financial support for science and technology, the stronger the pollution reduction effects. The pollution reduction effect shows a non-linear mechanism as pollution emissions intensity increases, and the overall trend is upward. Accordingly, corresponding policy recommendations are put forward based on the current weakness.

Coconut ( Cocos nucifers L.) can accumulate up to nearly 80% of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in its endosperm. A previous study about suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) libraries of coconut endosperm indicated that only one acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase CnFatB3 was identified and significantly up-regulated during fruit development. Overexpression of CnFatB3 cDNA in Arabidopsis under control of the seed-specific napin promoter increased the amounts of 12:0 (lauric acid), 14:0 (myristic acid), 16:0 (palmitic acid) and 18:0 (stearic acid) by 30, 80, 4, and 2-fold, respectively, although CnFatB3 transcript levels varied 4000-fold in Arabidopsis seeds from different transgenic lines. These data suggested that CnFatB3 had a preference for 12:0, 14:0, 16:0 and 18:0-ACPs in plant. The results provide new insights into the accumulation of MCFAs in higher plants, and will contribute to the metabolic engineering of MCFAs-producing to meet energy demands.

A multi-band multiwavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (MBMEFL) based on the combined four wave mixing effect (FWM) and self-seeding stimulated Brillouin scattering (SSBS) effect has been studied experimentally. We use two ring cavities which consist of a large and a small cavity to build up this MBMEFL. The output multiple bands and multiple wavelengths are depended on the EDFA power and the length of the single mode fiber (SMF). With a proper length of SMF, we can achieve multi-band lasing by FWM effect and multiwavelength lasing in these bands by SSBS. By increasing the EDFA power, the multi-band multiwavelength lasing signals from the MBMEFL decrease.

Low molecular weight metabolites are important plant hormones and signaling molecules, and play an important part among the processes of plant development. Their activities may also be affected by the chemical modifications of methylation performed by SABATH. In this study, a total of 24 and 21 SABATH genes in Arabidopsis and rice, respectively, were identified and taken a comprehensive study. Phylogenetic analysis showed that AtSABATH and OsSABATH genes could be classified into 4 major groups and 6 subgroups. Gene expansion analysis showed that the main expansion mechanism of SABATH gene family in Arabidopsis and rice was tandem duplication and segmental duplication. The ratios of nonsynonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution rates of 12 pairs paralogous of AtSABATH and OsSABATH genes indicated that the SABATH gene family in Arabidopsis and rice had gone through purifying selection. Positive selection analysis with site models and branch-site models revealed that AtSABATH and OsSABATH genes had undergone selective pressure for adaptive evolution. Motif analysis showed that certain motifs only existed in specific subgroups or species, which indicated that the SABATH proteins of Arabidopsis and rice appear divergence in different species and subgroups. Functional divergence analysis also suggested that the AtSABATH and OsSABATH subgroup genes had functional differences, and the positive selection sites which contributed to functional divergence among subgroups were detected. These results provide insights into functional conservation and diversification of SABATH gene family, and are useful information for further elucidating SABATH gene family functions.

Using China's provincial panel data during 2000–2017, this study attempts to research the impacts of different environmental regulatory instruments and relative stringency on total factor energy efficiency. A Super-SBM model with undesirable outputs is used to evaluate the energy efficiency of industrial sector for thirty provinces in China. The result indicates a relatively low energy efficiency of industrial sector and significant difference between provinces in China. The dynamic panel regression was employed to examine the heterogeneous effects and mechanisms on energy efficiency by different types of environmental regulations. We have two main findings: (1) At a certain stringency level, both command-and-control and market-based environmental regulations have positive effects on total factor energy efficiency. (2) There exist nonlinear relationships between environmental regulations and total factor energy efficiency. The current regulation level of command-and-control exceeds the optimal level, while the current regulation level of market-based is reasonable. Moreover, market-based environmental regulation is more effective based on China's reality. These findings provide new evidence in confirming the Porter effect and some policy implications for China to further improve energy efficiency.

Gas-bearing shale is one of the most important unconventional reservoirs. Shear wave velocities are essential for prestack AVO analysis, fracture identification, and fluid typing. Moreover, the recent studies of shear wave prediction mostly focused on conventional sandstones, wet shale, sandstone or carbonate rock may not be suitable for gas-bearing shale. Firstly, according to core analysis results of gas-bearing shale, petrophysics model is proposed. Then, shear wave prediction method based on Gasmann's theory, spatial averaging model, and elastic moduli of dry rock were studied in detail. Especially, point to organic shale with low porosity, Krief, Nur, and Pride models are selected to calculate the elastic moduli of dry rock, respectively, and the best critical porosity in Nur model and consolidation coefficient in Pride model are determined, which is virtual to gas-bearing shale. Pride model is finally optimized as the most suitable model through comparison of error analysis. Meanwhile, to implement the estimation of shear wave from well logs, a corresponding log interpretation method for gas-bearing shale is also studied. In case study, calculated volumetric concentrations of minerals are in good agreement with X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of cores. The final shear wave velocity also matches well with dipole sonic imaging (DSI) log. Therefore, the whole approach is verified correct and suitable for estimation of shear velocity or slowness in gas-bearing shale.

The unique properties of oils from the coconut ( Cocos nucifera L.) endosperm, which contains a remarkable amount of saturated medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), has garnered significant attention because of the increasing daily demand for these fatty acids. In this paper, lyso-phosphatidic acid acyltransferase (LPAAT), which can esterify acyl-CoA into the sn -2 position of the glycerol backbone during the triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis, has been isolated from coconut endosperm, designated CnLPAAT. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the CnLPAAT transcript was present in both leaves and endosperms, with the higher level in mature leaves, and the transcript level was constant during coconut endosperm development. Heterologous expression in yeast was used to confirm the in vivo function of CnLPAAT . The fatty acid analysis showed that the levels of C12:0 and C14:0 in a CnLPAAT -pYES2 transformant increased significantly compared with a pYES2 transformant. Additionally, to detect the effect of CnLPAAT expression in plants, it was heterologously overexpressed in transgenic tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) under the control of the seed-specific napin promoter. The transcript level of CnLPAAT varied 28-fold among different transgenic lines, with 11 lines displaying detectable levels of CnLPAAT expression. However, an analysis of the fatty acid composition of transgenic tobacco seeds showed that the levels of C12:0 and C14:0 decreased diversely in comparison with untransformed tobacco plants. These findings provide new insights into the activities of CnLPAAT and assist in genetically applying this functional mechanism in other plants to accumulate high levels of MCFAs.

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is one of the highest oil-yield crops in the world. Based on previous work on suppression subtracted hybridization library construction and analysis between mesocarp and kernel of oil palm fruits, the full-length cDNA of 7S globulin was obtained via rapid-amplification of cDNA ends. The gene, OPALM7SG1 (GenBank accession No. JN896330 ), encodes a polypeptide of 248 amino acids. The amino acid sequence of 7S globulin showed high homology with the sequence of 7S globulin from oil palm embryos in previous reports, and the amino acid composition of OPALM7SG1 revealed that it contained almost all kinds of amino acids, including high levels of glutamic acid, arginine and serine, and low levels of sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine. Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR indicated that OPALM7SG1 was highly expressed in the fourth stage of oil palm mesocarp development (120–125 days after flowering), but remained at relatively low levels in the other four stages. This differential expression of OPALM7SG1 was essential for the accumulation of 7S globulin in the mesocarp of oil palm fruits. The full-length of 7S globulin identified in the present study and the results of its differential expression will be a good foundation for further study on functional analysis and genetic modification of 7S globulin during fruit development of oil palm.

Suppression subtracted hybridization (SSH) and dot blotting were used to identify differential gene expression in the mesocarp and kernel of oil palm nuts. The different types of nut tissue show differences in fatty acid anabolism and the synthesis of other important compounds. In total, 302 clones from forward SSH libraries and 238 clones from reverse SSH libraries were identified following differential screening, respectively. Among these, 120 clones from the forward SSH library and 81 clones from the reverse SSH library, showed tenfold or more differential expression levels, and were sequenced. Sequence analysis revealed that 76 clones (28 from the forward SSH library and 48 from the reverse SSH library) represent non-redundant cDNA inserts. The differential expression of 39 subset genes in the two different tissues was further confirmed by RT-PCR analysis. Functionally annotated blasting against the GenBank non-redundant protein database classified all 76 candidate genes into six categories, according to their putative functions. Interestingly, our results show that a group of significantly differentially expressed genes are involved in processes associated with oil palm nut maturation, such as the synthesis of medium-chain saturated fatty acids and phytic acid, nut development, and stress/defense responses. This study describes some relationships between gene expression and metabolic pathways in mature oil palm nuts, and contributes to our understanding of oil palm nut ESTs.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is research the relationship between size of government and FDI inflows of the host country, and provide a strategies.Design/methodology/approach – Adopting the fixed effect model of panel data, this paper uses related observations from 81 countries between 2002 and 2006 to analyze the impacts of government size (measured by score of government size) on FDI inflows.Findings – The results show that the enlargement of government size has a positive effect on FDI inflows, and the effect is much more significant in developing countries.Originality/value – There is no previous research concerning the impacts of size of government on FDI inflows. Through the investigation, the paper finds the relation between government size and FDI inflows and provides much valuable information.

PurposeA firm will seek an optimal balance between internal R&D and technology outsourcing when formulating its innovation strategy. This paper aims to provide a review of the determinants of firm's innovation strategy, and performs an empirical study on a sample from Chinese high‐tech industry, with the purpose of identifying two aspects of the issue: the choice patterns of Chinese firms over innovation strategy, and the innovation effect elasticity of different strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe development of a multiple regression model supported by data from industry level and a statistic analysis.FindingsOutsourcing is the major innovation strategy adopted by most Chinese high‐tech firms, especially technology import, which implies the imperfection of Chinese innovation service system. The empirical analysis also indicates the insufficiency of internal R&D expenditure and the weakness of absorptive capacity in Chinese high‐tech firms. Although, Chinese high‐tech firms prefer the outsourcing strategy in their innovation, the contribution of outsourcing is much smaller than that of internal R&D. When expenditures are increased by the same rate, the innovation output form internal R&D is twice the output of outsourcing. For improving Chinese firms' innovation efficiency, the reform of innovation service system is needed on the macro‐level, while on the micro‐level, it calls for firms to readjust their innovation strategy portfolio.Originality/valueThis paper will make up for the deficiency in current researches on innovation, which often apply firm samples in developed countries, and lack evidences from firm samples in developing countries. In addition, it will provide the decision‐making basis for Chinese Government's current actions in constructing and improving China's innovation service system.

We have proposed and demonstrated a novel switchable single-longitudinal-mode (SLM), dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser (DWEDFL) assisted by Rayleigh backscattering (RBS) in a tapered fiber in a ring laser configuration. The RBS feedback in a tapered fiber is a key mechanism as linewidth narrowing for laser output. A compound laser cavity ensured that the EDFL operated in the SLM state and a saturable absorber (SA) is employed to form a gain grating for both filtering and improving wavelength stability. The fiber laser can output dual wavelengths simultaneously or operate at single wavelength in a switchable manner. Experiment results show that with the proper SA, the peak power drift was improved from 1–2 dB to 0.31 dB and the optical signal to noise ratio was higher than 60 dB. Under the assistance of RBS feedback, the laser linewidths are compressed by around three times and the Lorentzian 3 dB linewidths of 445 Hz and 425 Hz are obtained at 1550 nm and 1554 nm, respectively. Published version